there. this was one of the most exciting sporting events i had ever seen. when it came down to the final six men, the american evan lysacek skates first. the big controversy he doesn t have any quadruple jumps. other than that, he skated virtually flawlessly, the program of his life, came into a strong lead. then we had to wait through four more skaters before we got to evgeni plushenko. he was known for toughness, through that quad, landed it, a series of triple jumps. everybody was holding their breath when it was over to see where the judges would go and the medal went to the american for the first time since 1988. he was absolutely thrilled. he was gracious. then you have plushenko saying he was positive he won. he felt like evan must have needed a medal more than i did. his coach suggested he was
for a silver despite landing a flawless jump. wiping out here. julia mancuso turned in another performance to take home silver in the usa. hannah teter and kelly clark soared to silver and bronze. nbc s chris jansing following the excitement. some of the best play by play i think i ve heard was from you today explaining the atmosphere and what was happening out there with the men s figure skating. it was awesome. it was unbelievable. it was absolutely electric. i m telling you that place was rocking. rarely have i been to an event where there was so much tension. i describe it as a super bowl atmosphere. you get to these last six skaters. you have clearly the best two skaters in the world, two toughest positions, skating first and last. you have evan lysacek putting in a flawless performance followed by evgeni plushenko who pulls
about the whole night. evgeni plushenko had to settle for a silver despite landing a flawless quadruple jump. lindsay vonn was back on the slopes yesterday but didn t have the run she had hoped for. sliding down on one ski. she did not finish the second part of the super combined. but julia mancuso finished strong and won her second silver medal in as many days. we ve got more olympics hockey action for you right here on msnbc today, the men from sweden will take on belarus. coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. eastern time followed by our live coverage. and on sunday, watch american men s hockey team take on canada. the u.s. versus canada, canada s
he s somebody who has had tremendous problems in international competition. nailed it last night, came in sixth. could try a quad in the final thursday night. what we re going to watch for, andrea, is the scoring. the quad is a tremendous controversy here. the leader, you have evgeni plushenko named a triple, but he doesn t have a lot between the skating. the question is, what will the judges be looking for thursday night. who will try and land the quad. right now the top three skaters are separated by less than a point. this is going to be fantastic. chris, what s with the trash talking from plushenko saying anyone that doesn t do a quad is skating like a girl. what is that. girlie man. remember when arnold said he said if you don t try the quad, you might as well be a woman skater. i would tell you a lot of people have taken issue with that. there s a huge article today in
do you think it will come down to who completes the quad? no, the overall package, whether the quad and everything else for plushenko or that means evan putting together a great program without a quad but having the intricacy in between and the great spins and fire and everything else to overtake plushenko. let me ask you to look ahead. women s competition the premier event. who are the ones to watch? kim, leaps and bounds ahead of the competition in technical strength and her scores have reflected that. but the canadian is a wonderful skater. really, really takes the time to create a program of intricate beautiful moves to connect her steps in skating. that s really rewarded well. and of course the two japanese, we ll see, should be a great event. u.s. girls coming up with their first olympic games. both great skaters and should add a lot to the competitions. that s exciting.