Lysacek gets the gold

ST. PAUL, Minn. – They were minor things, really. A change of edge here, a more difficult setup to a jump there.

When the skaters are as equally good as Evan Lysacek and Johnny Weir, though, those little details determine who gets the gold and who has to settle for silver.

Lysacek won his second straight crown at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Sunday, despite finishing with the same score as Weir. The two – who have combined to win the last five U.S. crowns – both finished with 244.77 points. But Lysacek won the free skate, 162.72 to 161.37, and that’s the tiebreaker.

Stephen Carriere, last year’s world junior champion, was third with 228.06 points.

“That’s awesome, actually, to have not one person but two people (that close) in the same event,” Lysacek said. “You put any top skater in world in that competition today, and they would have had tough time beating either one of us. I’m happy to be part of such a strong field and proud as well.”

Weir has every reason to be proud, too. His performance at last year’s nationals was such a disappointment – he dropped to third with a poor free skate – that he uprooted his entire life. He switched coaches and cities, now training in New Jersey with Galina Zmievskaya, who coached Olympic gold medalists Viktor Petrenko and Oksana Baiul.

“I’m very happy with my performance and happy that I could show the work that I’ve put in,” he said. “The scoring, first, second place – it really doesn’t matter. I’m just happy with the way I skated.”

And just wait until next year. Odds are, these two will be at it again.

“If you were scripting this whole deal, you probably couldn’t have done any better job than this,” Lysacek said.

Lysacek and Weir’s back-and-forth is one of the best things going in skating. Fans may love figure skating’s prettiness, but nothing gets more attention than a good, old-fashioned rivalry.

NBC, in its first year broadcasting the national championships, sure did its part to hype it up. But Lysacek and Weir say the rivalry stops at the boards. They may not be friends, but they’re not enemies, either.

“No, no, definitely not,” Weir said. “He’s just my biggest competitor.”

Added Lysacek, “I think he’s a great skater. He has pushed me and I’d like to think I’ve pushed him. I’m not going to say anything bad about him. I admire him.”

He’s beating him, too, these days.

Weir won the U.S. title from 2004-06, while Lysacek was winning a pair of bronze medals at the world championships. But Lysacek has had the edge at home recently, now winning the last two U.S. titles.

“My reaction this year is so much different than last year,” Lysacek said. “Last year, I was so excited. I’d climbed on top of the mountain I’d been working toward for so long. This year I feel more relief. I worked so hard, went through so much and I’m sad to say, I’m a little bit happy it’s over.”