Lysacek does well in the short run

Evan Lysacek’s new address is a rented house in the Hollywood Hills, where Paris Hilton is a neighbor. His new girlfriend, Olympic ice dance silver medalist Tanith Belbin, was voted “hottest female athlete” of 2006 by ESPN.com.

To make this moment in his young life complete, all Lysacek, 21, needed was to recapture the consistency as a short program skater that had deserted him in 2006, which cost him an Olympic medal.

Although Lysacek insisted his short program troubles last season were a fluke, they were preying on his mind when he took the ice Thursday afternoon for the short program at the U.S. Championships.

That explains why he celebrated in the middle of the program, punching the air with a fist after successfully landing his last jump. When it was over, he did everything but boogie to express his delight.

“It was just a weight lifted off my shoulders,” Lysacek said after a performance that gave him a small lead over three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir going into Saturday night’s free skate final.

“I’m good at short programs; I always have been, which is why this is such an issue inside of my head,” Lysacek said. “It’s hard not to get that idea in your head when you’re reading it and hearing it not just [from the media] but even from my family saying, ‘Come on, this time, let’s make it clean.’ ”

Lysacek did that Thursday, scoring a personal best 78.99 points to beat the 78.14 for Weir, who also had a mistake-free short program. Ryan Bradley (73.58) was third.

“This is the position I have been working toward the last two or three seasons,” Lysacek said. “I really feel like one of the top dogs in the men’s event.”

As expected, reigning world champion Kimmie Meissner won the women’s short program with a performance that was supremely competent if not commanding. It gave her more than a three-point lead over surprising Bebe Liang of Granada Hills and third-place Emily Hughes.

The most impressive part was how Meissner rebounded from poor short programs with major jump mistakes in each of her Grand Prix competitions this year.

“There was a lot of pressure on her being world champion,” said Meissner’s coach, Pam Gregory. “With that kind of pressure she did a beautiful job.”

This is the first time Lysacek has led after the short program in seven appearances at senior nationals. He was third the last two years before finishing third and second to Weir.

Philip Hersh covers the Olympics for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.