WASHINGTON — 2010 Olympic figure skating champion Evan Lysacek is pain free for the first time since August and has been doing jumps, including triples, in training the last four weeks.
“Whatever capacity I’m skating at, I don’t really know right now, but it’s nice to be back,” Lysacek said at the Best of U.S. Awards on Wednesday.
Lysacek, 28, missed the Sochi Olympics with a torn labrum in his left hip first suffered in August. He officially gave up his bid for Sochi on Dec. 10, saying a doctor told him he risked permanent damage if he continued to train at that point.
The injury is healed now, but Lysacek isn’t ready to say if or when he will return to competition after spending 14 weeks off the ice.
“Definitely a little premature for that,” he said. “But I’m back on the ice, looking at doing some shows and dipping my toes back in the water.”
Sochi would have been Lysacek’s third Winter Games, though he still flew to Sochi as a “TODAY” correspondent and to work with his sponsors.
“Very difficult,” Lysacek said. “I’d say the most difficult was seeing the men’s event and feeling like I should be jumping out there.”
Lysacek believes the judging system should be altered, to not weigh quadruple jumps so heavily, after watching the error-filled men’s free skate, won by Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu.
“There was a lot of attempted difficulty,” Lysacek said. “I think, overall, things have to change. They must know that they have to change the system now. The dial was moved a bit too far after Vancouver with rewarding attempted quads. So I think they’ll really take a hard look at how they’re scoring it — again.”
