Lysacek prevails at Grand Prix Final, Weir third

Evan Lysacek (USA) won his first Grand Prix
Final title in Tokyo.
Photo: AP/Itsuo Inouye

World champion Evan Lysacek won his first Grand Prix Final title today, besting a strong field of men who skated some of the best free skates of the season. Silver medalist Nobunari Oda prevented an American sweep of the podium, with Johnny Weir and Jeremy Abbott finishing in third and fourth. In the end, the top four men all skated performances that could be worthy of an Olympic medal in February.

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Lysacek, skating in his first Grand Prix Final in two seasons, skated an passionate program to Scheherazade.  He popped his second triple axel into a double, but wisely changed his program to include the maximum eight triples without incurring any invalidated jumping passes. But what he lacked in the Technical Elements Score (TES) the judges more than made up for it in his Program Components Score (PCS), which were the highest in the competition by far. He finished with a 159.60 in the free skate and a total of 249.45, which was the highest total score achieved by any male skater this season.

A slight favorite coming into the competition, Oda charmed the audience once again with his now signature Chaplin free skate. However, his performance today was not up to his other showings in technical content.  He popped his second triple axel into a single, as he had done at Cup of China, which cost him valuable base points. That, combined with a late mistake on a double axel, took him out of the running for the title. But he earned a 155.71 in the free skate on the strength of the execution of his elements and his program components, giving him his second Grand Prix Final medal.

Weir, the three-time U.S. champion, continued to build momentum with another strong performance, complete with eight triple jumps. His free skate was well-constructed and built in intensity from beginning to end. He was able to carry the lead that he had built from the short program to finish in fourth with a total score of 237.35. Weir earned his second consecutive Grand Prix Final bronze medal and continues to grow stronger heading into the U.S. Nationals in January.

Defending Grand Prix Final champion Abbott fell on his quad toe, but came back strong with eight triples in a powerful and dramatic free skate. His performance was a good confidence builder toward Nationals, especially given his subpar showing in the short program. He was too far behind after the short to factor into the medals, but his free skate score of 158.73 was his highest of the season. His total score of 235.38 was one of the best of the season, but the strong performances above him kept him just outside the podium in fourth place.

2007 World silver medalist Daisuke Takahashi, the leader after the short program, skated immediately after Lysacek and needed a clean program to overtake him for the title. But he made multiple mistakes on his jumping passes in the free skate. He underrotated and fell on his attempt at the quad toe, came out of his second triple axel early, and popped the backend jump of his triple lutz combination. Add to those errors a few careless spins at the end of the program that were invalidated, and points he lost took him off the podium and into fifth place. 

2008 European champion Tomas Verner popped his opening quad toe into a double and had a technical meltdown during the second half of his free skate after a fall on his triple lutz. His free skate score of 122.15 kept him in sixth place overall.

MEN (final standings)
1. Evan Lysacek USA – 249.45
2. Nobunari Oda JPN – 243.36
3. Johnny Weir USA – 237.35
4. Jeremy Abbott USA – 235.38
5. Daisuke Takahashi JPN – 224.60
6. Tomas Verner CZE – 192.32