PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Todd Eldredge has won national championships at three levels. He won one as the youngest national champion in 24 years. He has won at a U.S. Olympic Festival and at Skate America and he has been to the Winter Olympics.
But no championship was sweeter than the one he won yesterday.
Eldredge, 23, from South Chatham, Mass., turned in a near flawless effort in the long program yesterday to win his third United States Figure Skating Men's championship at the Providence Civic Center.
Two-time defending champion Scott Davis, 23, of Great Falls, Mont., was second and Aren Nielsen, of Kansas City, Mo., was third.
The victory completed a three-year comeback for Eldredge, who now joins an elite group that includes Brian Boitano, Scott Hamilton, Hayes Jenkins and Dick Button as three-time winners.
And it came before a home crowd.
"It's been a while since I've been on the podium here, but it has been a good year and this is a great way to cap it off," said Eldredge, who one his first senior title at 18. "The first time I won was a fluke, but this one means the most because of all the hard years I've put in."
"If I had come here and not done well, they would have said he fell at the nationals again," said Eldredge. "It was great to have the home fans and my relatives here. I definitely heard the crowd behind me."
Eldredge successfully completed seven of eight triple jumps, including two triple axels, one in combination, and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination during his nearly 4-minute, 30-second program, and his only mishap was failing to get his hand down on a triple lutz.
That left a very small margin of error for Davis, the last skater in the field and winner in the short program. Davis went cleanly through four triple jumps, but put his hand down on one, and stepped out on another.
"I didn't watch Todd skate, and I thought I started out well," said Davis, who has been sidelined this season with a stress fracture in his back. "But I started to think too much instead of letting the program flow. I guess I learned a lesson today. I think I can build on this performance."
Eldredge said: "I was aware of my mistake, but I wasn't concerned. I just wanted to skate clean the rest of the way and then see how Scott skated. I was just going to stick with what I've been doing all year. That's what got me here."
It's has been an uphill battle for Eldredge since he placed 10th in the 1992 Olympics. Then came more problems. The lower back problems later in 1992. The lingering pains and loss of confidence in 1993. Battling the flu at the nationals in 1994.
After winning national championships in 1990 and 1991, Eldredge finished no higher than fourth the next three years, withdrawing once because of a back injury.
When he finished sixth with a lackluster performance at the 1993 national championships, Eldredge and his coach talked about getting out of skating for good.
"Sure, after 1993, there were so many doubts about continuing," said Eldredge. "But I stuck with it, and that's why I'm here today."
After putting his skates away for four months, Eldredge returned and became the hottest skater in the country.
"Todd has learned to take one day and one performance at a time," said coach Richard Callaghan. "He has had a good year and had a lot of confidence coming into these championships."
"I thought he might try too hard. His performance wasn't perfect, but he performed very well.
SENIOR MEN
Free skate
1, Todd Eldredge, South Chatham, Mass., 1.0. 2, Scott Davis, Great Falls, Mont., 2.0. 3, Aren Nielsen, Kansas City, Mo., 3.0. 4, Damon Allen, Rockford, Ill., 4.0. 5, Michael Weiss, Fairfax, Va., 5.0. 6, Shepherd Clark, Atlanta, 6.0. 7, Daniel Hollander, Huntington Woods, Mich., 7.0. 8, Rudy Galindo, San Jose, Calif., 8.0. 9, John Baldwin Jr., San Diego, 9.0. 10, Jason Sylvia, New Bedford, Mass., 10.0. 11, Michael Chack, Brick Township, N.J., 11.0. 12, Derek Stedingh, Anchorage, Alaska, 12.0. 13, Russ Scott, Costa Mesa, Calif., 13.0. 14, Mel Chapman, Grosse Ile, Mich., 14.0. 15, Brian Buetsch, Rockford, Ill., 15.0.
Final standings
1, Eldredge, 2.0. 2, Davis, 2.5. 3, Nielsen, 5.5. 4, Allen, 6.0. 5, Clark, 7.5. 6, Weiss, 9.0. 7, Hollander, 10.0. 8, Galindo, 12.5. 9, Baldwin, 14.0. 10, Chack, 14.5. 11, Sylvia, 15.5. 12, Stedingh, 18.0. 13, Scott, 20.0. 14, Chapman, 20.5. 15, Buetsch, 22.0.
JUNIOR MEN
Free skate
1, Matthew Kessinger, Indianapolis, 1.0 factored placements. 2, Trifun Zivanovic, Los Angeles, 2.0. 3, Derrick Delmore, Fort Washington, Md., 3.0. 4, Ryan Jahnke, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., 4.0. 5, Timothy Goebel, Rolling Meadows, Ill., 5.0. 6, Eric Bohnstedt, Colorado Springs, Colo., 6.0. 7, Dwayne Parker, Philadelphia, 7.0. 8, Pete St. Germaine, Minoequa, Wis., 8.0. 9, Jeff Tilley, Newark, Del., 9.0. 10, Robert Schupp, Erie, Pa., 10.0. 11, Eddie Gornik, Salt Lake City, 11.0. 12, John Wagner, Lake Arrowhead, Calif., 12.0. 13, Don Baldwin, San Diego, 13.0. 14, Bert Cording, Raleigh, N.C., 14.0.
Final standings
1, Kessinger, 2.5. 2, Zivanovic, 2.5. 3, Jahnke, 5.0. 4, Delmore, 6.5. 5, Goebel, 8.0. 6, Bohnstedt, 8.0. 7, Parker, 9.5. 8, St. Germaine, 12.5. 9, Tilley, 13.0. 10, Gornik, 16.0. 11, Schupp, 16.5. 12, Wagner, 18.0. 13, Cording, 19.5. 14, Baldwin, 20.0.