St. Louis – The Swan took flight. Then the beak started squawking. All feathers and fishnet, flair and fury, Johnny Weir launched himself toward the Winter Olympics with a spectacular showing Thursday in the short program of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
Then he compared a competitor’s music to a “vodka shots, let’s-snort-coke kind of thing,” called himself “the lowest scum in the pond” and corrected a reporter about printing that he wore a boa to Wednesday’s news conference. It was actually a chinchilla scarf.
Welcome to Johnny’s world, one the rest of the world will see in Turin, Italy, if he even comes close to Thursday’s performance in Saturday’s free skate. Weir, suffering setbacks from choreography delays to personal problems, landed every element to score 83.28 for a commanding lead.
Michael Weiss, a two-time Olympian, was second at 77.55 and Evan Lysacek, bronze medalist at the World Championships, is third with 74.03. Olympic bronze medalist Timothy Goebel, in his last nationals, faltered and is fifth at 70.27, just behind Matthew Savoie’s 72.50. The winner goes to the Olympics, and the next two will likely get berths.
In the women’s short program, favored Sasha Cohen overcame a bout with the flu this week to take first at 65.15, well ahead of Emily Hughes, the sister of defending gold medalist Sarah Hughes, who scored 59.11. Beatrisa “Bebe” Liang is in third at 58.82.
Weir, 21, put himself in position for a third straight national title with a near flawless performance. Becoming the first male skater in history to skate to Camille Saint-Saens’ “The Swan,” with the costume to match, Weir landed all three jumps: a triple axel, a triple lutz-triple toe loop and a triple flip.
With the International Skating Union’s new judging system putting more emphasis on footwork and artistry, Weir scored Level 4, the highest possible, in his spins to take a huge lead. It was a breakthrough for Weir, who didn’t finalize his choreography until mid-October after judges rejected his initial program for being too easy.
Too many competition obligations cut into his training. Then came a sprained ankle and undisclosed personal problems. After so much self-doubt, he’s the man to beat again.
“It takes you from feeling like the lowest scum on the pond like two hours ago, and now I feel like I’m a flower growing out of the pond,” Weir said. “It’s as if it shows you the best and worst attributes you have as a person.”
After the performance, Weir stomped his foot, pumped his fist and wildly hugged his coach, Priscilla Hill, as the crowd in the Savvis Center gave him a standing ovation. The fans were almost as wowed by his performance as his costume, which consisted of one sleeve made of white feathers, the other of fishnet with a silky red partial glove forming a beak on his right hand.
He named the beak “Camille” after the composer of the soothing classic, a point Weir wanted to make. The crowd responded.
“I watched Ryan Bradley (of Colorado Springs) skate earlier to ‘Zorba,’ and that was awesome and it’s a different kind of support,” Weir said. “This one they kind of sat back and had their cognac and their cigarettes and they were relaxing and watching. And his was more like vodka shots, let’s-snort-coke kind of thing.
“Sorry for those drug references.”
Cohen, the silver medalist at the worlds, leads a pack of women fighting for only two berths as Michelle Kwan, the nine-time national champion, has petitioned for a berth on the Olympic team because of a groin injury that sidelined her this week.
“It feels a little empty without her here,” said Cohen, who has never won a national or world title. “Ever since I’ve heard of figure skating or been at nationals, Michelle has always been a big part of that event, so I definitely miss competing here with her and it doesn’t even feel quite like the nationals.”
If the U.S. Figure Skating’s International Committee upholds Kwan’s petition after Saturday’s long program, one of the other top three will have to stay home.
“I think it’s hard for all the girls here and for everybody who worked so hard for a spot on the team,” Cohen said. “But it’s also the U.S. Olympic Committee’s job to take the skaters who will place the highest in the Olympics.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
