Saturday, January 3, 1998

Todd is in Practice Group A, along with Michael Chack, Michael Edgren, Tim Goebel, Jeff Merica, and Ryan Jahnke. This group was scheduled for two practices today, the first, a short program practice, at 9:30 a.m. (local time) in the Convention Center. Only half of the group were there: Todd, Michael Chack, and Ryan Jahnke. Todd did not do a runthrough of his short program due to the fact Todd arrived too late last night to provide his music to the powers-that-be. He spent most of the session working on selected portions of the short program choreography as well as some of the long program elements, concentrating primarily on connecting footwork and spirals. He did some jumps including triple axel/triple toe, but jumps were not his focus at this session.

The second practice session for Group A was scheduled for 4:10 p.m. today at the CoreStates Spectrum, but the practices were running 25 minutes behind schedule, and so it began at 4:35 p.m. today. This was a free skate session, and Todd, Michael Chack, Ryan Jahnke, and Michael Edgren participated (Tim Goebel's music was played, so his appearance must be imminent). Todd was the first in the group to do a runthrough, and although it wasn't one of his better ones, it was still fairly solid. The opening quad was tripled and then the triple axel/triple toe combination turned into a single triple axel. But then, he went on to land a triple flip/triple toe, a triple lutz, triple loop, triple axel/double toe, triple salchow; in other words, a seven-triple runthrough. For the rest of the session, Todd worked a bit on the triple axel/triple toe combination since he'd missed it in the runthrough, and then turned his attention to the quad. After landing a couple of nice triple toes, he landed a quad on two feet, but then followed it up with a near-perfect quad/double toe combination, producing a thunderous round of applause from onlookers. All in all, an encouraging beginning of Nationals week.

Major news from other members of Todd's practice group is the fact that Michael Chack landed a triple axel/triple toe - amazing since he'd been unable to land a solo triple axel last year at Nationals or at Skate America. Neither Michael Weiss nor Scott Davis attended their practice sessions today, although their music was available.

Todd is scheduled for two practice sessions tomorrow: short program at 10:40 a.m., and a free skate session at 5:30 p.m., both to be held at the Convention Center. More from rinkside (including Todd's competitors) tomorrow.

Sunday, January 4, 1998

Todd had two practice sessions today, both in the Convention Center. There is a problem with the ice here - it is an extremely hard surface, making it difficult for the skaters to pick in for jumps and other moves, and it is smaller than regulation size, causing skaters to reevaluate distances when it comes to the boards.

Todd's first practice session was a short program practice at 10:40 a.m. Despite the ice and rink problems, he skated very well at this session, performing a flawless short program runthrough, complete with triple axel/triple toe.

The second practice began at 5:30 p.m. and started out very well indeed for Todd. Within 12 minutes of taking the ice, he landed a perfect quad. Unfortunately, however, his runthrough as well as the rest of the session, was ruined by insensitive fans taking flash photographs right at the boards as Todd launched into a quad (which he tripled), again for his triple axel, and still later another flash went off in Todd's face. Todd was effectively blinded by the flashes, and apparently lost concentration and momentum as a result, and proceeded to simply work on varied elements. Competition officials made several announcements denouncing flash photography, and finally by the end of the session, there were no more flashes going off.

This situation could have been extremely dangerous, and we'd like to remind our readers to use available light when taking photographs at any figure skating event or practice - you don't want to be the person responsible for injuring your favorite skater, do you?

Notes on Todd's Competitors: Neither Michael Weiss nor Scott Davis have attended their practice sessions yet.

The skating Draw for the Short Program was held last night (earlier than usual, thus catching this reporter unawares!). Todd skates fifth.

Todd has two practice sessions tomorrow (morning at the Convention Center, afternoon at the CoreStates Center). Note: The CoreStates Center is the site of the competition, and it has been unavilable so far this weekend. Fran will be reporting from rinkside with more from U.S. Nationals.

Monday, January 5, 1998

Todd had two practice sessions today. The first was a short program practice at 12:20 p.m. at the CoreStates Center, which will be the site of the actual competition. Before his runthrough, he landed a gorgeous triple axel/triple toe within 10 minutes of taking the ice, and then worked on a variety of other jumps. When it came time for his runthrough, he landed a triple axel/triple toe, but doubled the lutz. Afterward, he repeated the segment containing the lutz, and this time landed a beauty. Then he did it again, and landed another beauty.

His second session was a free skate practice at 4:40 p.m. at the Convention Center. Prior to his runthrough, he landed some nice triple axel/triple toes, worked on some other jumps, and then finally landed a quad (clean, albeit a bit low on the landing). An uneven runthrough followed, in which he tripled the quad and popped the second triple axel but landed all the other jumps. He also succeeded in capturing the undivided attention of onlookers. While he skated his program, it was very, very quiet in the hall. After the runthrough, he worked on the segment of the program with the second triple axel that he'd missed. The first time around, he popped it, but then the second time he finally nailed it.

Some Notes on Todd's Major Competitors: Michael Weiss attended practice today and landed an impressive but possibly two-footed quad lutz. He had a strong runthrough this afternoon of his free skate program. He fell out of the quad lutz during the runthrough, but went on to land eight (8) triples, including a triple axel/triple toe and a triple flip/triple toe. Scott Davis looked very strong during the warmup, but not as strong during his partial runthroughs. He did seem to be having some triple axel problems this afternoon. Tim Goebel is at the competition (he withdrew from Junior Worlds due to injury), but does not appear to have plans for a quad in this competition.

