Skating

Emerging star shines in Tampa

Evan Lysacek follows his bronze at the World Championships by winning the men's U.S. Figure Skating Challenge.

By DAVE SCHEIBER
Published March 30, 2005

TAMPA - The biggest surprise in the ranks of U.S. Figure Skating walked unassumingly down a long corridor to the locker room at the St. Pete Times Forum Tuesday evening: a tall, skinny kid with thick black hair and a name that hasn't yet settled into many households across the land.

But Evan Lysacek, a 19-year-old from Naperville, Ill., is certainly making himself at home among America's skating elite.

Lysacek earned his first U.S. Championships medal on the senior level in January with a bronze. He just returned from the World Championships in Moscow last week, still riding the wave of his unexpected third place finish, one spot ahead of two-time U.S. Figure Skating champion Johnny Weir.

And Tuesday night, Lysacek completed eight triple jumps en route to winning the men's portion of the U.S. Figure Skating Challenge, earning $50,000 in prize money in the season-ending event and once again finishing just ahead of Weir.

Amid a huge ovation from a small crowd, the competition closed with nine-time U.S. champion Michelle Kwan winning the women's event, finishing ahead of two-time World silver medalist Sasha Cohen.

"I feel really good," Lysacek said. "I think it was a strong way to end the season and definitely gives me a lot of inspiration to go home and work really hard for next year, the Olympic year. I really would love to come into the Olympics as a national champion. So it's going to take a lot of work obviously. And I'm going to try to improve in all the areas in my skating. It's really cool to go out and put on a good show for this audience."

Spectators got a chance to see what amounted to a rematch of the 2005 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Portland, Ore., with a lineup of top competitors who just returned from the Worlds. The U.S. contingent secured 16 spots for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy - the best showing since the 1984 Olympics - and that gave Tuesday night's $200,000 event an added dimension as a mini-preview of the Winter Games.

Judging by his recent performances, Lysacek will likely be a skater to watch in Italy. What's remarkable about that is that he simply wanted to finish in the top 10 in Moscow.

"I think that this year at the Worlds, I had a really good mindset going in and thinking, just do my best, why not?" he said.

"I think if everyone does their best, then the cards usually fall right and I was able to deliver pretty strong performances and basically have a good time. That's what I want to do. Instead of putting so much pressure on myself to come home with a medal, just go and try to enjoy it."

Lysacek did precisely that at the Times Forum, appearing confident and fluid, never falling. With the old 6.0 scoring system back in place, Lysacek logged two 5.6s and three 5.7s in technical merit, with two 5.7s and three 5.8s for presentation. Weir, nursing a stress fracture in his left foot, fell early attempting a quad, then slipped soon after and couldn't overtake the upstart.

Like Weir, Lysacek has battled his own stress fracture in the past year. He began experiencing hip pain last March at the World Junior Championships, where he won his third silver medal. The injury bothered him through much of the summer, hindering his training.

"This was a tough season," he said. "I had a lot of obstacles with my hip. No competition went really smoothly. But I did so much training through the winter that I felt like I was prepared. I just basically went to Russia and had such a good time."

And where does Lysacek go from here?

"I just think it's up and up," said his coach Frank Carroll, who helped guide Kwan to greatness as her first coach.

"He seems to get better and better. His biggest problem is that he works too hard. We have to cut him way back. Some kids you have to force to work; with Evan, you have to say, "Get off. You've just skated three or four hours.' That's where it happened with the fracture in his hip because he just works too hard. But he's a great kid."

[Last modified March 30, 2005, 01:04:14]