Weir sits in second after men’s short program
Heavily favored Russian Plushenko in first place by more than 10 points
 Robert Laberge / Getty Images Johnny Weir leapt into second place after the men's short program Tuesday, but was still more than 10 points back of leader Evgeni Plushenko. |
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TURIN, Italy - Johnny Weir makes headlines as much for his mouth as for his skating.
This time, the three-time U.S. champion was dead on.
Evgeni Plushenko is all but a lock for gold, and everyone else will have to settle for a different color.
Weir was among the first to recognize that.
“I’ve been touted as America’s next medal hope. As long as I go well, I can’t see why not. I will definitely race for silver,” he said Tuesday night after finishing second in the men’s short program.
Yes, silver. Plushenko is so good they may as well give him the men’s Olympic title now and scrap Thursday night’s free skate. Throw in the crown for next month’s world championships, too.
Plushenko’s personal best of 90.66 Tuesday night was the highest for any short program since the new scoring system was adopted in 2003. It put him more than 10 points ahead of Weir, a gap so great it makes those early, non-conference basketball routs look like squeakers.
He was so far ahead of everybody else that his technical score — 49.69 — was higher than each of the bottom three men’s TOTAL scores.
“It’s a lot of pressure right now, guys, come on,” Plushenko said. “Nothing happened. I just skated today perfect and did my job.”
Oh, perfect, that’s all.
Though he was playful while he awaited his marks — kissing his wedding ring and blowing kisses into the camera for his wife, Maria — he was all business on the ice. He never gave a hint of a smile as he skated to “Tosca,” displaying instead all of the tortured passion from Puccini’s opera.
He nailed every element, from a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination to a solid triple axel to complex footwork into a triple lutz. Only when his final combination spin ended did he lighten up.
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“The fight starts right now,” Plushenko said. “Yeah, I have 10 points more than everybody and I’m happy with the result, of course. But I should perform the same like I did tonight in the free program. If I do my best, I can win first place.”
And finally join his old rival among the elite group of Olympic champions. If Plushenko wins, he would be the fifth straight Russian or Soviet man to win the gold.
Plushenko’s showdowns with former training partner Alexei Yagudin were memorable, with each pushing the other to excel in their sport. But Yagudin got the ultimate prize at the Salt Lake City Olympics after the younger Russian stumbled in the short program, and that loss has fueled Plushenko the past four years.
He’s won two more world titles, and it likely would be three if an injury hadn’t forced him out before last year’s free skate. He won his fifth European title last month even though the flu had him gasping for breath, and he admitted Tuesday he’d been “a little bit sick” earlier this week.
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“He comes into this competition with silver before, and he definitely wants to better that,” said Jeff Buttle, the runner-up at the Grand Prix final and last year’s world competition. “And he definitely has the best goods out there. It’s his title to give up.”
Silver, on the otherhand, would suit Weir just fine. The famously flamboyant American, who described one old costume as an “icicle on coke” and another as a “Care Bear on acid,” has never finished higher than fourth at the world championships, but he appears to have saved his best skating for the sport’s biggest stage.
His elegant portrayal of a swan featured perhaps the best triple axel of the night and a superb pancake spin. His triple flip was shaky, though, as were some other spins, and he didn’t hold position very well on his final spin.
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