Russians Crash Party Kulik, Yagudin Challenge Stojko, Eldredge For Gold

Not a fall, not a bobble, not a slow spin or crooked footwork in the bunch. Nothing to complain about unless you’re Mr. Blackwell and would be offended by a man wearing a chiffon shirt with wings. The four top guys skated their short programs that well Thursday at the Olympics.

Sometimes it was hard to look past the waving appendages that decorated Ilia Kulik’s flowing costume, but it was impossible to overlook his elegance, the height of his triple Axel-triple toe combination and the way he made the double Axel seem as easy as crossing his legs.

Kulik, a 20-year-old from Russia and first-time Olympian who has taken to training in Massachusetts, took the lead over the two more experienced men, Canada’s Elvis Stojko and Todd Eldredge of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Standing fourth, waiting, hoping for one of the leaders to make a mistake is 17-year-old Russian Alexei Yagudin, who did the highest jumps of all last night but who maybe has to wait his turn.

The second U.S. skater, 21-year-old Michael Weiss of Fairfax, Va., took a bad fall on the front part of his combination and is in 11th place.

It was a night of careful, deliberate skating among the four leaders. No one wanted to make the big mistake, take the big fall that would put him out of the top three. For the aim of the short program is to be among the top three. That way, you win your long program, you win the gold medal.

But Thursday night was also about positioning oneself in the eyes of the judges.

What the judges seemed to appreciate most was the long lines and smooth way that Kulik, who skated to techno-pop music by Jean-Michel Jarre, covered the ice in big, easy strides and also the way he made the jumps look.

His rise into the air is slow but then he doesn’t stop going up. Though Kulik dismissed his performance as “nothing special; it wasn’t that great,” his artistic marks, which were all 5.8s and 5.9s, might be indicative of where the judges are heading Saturday for the long program. The tiebreaking marks in the long program are the artistic marks.

Skating right after Kulik was 1994 bronze medalist Philippe Candeloro. The Frenchman wore some sort of black leather ensemble that had red string holding it together. But there was nothing holding his skating together. It was choppy and disconnected and if he didn’t fall, he also didn’t stand out and so Candeloro settled for fifth place and massive applause from women waving Candeloro masks.

Yagudin, who has no problem telling people he jumps higher than anyone, does that. But it was the other parts of his skating, the footwork and spins, that need maturity.

Which brought on Eldredge.

The last time Eldredge was at the Olympics, in 1992, he was 20 years old and he had a bad back. Eldredge fell down on the simplest of elements, his double Axel, and ended up 10th.

Before his program Thursday night, a totally new presentation crafted after the U.S. nationals in Philadelphia last month and skated to music from “Les Miserables,” Eldredge told his coach Richard Callaghan that he was nervous and his legs were stiff.

Callaghan made Eldredge do some jumping jacks in the hallway to loosen his legs, then he gave him an animated pep talk. He told Eldredge that he has been perfect for over a year in the pressure-packed short program, where one mistake can make it impossible to win a medal.

So Eldredge jumped and he listened and then just came out and nailed everything - the triple Axel-triple toe combination; the triple Lutz; and, finally, the double Axel before which, Eldredge admitted, he had thought about 1992. “I’m proud, proud of you,” Callaghan whispered to Eldredge in the kiss-and-cry box.

“I felt great,” Eldredge said. “Going into the warm-ups I was a little nervous. My legs were not quite there. But I went at it aggressively and made it happen.”

It was over an hour before Stojko, the current world champion and a silver medalist at the 1994 Olympics, got his chance. Eldredge had said that with the other leaders in, Stojko might have felt more pressure.

But that wasn’t the case.

Stojko, who said he had received a pep talk from Eric Lindros in practice earlier, had the fastest footwork and his jumps were solid.

When the final scoring was figured, Kulik had won four of nine first-place votes; Eldredge was first for three judges and Stojko two. Stojko received more second-place votes than Eldredge and he also received the evening’s only perfect score, a 6.0 artistic mark from the Canadian judge.

Stojko didn’t question that 6.0 but he did wonder about what some judges were thinking, the ones who gave him 5.7s for artistic. Stojko was afraid it was a statement again that he didn’t evince enough classic grace. But if that was the case, Stojko said, too bad.

“I’m a powerful skater,” he said, “a masculine skater. I don’t have a feminine side.”

The feminine side will not be in evidence at all Saturday.

Each of the top four men have at least eight triple jumps and two triple-triple combinations planned. Three of the four have quadruple jumps in combination planned. Eldredge is the odd man out on the quad, which nobody attempted at the 1994 Lillehammer Games.

So, Todd, what’s up?

“I’ll see how it feels,” is Eldredge’s stock answer to the quad question. Eldredge is the only one of the top four who hasn’t completed a quad in competition. In fact, Eldredge has only tried it once, at the U.S. nationals in Philadelphia.

He fell.