Evgeni Plushenko's withdrawal was Thursday's big story, but a competitive field will make for an exciting Friday in figure skating.
SOCHI, Russia — Heading into this figure skating season, Jason Brown had some figuring to do.
With a year of junior eligibility left, he wondered if the time was right to jump to seniors. Having not yet mastered the quadruple jump, he thought maybe 2018 would be his best shot to represent the USA at the Olympics.
The pony-tailed 19-year-old from Highland Park, Ill., opted to go for it. He now sits in sixth place going into Friday night's free skate for the medals at the Sochi Olympics.
It's not a distant sixth from the podium. He's less than a point behind the three skaters just in front of him (placed three through five) in what shapes up as the battle for the bronze medal.
He still doesn't have the high-scoring quad. But four years go in Vancouver, Evan Lysacek of the USA won figure skating gold without a quad.
"The quad is usually a point-getter, of course," says Brown. "Because I don't do one, I have to do everything else well and get as many points as possible with the elements I do."
OUT: Plushenko abruptly withdraws
In the short program Thursday night, Brown did just that. He hit his triple jumps and showed his skating artistry to post a personal-best score of 86.00 points in the short.
That put him within range of third place Javier Fernandez of Spain (86.98 points), fourth-place Daisuke Takahashi of Japan (86.40) and fifth-place Peter Liebers of Germany (86.04).
All three of those skaters have the quad. Brown could use a fall or two by his opponents.
But there other elements to his game.
ABBOTT: Hard times at Sochi continue
PHOTOS: MEN'S FIGURE SKATING COMPETITION
Though an Olympic newcomer, Brown demonstrated his poise in the short program.
Just before his group took the ice, the arena was stunned by the decision by Russian star Evgeni Plushenko that his ailing back would not permit him to skate. Then Brown's U.S. teammate, Jeremy Abbott, took a big fall and crashed into the padding.
Brown was unfazed.
"I had my headphones in until I got into the ice. … I was just really focused on going out there and doing what I had to do," says Brown.
He has another way of keep his attention fixed on the task at hand. Off the ice, he wears glasses. He takes them off to compete, and he doesn't skate in contact lenses either.
"It helps me concentrate and focus and really block things out that are like distractions," he says. " … It just makes it all kind of a blur. I see the audience and I see the crowd as a whole rather than each individual person."
RECAP: Relive men's short program
Abbott came here on the heels of his fourth U.S. title. He was intent on erasing the memory of his ninth-place finish at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. But he had a shaky short program in the Sochi team event last week, also falling on his quad, and placed seventh out of 10. He even said after that fall, "For me I think it was a very positive step. You're all going to think I'm crazy."
He said he would be refocused for the men's individual competition and even moved out of the athletes village to a hotel to avoid distractions.
It did not help.
After his fall Thursday, Abbott stayed down on the ice for several seconds. But he got up, gritted it out and finished. He scored 72.58 points, well shy of the U.S. record 99.86 he delivered at the national championships in Boston.
"When I stood up, I could hear the crowd screaming for me, and I knew I had to finish," said Abbott, 28, who is in his final competitive season. "I my mind I was thinking, 'Do I go to the referee? Do I keep going? Am I done?'
"I was very confused, and I was in a lot of pain, but I heard the crowd and I knew I had to do it for them. I wanted to skate a clean program tonight. I let myself down in the team event."
Jeremy Abbott's hard times at Sochi continued in the men's competition.(Photo: Robert Deutsch, USA TODAY Sports)
For Brown, the big test will come Friday night when he does his free skate to the Riverdance music of Reel Around the Sun by Bill Whelan.
Before the men's individual event, Brown was asked what would make it a good Sochi Olympics for him.
"For me, it's all about skating the way that I've trained," he said. "I've trained these program every day. I know I'm capable of doing that when I compete.''
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