Yagudin has plenty on opening night

SALT LAKE CITY - It was hardly solid.

"A little shaky," Russia's Alexei Yagudin admitted later.

But on a night in which several competitors, including one-time training partner and bitter rival Evgeny Plushenko, saw their gold- medal hope come crashing down, shaky was enough to put the two-time World champion in the driver's seat.

Yagudin led the men's competition after Tuesday's short program at the Salt Lake Ice Center with a performance that picked up steam and confidence as it unfolded.

"That's just the beginning," Yagudin said of his opening quad toe- loop, triple toe-loop. "The landing after the first combination was a little shaky but after that it was perfect."

Or at least enough to lead Japan's Takeshi Honda and American Timothy Goebel, who secured third after landing the first quadruple Salchow in Olympic history.

"I was not expecting to be in this position," Goebel admitted.

Plushenko, the reigning World champion, might have said the same thing had he not blown by reporters refusing to comment on a disastrous program. It greatly diminished if not eliminated his gold- medal aspirations and put him in fourth going into Thursday's long program.

Skating a Michael Jackson medley, the golden boy of Russian skating fell early and never recovered his composure.

To win the gold, Plushenko must win the long program and hope Yagudin finishes third or lower.

Two other former World champions, Elvis Stojko of Canada and Todd Eldredge, can't even entertain Plushenko's slim hopes. Stojko, the 1994, 1995 and 1997 World champion, double-footed a quadruple jump early in a tired interpretation of martial arts, slipping to seventh.

Eldredge may second guess himself as to whether he skated the program he wanted as well. Bowing to criticism that he never landed a quadruple jump in competition, Eldredge, the 1996 World champion, double-footed a quad early, then stumbled backward and never recovered his bearings. Five judges gave Eldredge scores of 4.9 or lower for technical merit, leaving him ninth.

"Obviously it didn't go as well as I had hoped," Eldredge said. "It happens that way sometimes."

Between Stojko and Eldredge is American Michael Weiss, who was hurt by an uninspired performance as the first skater.

For months, Yagudin, a three-time World champion, had dealt with the constant hype surrounding his showdown with Plushenko.

"I couldn't realize how nervous I was going to be going into the skate," he said. "I went through the warmup and I couldn't really feel my legs because of the pressure. I began to get faint."

It showed in the opening moments. Yagudin finally settled into a program that would earn four 5.9s and five 5.8s for presentation.

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