The New York Times-20080126-Inspired by Remark- Weir Has Slim Lead

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Inspired by Remark, Weir Has Slim Lead

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Similar senses of relief enveloped Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek after their short programs at the United States Figure Skating Championships. Weir put his hand over his heart and made a sign of the cross, although he admits to not being particularly religious. Lysacek, the defending champion, brought his hands to the sides of his head and later said to reporters, Jesus was with me today.

That is how much pressure they felt Friday night. Weir, a three-time national champion who finished third last year, skated a cleaner program to emerge as the leader with a score of 83.40. Lysacek fell twice in warm-ups, but landed enough program elements to trail by less than 2 points, at 82.05.

Stephen Carriere, the world junior champion, was third at 76.66, just ahead of Ryan Bradley (74.20), last year's national silver medalist, who is competing with a bone chip in his left ankle. The competition finishes Sunday with the free skate.

I have so much praise for Johnny, Lysacek said. I don't know how he's done this three times. But I'm learning. It's extremely tough and immensely more difficult than coming in as a challenger.

Weir was a bundle of nerves, too. After a poor season last year by his standards, Weir changed coaches and practice rinks while rededicating himself to winning the Olympic medal that eluded him in 2006. Friday night, Weir said he drew inspiration from an odd source -- the NBC announcing crew, whom he heard talking about him as he readied to skate.

It's funny, he said. Just before I went on, the NBC guys, all I heard was 'disastrous free skate' and all the stuff like they were giving the little preview of Johnny. And I was like, screw that, I'm going to try and make that guy stop talking like that before I skate and letting me hear it. So that was actually a help in some ways.

Weir, the second skater of the night, front-loaded his program with jumps. Before a small and subdued crowd at the Xcel Energy Center, Weir landed a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination to start, then hit two more triples. He did everything we asked him to do, clean elements, good footwork, said Viktor Petrenko, the former world and Olympic champion who helps his mother-in-law, Galina Zmievskaya, coach Weir. I think he did a very good job.

Thank you, comrade, said Weir, who admires all things Russian. Weir skated to music from a Russian rock opera.

I was nervous because there was a lot of pressure on me to come back and skate well at nationals, said Weir, who admitted that he also crossed himself before he went on, as well. Last year was kind of a disaster for me. My mojo was hurt last year.

He added: I don't want to be the fluke kid and the kid who chokes under pressure. Because I feel like I've already done a lot in my career, I shouldn't have to deal with that. But the second you fall down, people tear you down. So it's a constant battle, and I'm so happy today went smoothly -- not perfect, and not every element was great, but still clean, and it's done.

Lysacek said he felt relieved to receive the marks he did. Because of confusion over the start time, Lysacek was the last skater on the ice for warm-ups.

Today was so nerve-racking, the whole day, Lysacek said. I don't even know how to explain it. I was shaking. I was nervous. It was hard. Lysacek credited his coach, Frank Carroll, for helping him snap out of it.

The whole day was going in a bad direction, Lysacek said. I'm glad I was able to turn it around a little bit.