So Meissner goes home as the champion. And she already knows just what she’s going to say when she does the public address announcements at school Monday morning.
“Kimmie Meissner is back in the building today after winning nationals,” Meissner said. “So make sure if you see her, tell her congratulations.”
And never mind the details.
Lysacek made no secret this week of how badly he wanted to be the national champion. He’s won bronze medals at the last two world championships and finished ahead of Weir at the Olympics. But it was Weir who won the last three U.S. titles, and those come with bragging rights topped only by Olympic gold or a world title.
Lysacek is normally a happy-go-lucky guy, but he was deadly serious Saturday, the perfect match for his slicked-back hair, all-black outfit and “Carmen” program.
“I tried to totally shut down my brain,” he said. “I was trying not to think about winning, because that’s kind of a curse.”
His first element was the quadruple toe loop-triple toe combination, a trick he’d yet to land cleanly.
But he was perfect this time. As his blade touched the ice after the second jump, Lysacek looked skyward, his face etched with relief. All he had to do was stand up, and he’d win.
He did. When he punctuated the last note of he music with a punch of his fist, the audience roared its approval. He dropped to his knees, and stayed there for 20 seconds, soaking it all in.
“You don’t dethrone (champions) in skating by hesitating,” Lysacek said. “You go out and fight with passion.”
When he got up, he pumped his fists, clapped his hands and tried to make eye contact with every person who was cheering for him. Enough stuffed animals to open a toy store covered the ice, and Lysacek bowed several times before skating off. When he saw his marks, he leaped to his feet and saluted the crowd again.
All the while, Weir, who was up next, was skating around the ice, trying to keep his focus. It was impossible to do.
“Very, very difficult to go after that,” Weir said. “I heard 90-something for the (technical) score, and I had never heard that before. I thought, ‘What did he just do?”’
The landing of Weir’s opening triple axel was shaky and he two-footed his attempt at a quad. He fell down on a triple loop and popped a triple axel into a single. He didn’t do a triple-triple combination.
Even more disappointing was his demeanor. Weir is one of the most lyrical, expressive skaters in the world, someone who can make tracings look artistic. But he seemed almost disinterested.
Or maybe he just knew he’d been beaten.
“A bronze in the U.S. nationals isn’t too shabby,” Weir said. “When you compare it to a U.S. title, it’s a little disappointing.”
While Lysacek and Weir have programs that can match up with the best in the world, Bradley is all about entertainment. And the fans couldn’t get enough, screaming like he was the second coming of Elvis.
He did do seven triples, including a triple axel-triple toe combo, but he didn’t even try a quad and speed wasn’t his strong point.
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