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Top 2 men miss jumps Friday, February 11, 2000 By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
CLEVELAND -- So much for the battle of the quads.
Timothy Goebel stepped out of his quadruple salchow and Michael Weiss didn't even attempt his quadruple toe loop, taking some of the luster off the men's short program last night at the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships.
Goebel, skating in the town where he trains, at least got in four rotations on his attempt and landed on one foot before he took the step, but that wasn't good enough to earn the distinction as the first man to land a quad at nationals.
He also saved a triple-axel, triple-toe-loop combination that appeared to be headed for disaster when he took off crooked on the axel.
"It was very important for me to get the triple-triple combination," Goebel said. "Especially at internationals, where there are a dozen guys who land the quad and a triple-axel, triple-toe. It wasn't that difficult. I can do a triple toe from a standing position, so as long as I land on my feet it's not hard for me to do."
Despite that effort, he had to settle for second place behind Weiss, the defending champion, who tripled his planned quad toe when he found himself too close to the boards on the crossovers he does to lead into the jump. "I didn't get the height I wanted," Weiss said. "So I opened up. It was by instinct."
Then he came close to touching the ice on his triple axel and could manage only a double toe loop to finish the combination.
Really, the best jump of the night came from third-place finisher Matthew Savoie, who led into his triple axel with a spread eagle, which is extremely difficult. He also did a triple-flip, triple-toe combination and a triple lutz.
The only one of the top three finishers who didn't bobble a jump, Savoie received the received the highest technical marks -- mostly 5.5s, with one 5.3 and two 5.7s. But his artistry is lacking, and his lower marks there made the difference.
Each of the three skaters was voted first by three of the nine judges.
Weiss, wearing a plaid sweater and skating to music from "On the Waterfront," got the highest artistic marks, mostly in the 5.6 to 5.8 range.
Technically, doubling the triple jump didn't hurt him even though the other top finishers finished their combinations with triple jumps. In the short program, skaters are required to perform eight elements in a 2-minute, 40-second span. The jump combination can be either a triple and double or two triples.
His marks for technical merit were mostly in the mid-5s, although one judge did give him a 5.0.
"To be first in the short program, you can't complain about that," said Weiss, who hadn't competed in several months because of a stress fracture in his ankle.
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