2003 U.S. Nationals

Senior Men

by Maggie Doyle

Timothy Goebel skated early in the skating order, drawing fourth to skate in a field of 19 skaters. This was the debut of his "Romeo and Juliet" short program. He landed his quad Salchow but scaled back his combination to a double toe loop for the second jump. He then stepped out of his triple Axel but landed his triple flip. His footwork improved this year but he was also slower on that element. "QUOTE ME," he said. His coach Frank Carroll added, "He can do better but I wasn't dissatisfied with this performance."

The freeskate takes place on Saturday at the American Airlines Center and three men will be selected for the USFSA's World team after that final. Derrick Delmore withdrew after the short programs. With the 2003 World championships at home in the DC area he felt he had to give competing a try but his right hip flexor injury prevented him from landing all his jumps in an otherwise beautiful program. He finished twelfth in the short. He first noticed this injury after falling on a quad attempt at Skate Canada in November. "I've been through different treatments like chiropractic treatment, electrical stimulation's treatments, massage therapy, and medications," he explained.

Michael Weiss adds a third national title, previously winning in 1999 and 2000 but it was not a pretty victory. He fell on his opening quad Lutz, and did not land a triple Axel in either the short or the freeskate, going for a double Axel in his "Malaguena" program. He did land a quad toe-triple toe combination, a triple loop, and his last jump was a triple Lutz. He held on to his triple flip and added a double toe to his triple Salchow. "I've never seen so many things happen like that at nationals before. From not finishing their program, to hitting the wall, the name going up under someone else's marks, I ran into a flower girl when I was out there for 7 and a half minutes waiting to skate," he said.

His coach Don Laws was flabbergasted that Weiss won without landing a triple Axel. "I told Michael this won't happen again to the Triple Axel; it just can't be," said Laws. Michael moves on now as a world team member in his hometown. "I've never had a competition of this caliber in my hometown before. I'm looking forward to having friends and family there; it should be exciting."

Tim Goebel said earlier in the week that nothing that takes place at the U.S. Nationals surprises him anymore but he was surprised last night. "To be honest I have no idea what happened. This was an embarrassment and there is no excuse for it. I'm healthy and I was in good shape and one thing went wrong after another," he said. His coach Frank Carroll was also unhappy with his program. Goebel added," The only thing I can say is that I fought through the whole program, There wasn't one point where I gave up; I just couldn't get the job done."

Dubbed the Quad King, he planned four quads in his "An American in Paris" program, the same program that netted him an Olympic bronze medal and a 2002 World Championships silver medal in Nagano, Japan.  Unfortunately his fell on the first two, stepped out of the third and turned the final quad Salchow into a triple. He dropped to third in the freeskate and three judges gave him fourth place ordinals

Ryan Jahnke skated a wonderful performance with five triples. "I think I definitely had the hope (of finishing in the top three) but I try not to think too much about the outcome of the event or how I'm going to skate before I get there. That tends to get me too tight, a little too nervous. This is something I have looked forward to for a long time," he said.

Jahnke skated here to Cinderella, which is a special selection for him. When he proposed to his now wife on August 17, 2001 he followed a Cinderella theme. He sent her a parchment scroll from the Prince of his subdivision inviting her to join him in his carriage for a special dinner. He borrowed a friend's Mercedes and took her to the Broadmoor Hotel for dinner. They then walked around the lake to the Skating Memorial bench, with Jahnke with a small glass slipper in his pocket, containing her ring. "I freaked when we first got there because some other people were sitting on it, but when we made our second lap of the lake, it was free. I proposed asking her to become my queen and it was a special night," he recalled. She then left one of her shoes for him when exiting the car to carry out further the Cinderella theme. They were married June 1, 2002. Jahnke is now on his first world team.

Johnny Weir stopped his program twice tonight prior to withdrawing due to a knee injury on his second fall of the program on his triple Axel. He first fell just skating, went into the wall and had a restart thirty seconds into his program. "My back is fine now but it hurt when I hit the wall. The problem is my knee. It moved wrong on the second fall and I did not want to risk further injury. It is disappointing but I will be back next year," he said. He planned to skate to selections from "Dr. Zhivago soundtrack but only skated a small portion of it prior to the withdrawal.

Weir's withdrawal put Matt Savoie out on the ice early. Already suffering from severe tendonitis and skating on a left knee that was numb from a pain injection, it was not Savoie's night. "He hadn't done a freeskating program in eight days and that is just too difficult at this level. He went out there and gave it all he had," said Gene Hefron who coaches Matt Savoie along with his primary coach Linda Branan.

Savoie fell on his triple Salchow and then was forced to reskate the final part of his "Ragtime" program when Referee Kathleen Flaherty blew her whistle softly three times before Savoie heard it over his music.  His strap had broken so she stopped him for his own safety. He was required to repeat from the time of the first whistle so he had to redo his triple Lutz. The first one was better as he held on but it no longer counted and he
two-footed the second one. He then did a triple toe and his final combination spin. He dropped from third place to sixth in the freeskate, finishing fifth. He will be resting his knee for the next few months to get it healed for next season according to Branan.

Parker Pennington skated clean and with style, including a triple Axel and another in combination in his Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto" program to pull up to fifth place in the freeskate and sixth overall. He had been 7th with his Carmen short program. He competes at the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic from Feb. 24 - March 3 along with Evan Lysacek who finished seventh here.

The USFSA will send Weiss, Goebel, and Jahnke to the World Championships in Washington DC. Goebel, Jahnke and Smith are currently also assigned to the Four Continents event in Beijing, China on Feb. 10 - 16.

Short Program

Free Skating