Thursday, Feb. 04, 2010
Evan Lysacek
Figure Skating
United States
He's the world champion, but he finished second to countryman Jeremy Abbott at the U.S. nationals in January. The 24-year-old Illinois native packs intricate footwork and quite a few triple jumps into his programs, but he's failed to land a clean quad all season. Under the points-laden scoring system, a high-rating quad jump may be mandatory if Lysacek wants to reach the podium. The quad question will also have to be answered by returning Olympic and world champion Evgeny Plushenko of Russia and newcomer Patrick Chan of Canada. Lysacek says he's not worried about that quad. "The Olympics," he says, "is a different ball game."