Todd has practice sessions tomorrow at the Convention Center (12:00 p.m. - Free Skate) and at the CoreStates Center (5:00 p.m. - Short Program Warmup). The Men's Short Program will be skated at 8:00 p.m.; Todd will skate fifth, following Michael Weiss. We'll have our report online early Wednesday morning.

Tuesday, January 6, 1998

Todd's working day began with a 12 noon free skate practice session in the Convention Center. Looking in good spirits and good form, he landed a gorgeous triple axel/triple toe within 7 minutes of taking the ice. Since it was competition day, when it came time for his runthrough, he did a partial choreographic (and mainly jumpless) one, concentrating primarily on in-between elements. Before the session ended, he also worked a bit on selected short program elements, focussing mainly on the footwork sequences.

The men's short program competition began this evening at 8 p.m. in the CoreStates Center. Todd was in the first group to take the ice, skating fifth. While not one of his best performances, it was more than adequate to get the job done and was clearly the class act of the competition. He landed a lovely triple axel/triple toe combination and followed this up with one of his hairier triple lutzes (clean, but not pretty) as well as a really nice double axel. This effort was enough to put him comfortably in first place, receiving the following scores and ordinals: 1998 US Nationals Short Program Marks (First Place)
Required Elements: 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8
Presentation: 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9
Ordinals 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Skate Order of the top six for the Free Skate on Thursday is as follows: 13. Shepherd Clark (4th after the short program) 14. Trifun Zivanovic (5th after the short program) 15. Timothy Goebel (6th after the short program) 16. Todd Eldredge (1st after the short program) 17. Scott Davis (3rd after the short program) 18. Michael Weiss (2nd after the short program) Todd has two practice sessions tomorrow, the first scheduled for 12:40 p.m. in the CoreStates Center, the second for 4:10 p.m. in the Convention Center.

Wednesday, January 7, 1998

Todd had two free skate sessions today, the first at 12:40 p.m. at the CoreStates Center (which went fairly well), the second at 4:40 p.m. at the Convention Center (which did not go as well).

In the first session, after landing a triple axel/triple toe within the first 20 minutes, Todd went through the rest of the jumps in the program then spent some time working on the quad. He was the last to do a runthrough, and it was good. He again tripled the quad, and the only real mistake was a doubled triple salchow toward the end of the program.

In the second session, he did not do a complete runthrough, but concentrated instead on segments of the program. Todd appeared to be having some trouble with his jumps. He spent some time focussing on the quad, and then returned to practicing his other jumps. These were not always successful, but he did land some beautiful salchows, loops and lutzes, as well as a gorgeous triple flip/triple toe.

Todd is scheduled for a practice session at 12:50 at the Convention Center, but this conflicts with the Ladies' Short Program, so there's a good chance he won't attend. His free skate warmup is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the CoreStates Center. The Men's Free Skate is scheduled to begin at 7:40 p.m. at the CoreStates Center, and will be broadcast live on ABC-TV.

Thursday, January 8, 1998

Todd spent his practice session focussing on jumps, primarily the quad. His most successful attempt came during the warmup session (not the warmup just before his free skate), where he landed a perfect quad toe, followed by a quad toe/double toe combination. During the warmup just prior to his free skate, he attempted another quad, and managed a fairly spectacular fall on live television.

The Men's Free Skate was shown on live TV on ABC-TV. Todd attempted a quad early in his routine; while he completed the four clean revolutions, he couldn't hang on to his edge and fell on the landing. He did land six triples, including a triple axel in the last 10 seconds of the program.

Scott Davis and Michael Weiss skated next, landing in third and second, respectively. Michael Weiss's quad lutz was declared two-footed in the landing, and does not qualify as the first quad successfully landed by an American man in competition.

Todd's marks and his final ordinals are below. With this win, he enters the history books as the first U.S. man since Dick Button to win five U.S. National Championships.

Todd has been named to the U.S. Olympic team along with Michael Weiss. Scott Davis has been named as the alternate. Four weeks to Nagano!

1998 US Nationals Long Program Marks (First Place)
Technical Merit: 5.9, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.8, 5.7, 5.6, 5.8, 5.8
Presentation: 5.9, 5.9, 5.9, 5.8, 5.8, 5.9, 5.9, 5.8, 5.9
Ordinals 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1

Sunday, January 11, 1998

The 1998 U.S. National Championships concluded this afternoon with the Chevrolet Skating Spectacular. As a change from the traditional line-up at Nationals exhibitions, the gold medalists in three of the four disciplines were scheduled to skate twice, in each half of the show (Michelle Kwan, no doubt not wanting to overtax her sore toe, being the sole exception). Thus the first half featured Todd skating his I Love the Way You Love Me program. Although he popped the intended triple axel, he did land a gorgeous triple loop and a triple toe, and skated with great feeling. All in all, he turned in a performance which was greeted enthusiastically by the audience, and which gave no hint that he was in fact not feeling well at the time.

Sometime after the conclusion of the competition on Thursday, he came down with what was initially thought to be a case of the flu, but which was probably only a very bad cold. Whatever the reason, he was definitely not feeling up to par and therefore elected to skip his second act performance.

The afternoon concluded with the introduction to the audience of the selected Olympic team, complete with the Olympic theme played live by the Marine Corps Band. Todd was the last of the team to be introduced and came out to center ice dressed in the Walk on the Wild Side costume (a hint as to what he had been intending to skate in the second act!) As he took his final bows, he was postively beaming, a reflection of his happiness at finally going to an Olympics as the reigning National Champion.