U.S. Crowns New Champions

At the U.S. Figure Skating Championships that wrapped up this weekend in Spokane, Wash., it was clear that change was in the air. When the competition concluded, new champions were crowned in three of the four disciplines. That's nothing new in the season following the Olympic year when many skaters leave the sport to pursue other interests or turn pro.

As expected, Belbin and Agosto won the ice dance competition with a new free dance to "Amelie." It was their fourth national title.

The big surprise was in pairs in which Brooke Castile and Benjamin Okolski, former Jr. champions, won the title over 2006 champions Rene Inoue and John Baldwin -- by less than one point.

In ladies, 2006 world champion Kimmie Meissner was favored to win over what many called a weak field. She won the title, but by less than one point over Emily Hughes. If Hughes had not fallen midway through her free skate, she may have upset Meissner.

America's New Quad King

But the talk of the competition and the marquee matchup was the rivalry between three-time U.S. champion Johnny Weir and two-time World bronze medalist, Evan Lysacek. The short program lived up to its billing with both skaters performing clean routines. Lysacek led by less than one point going into the free skate Saturday night. By the end of the night, it was no contest.

After opening his program with a quad toe-triple toe combination (which he had practiced only once before and did not do cleanly), Lysacek was off and running. He proceeded to complete eight triple jumps in all and skated flawlessly for the entire four-minute and 30-second program, bring the crowd to its feet. It is considered one of the best free skate performances in the history of the U.S. championships. I thought his free skate at the 2006 Olympics was pretty remarkable, but it pales in comparison to what he did Saturday night.

Weir followed immediately after with a sloppy program. When he fell midway through his program, he knew he lost the competion. He finished third behind Ryan Bradley, a good 35 points behind Lysacek, who won his first national title of his career.

The championship recap program will air next Sunday, Feb. 4 at 12:30 eastern time. The show will be worth checking out just to see Lysacek's performance. It was that good.