Results 2008 U.S. Championships: Senior Men

Wow...that was the most unusual conclusion to the senior men's finals at the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in St. Paul, Minnesota. Going into the free skate, 1.35 points separated defending champion Evan Lysacek and three-time champion (2004-2006) Johnny Weir. Evan received a total of 82.05 in his short program and Johnny received 83.40. In the free skate, Evan received 162.72 points and Johnny received 161.37. What does that mean? That the total points were the same for both: 244.77. However, the tiebreaker is the free skate (which Evan won), so Evan wins the gold! Barely I think.

Both programs were outstanding, with Evan skating to Puccini's Tosca and Johnny skating to an original composition by Yoav Goren titled Love is War. Both had their share of triples (seven each), both landed their quadruple toe loop jumps on two feet, both had intricate footwork (maybe Evan's was slightly more difficult or more mesmerizing?), Johnny left out a combination jump (maybe that did it?) and both were wanting to win the free skate. There is more of an elegance and artistic side to Johnny but there is a crispness and fire to Evan, so what made the difference? Darned if I know and Scott Hamilton and Sandra Bezic tried their best to explain it to the audience, but I still didn't get it. Tom Hammond looked like he really didn't get it, so I didn't feel too bad. At the end of the day, two great skaters went out there and skated on their own terms and the rivalry will continue into the next competition.

Let's not forget 18-year-old Stephen Carriere (2007 world junior champion) who won the bronze, and the rest of the field who thoroughly entertained the crowd. My personal favorite performance in the men's competition was Jeremy Abbott's short program. Jeremy skated to Treat by Carlos Santana and the choreographer was none other than one of my all time favorites, four-time World and Canadian National champion Kurt Browning. Jeremy's choreography had Kurt's style and stamp all over it and his program really stood out from the rest of the field. (link to same program at 2007 NHK Trophee in Japan) How do I describe it...watching the program makes you feel happy! Even Jeremy couldn't get over how fun the program was for him and for the audience, as he told everyone in the NBC Truth Booth.

FPl	Name	Points	SP	FS
1	Evan Lysacek, DuPage FSC	244.77	2	1
2	Johnny Weir, SC of New York	244.77	1	2
3	Stephen Carriere, SC of Boston	228.06	3	3
4	Jeremy Abbott, Broadmoor SC	221.85	5	4
5	Ryan Bradley, Broadmoor SC	221.31	4	5
6	Scott Smith, SC of Boston	210.55	6	6
7	Wesley Campbell, Nashville FSC	200.10	8	7
8	Shaun Rogers, Univ of Delaware FSC	195.96	13	9
9	Tommy Steenberg, SC of Northern Virginia	195.32	12	10
10	Dennis Phan, All Year FSC	193.75	15	8

Comments

[victoria]

The senior mens' judging was abominal!
I watched this event with four other skating coaches and we were ashamed of the partiality shown to Evan Lysacek. We feel confident that if this were a world competition, discrimination of sexual orientation would not be a factor. There was no comparison as to the execution of jumps in the two routines. We feel this should be reviewed to avoid the narrow mindeness of the U.S. judges.

[Garbanzo]

Weir -- robbed!!!