Evan Lysacek Wins First Senior International Medal at Four Continents
by Sal Zanca, Special to U.S. Figure Skating Online |
| Evan Lysacek won his first international senior medal Saturday. Photo by Paul Harvath |
(1/24/04) - Canadian Jeffrey Buttle won his second Four Continents men's title Saturday with Evan Lysacek (Naperville, Ill.) winning his first senior international medal, a bronze. Lysacek had the cleanest program of the three medalists, including seven triples. Emanuel Sandhu of Canada, who won the Grand Prix Final in Colorado Springs in December, was second.
Neither of the Canadians had a clean free skate while Lysacek had no falls or mistakes.
"It certainly wasn't a win I was expecting," Buttle said.
Buttle stepped out of one jump, doubled two intended triples and singled another. He counted just four triples including a repeated triple toe not in combination.
Sandhu singled his first attempt at a triple Axel, barely held on to another try, stepped out forward of a triple loop and had a shaky landing on four other triples.
Lysacek, who was fourth after the short program, did two triple Axels, one in combination, a triple Lutz-triple toe and another triple-double combination. His marks ranged from 5.1-5.7. Sandhu's marks ranged from 4.9 in technical merit to 5.8 for presentation. Buttle's low was a 4.6 and his high was 5.8.
"When I heard the 4.6 I felt it was fair," Buttle said. "It wasn't a technically strong performance."
However in the interim judging system it was impossible to know whether that 4.6 counted at all. There is a panel of 14 judges, and nine are picked at random. The only thing certain is that in a one-by-one basis, Buttle beat Sandhu head to head, while Sandhu beat Lysacek.
Buttle, who withdrew at the Grand Prix Final at Colorado Springs in December, was stunned when he saw the marks go up and he was still in first. He was the last to skate so he realized he won the title.
"I was very surprised," he said. "I didn't think it was very strong. So when the marks came up I was a little disappointed. When the final results were posted I was a little bit flabbergasted. The win is bittersweet."
It was the end of the season for Buttle, who finished third at the Canadian championships and will not be going to Worlds.
Sandhu also knew he didn't skate that well.
"I missed the quad and it wasn't a clean program," he said. "But I didn't let it get away. I don't want to be too perfect now before Worlds."
Lysacek, the Junior Grand Prix champion and two-time World Junior silver medalist, nevertheless felt good about his bronze medal.
"It feels good, I have to say,'" Lysacek said. "I am very pleased with my performance tonight. This gives me a lot of confidence going into junior worlds."
He said he will hopefully have a quad ready by then.
"We are definitely starting to work a lot more closely on it for the competition," he said.
He looked back at his year which included a coaching change to Frank Carroll and Ken Congemi in California.
"A year ago I was a very different skater," he said. "I've made improvements in all areas of my skating. I've been on the junior circuit for four years, and each year I have improved. Now to come here and be among these world-class skaters ... Today in warm-up I thought, 'This is huge for me.'"
Ryan Jahnke (Grosse Pointe, Mich.) finished fourth. He had a nice program that included a triple Lutz-triple loop and a 'Tano triple. He also had all his marks above 5.0 with 5.1 up to 5.8.
"It felt like a great victory for me," Jahnke said. "Doing the Lutz-loop so well was a huge thing ... the only mistake on this one was the popped second triple Axel.''
Ryan Bradley (Colorado Springs, Colo.), who finished sixth at the 2004 U.S. Championships, finished 11th. In his Southern medley routine, he had three tries at a triple Axel and struggled on all three - falling once and doing a pair of doubles. He had marks from 4.6 to 5.3.
"I definitely didn't skate my best," Bradley said. "I feel a bit drained from nationals. This is my first Four Continents, and I am a bit upset that I didn't skate better."
Yamato Tamura of Japan, who was in second pace after the short program, fell on his first two quad attempts and fell on another jump and dropped to fifth. The other Canadian, Ben Ferreira, fell on a quadruple try but did seven triples to come in seventh. Defending champion and World bronze medalist Takeshi Honda of Japan had to withdraw due to an ankle injury before the short program.
The championships concluded with Canada - with all their top skaters competing - taking six of 12 medals.
U.S. skaters collected three medals: one gold (Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto in ice dancing) and two bronzes Amber Corwin in ladies and Lysacek in men).
