Eldredge Faces Quad Question Five-Time U.S. Champion Seeks Olympic Figure-Skating Crown

The last man to win five U.S. figure skating championships was Dick Button. All he did was capture Olympic gold - twice.

The last two men to win American crowns four times, Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano, won consecutive Olympic titles. In fact, of the five most recent four-time U.S. champs, only one - Charlie Tickner in 1980 - did not win an Olympic crown.

Todd Eldredge won his fifth national title last month. He comes to Nagano with the best all-around skills of any men’s skater. But will that be enough to measure up to Button, Boitano and Hamilton?

“When the whole package is there, and it is skated well and cleanly and you present it well, it should be good enough,” the 26-year-old from Chatham, Mass., said. “But I know there is that question out there.”

The question? The quad question.

Eldredge’s three main rivals all are masters of the quadruple jump. He, most decidedly, is not. And the quad has taken on added importance as it has become a staple in so many repertoires.

Canada’s Elvis Stojko, the favorite, does one in combination, usually a quad-triple that nobody has matched. Ilia Kulik of Russia also is toying with a quad combo and regularly hits the solo quad. So does his countryman, rapidly rising star Alexei Yagudin.

Hey, even the other American at the games, Michael Weiss, tries one in every major competition. Weiss goes for a quad lutz, the most difficult four-revolution jump currently being attempted.

Eldredge tried his first quad in competition at nationals, completing the rotations but falling on landing. He’s worked hard in training the jump in the interim, but that doesn’t mean it will be part of his free skate on Feb. 14.

“If you do all the triples and a quad and don’t have the artistry, what good is it?” he said. “You’re lacking somewhere.

“I’m hoping that if I don’t have the chance to use it, I make up for it with the other parts of the program: the spins and footwork and artistry.

“People zero in on the jumps and, yeah, they are there. But if I don’t have great spins and the other guys have great spins, they should win.

“The quad is more of a question mark, more than another triple axel. If you do two triple axels and all eight triples you plan are there in the program, along with everything else, I still think the quad is more of a bonus factor.”

Eldredge could get away without the quad. If he does well in the short program, worth one-third of the total score, then draws a starting spot in the free skate after his main rivals, Eldredge could gauge its necessity by seeing how Stojko, the Russians and France’s Philippe Candeloro fare before him.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Countdown to Nagano The opening ceremonies in Nagano take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. PST on Friday.