2000 U.S. Figure Skating Championships

Senior Men

Final Standings

        J1:  Joan Burns
        J2:  Gale Tanger
        J3:  Deborah Hagenauer
        J4:  Shannon Hunter
        J5:  Dorothy Jamison
        J6:  Ron DeiCas
        J7:  Susan Johnson
        J8:  William Smith
        J9: Charles Cyr

Michael Weiss	Timothy Goebel	Trifun Zivanovic

Notes after the long program.

Timothy Goebel established himself as the undisputed king of the quad in the U.S. but it was Michael Weiss who took home the gold in a controversial men's final.

Weiss missed his quad attempt but skated an otherwise strong program with eight triples including two triple Axels and two triple-triple combination (Axel with toe loop and flip with toe loop).  In his enthusiasm, however, he landed three triple toe loops which is a violation of the rules and required a 0.1 deduction in the first. mark.  His "Carmen" number skated in all black was well done and by virtue of a clearly superior presentation he was placed first by 6 of the 9 judges.  Four of the six judges favoring Weiss gave he and Goebel the same total mark with the second mark breaking the ties.  Weiss also received one 6.0 in the second mark, his first at a U.S. Nationals.

Goebel landed all three quads he attempted, quad Salchow - triple toe loop, quad Salchow, and quad toe loop.  He landed a total of eight quad and triple jumps and almost had the triple Axel but stepped out of the landing in a triple Axel - triple toe loop combination.  Goebel's positions and presentation are much improved over the past year but still clearly lag his technical skills.  The question in rating Weiss and Goebel came down to deciding what margin of points to give Goebel in the first mark and Weiss in the second mark to decide the winner.  Two-thirds of the judges decided Weiss's margin in the second mark outweighed Goebel's margin in the first mark.   Other's, however, disagreed.  Both Goebel and his coach, Carol Heiss, graciously accepted the result and acknowledged the need for improvement in the presentation area and pointed out that Goebel being four years younger than Weiss has plenty of time to improve in presentation and move up in the standing in both the U.S. and world - something we expect to happen in the next year.

Matt Savoie had errors on three triple jumps, but landed four others.  He dropped from third in the short to fifth in the long allowing the more consistently skating Trifun Zivanovic to move up to third.  Zivanovic landed five triples including two in combination, triple Axel - double toe loop and triple flip - double toe loop.   Unfortunately, only two U.S. men will be going to worlds so Zivanovic will be missing out on that competition.  He will instead be going to the Four Continents Championships. 

Fourth in the long was Ryan Jahnke who skated a fine program to a piece of Spanish guitar music.  He landed seven triples, but two footed triple Axel.  He landed the rarely seen combination of triple Salchow - triple loop.

Notes after the short program.

The men's short program was a first rate experience with strong performances from six men, and the first place ordinals split between three of them.  Michael Weiss edged out Timothy Goebel in a five-four split, and Matt Savoy captured three first place ordinals of his own.

Of the top men, Trifun Zivanovic skated second in the first warmup group.  He skated a deduction free but slightly sloppy program to "The Mummy", with good speed and solid jumps. He landed triple Axel, triple Lutz, and triple flip - double toe loop.  Up until the last skater of the evening it was a good enough performance to hold third place, but ultimately he ended up fourth.

Last to skate in the first warmup was Timothy Goebel.  The only error of the program was a step out of his quad Salchow attempt.  Skating to "Caravan" he landed triple Axel - triple toe loop, and double Axel.  Except for the step-out it was a technically strong performance and in addition his presentation skills showed marked improvement since last year, appearing a lot more comfortable on the ice with a more finished line.

Last to skate in the second warmup, Michael Weiss did not attempt a planned quad toe loop.  From the look of the entry he appeared to have decided before hand to omit the quad, since Goebel had missed his, and concentrate on skating clean.  He threw triple toe loop instead and then landed triple Axel - double toe loop.  Due to a shaky landing on the Axel, with a reach for the ice but not a touch, the second jump of the combination was only a double instead of the planned triple.  For the remainder of the program to music from "On the Waterfront") he skated securely and with good speed.  It was just enough to edge out Goebel on a five-four split.

Skating next to last, Shepherd Clark opened with a huge waxel on a triple Axel attempt.   He fell violently and after attempting a few further elements withdrew with an injured back.  He was followed by Matt Savoie, the final skater in the event.

Savoie surprised many with a performance that unexpectedly challenged the leaders.   He landed triple Axel, triple Lutz, and triple flip - triple toe loop.  He skated clean and was the only man to land both the triple Axel and a triple-triple combination.  The presentation was very well done and his effort earned him three first place ordinals but the other six judges placed him third, where he ended the night, pushing Zivanovic down to fourth.

Free Skating

Short Program

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