Fall can't spill Eldrege/Winner Weiss fail to land quad jumps

PHILADELPHIA---Todd Eldrge won the U.S. Figure Skating Championship on a night when both he and Michael Weiss tried to become the first skaters in U.S. to land a quadruple jump.

Eldrege skated first and attempted the quadruple toe jump. He lost his balance at the end of the fourth rotation and fell to the ice. Still, the audience cheered his attempt.

"It was mote of a personal thing," said Eldrege, 26, from Chatham Mass."I felt really good today. I did two nice ones in warm-ups. I figured why not?"

Eldrege finished his program with six triples and earned a standing ovation from the crowd before he had finished skating. He earned marks of 5.8 and 5.9from a possible 6.0 and gained and Olympic berth. Two of his rivals, Canadian Elvis Stojko and Russian Ilia Kulik, perform quads.

Weiss tried to go Eldredge one better by attempting a more difficult jump, a quad lutz. He two-footed the landing, though did not receive credit for the jump. His marks ranged rom 5.7 to 5.9 but they were good enough for second place and a berth on the Olympic team.

Judges swarded Eldrege first place on a seven of nine votes. It would have been closer had Weiss not doubled a triple flip jump.

Cheif referee Bill Fitzpatick reveiwed the quad attempt by Weiss on replay to confirm the two-footed landing.

"It was absolutely an excellent attempt," said Fitz patrick,"but it was landed on two feet. You could see snow fly from the arena."

No one has ever come closer to landing skating's toughest jump.

"The second foot did touch down,"said Weiss, 21, from Fairfax VA. Weiss also landed six triples and had the crowd on its feet in the closing moments of his program.

Scott Davis, 25, from Great Falls, Mont., was third.

"I came real close to winning the naational title,"Weiss said."But Todd is the five-time national chmpion. He's an incredible competitor and an incredible athlete."

Weiss nearly made history at last year's national championships in Nashville when he attempted the quad toe. It appeared he had landed it cleanly untill an hour after the competition, officials looked at a videotape and ruled that Weiss had a slight two-footed landing.

For Eldrege, this will be his first trip to an Olympics when he is healthy and injury free. He placed 10th in the 1992 Olympics despite a back injury. He missied making the 1994 team when he got the flu at Olympic trials.

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