Mistake leaves Eldredge a longshot

 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Once again, Todd Eldredge let his moment slip away.
 With the Olympic medalists taking a pass on the World Figure Skating Championships, a second world title was Eldredge's for the taking. But it's not going to be nearly so easy now.
 Only 20 seconds into his short program Wednesday, the five-time U.S. champion blew his first move, his jump combination. The rest of his program was clean, but that one mistake was enough to drop him to fourth.
 "I came here and said I'd go out and skate the best I can for myself and the crowd," he said. "Everything after the opening combination was fine. It takes one mistake for us guys, and we will not get the marks we expect."
 Eldredge can still prevail if he wins Thursday's free skate, worth two-thirds of the total score, but he's going to need help. Russians Alexei Yagudin and Yevgeny Plushenko stand in his way. Yagudin, fifth at the Olympics, is first; and Plushenko, who at only 15 isn't even supposed to be here, is second. Michael Weiss, the other American, was third.
 "It's not over yet," said Eldredge, who must beat Yagudin by at least two spots in the free skate to win the gold.
 Yagudin agreed.
 "Everything is still possible," he said. "Plushenko can win, Todd can win, I can win. You just have to do the skating."
 Eldredge came to the world championships hoping to erase the bitter memories of Nagano, where he was favored to win a medal but finished fourth after a dismal free skate. And the timing was perfect here, with Ilya Kulik, Elvis Stojko and Philippe Candeloro skipping the world championships.
 Eldredge smiled as he took the ice to a huge cheer from the American fans. Many in the crowd were waving U.S. flags, and one fan held up a sign reading, "Skate Great, Todd!"
 He didn't. After Yagudin's near-flawless -- though uninspired -- program, Eldredge had to be almost perfect. But he stepped out of the landing of his triple axel, the first jump in his combination, then cut down a planned triple toe loop to a double.
 "I wasn't really nervous, I just did it wrong," he said. "I went up for the takeoff, pulled a little too hard and over-rotated it."
 A brief look of disgust crossed his face, but he buried it, plastered on a smile and finished his program cleanly. As the music from "Les Miserables" ended, he shook his head and half-smiled, as if to say, "Nope, not this time."
 He skated off the ice with his head bowed and stared straight ahead as he waited for his marks. When he heard them, ranging from 5.0 to 5.6 for technical merit and 5.5 to 5.9 for artistry, he laughed.
 Eldredge isn't the only one who wants to put the Olympics behind him. Yagudin, the European champion, caught the Nagano flu and was hospitalized after competition ended.
 He's not feeling much better here, and it showed in his skating. Yagudin hasn't eaten a full meal in two days, so he came out and did exactly what he had to do -- and little else.
 "I didn't eat anything today. I've just had some tea and some fruit," he said. "It's difficult to skate like that."
 His program was clean and the most technically difficult of anyone, but that's it. His triple axel-triple toe loop jump combination was huge, but there was no flow to it. Instead of a sharp, smooth landing, he finished abruptly.
 Yagudin's footwork was quick and smooth, but he might as well have been sleepwalking for as little expression as he had on his face. Huge jumps? Big deal. A big, fast, flying camel spin? Does it every day.
 He finally started smiling as his music came to an end, but just barely. He showed the most emotion when he saw his marks, ranging from 5.5s to 5.8s, pumping his fist and nodding his head.
 "I don't know what I ate that destroyed my stomach," he said. "But now I feel a little better, so of course I will skate."
 Plushenko wasn't much better in the emotion department, but he is only 15, after all. He's actually too young to compete, but as junior world champion, he was allowed to replace Kulik.
 What Plushenko lacked in emotion, he made up for in creativity and flexibility. On his flying camel spin, he grabbed his ankle at the end, making a circle out of his leg.
 And on his final combination spin, he did something no other man -- and few women -- can do: a Biellmann spin. The crowd gasped as he reached back with both hands, grabbed his blade and pulled it straight over his head.
 Weiss, the last of the top men to go, was a little more conservative than usual. He didn't even try a triple-triple jump combination, settling for the easier triple axel-double toe. But the crowd didn't mind, clapping along to his modern Latin music and giving him a standing ovation as he finished.