Michael Weiss earned a 6.0 for artistry to retain the U.S. title.

But oh, what tricks they were. He didn't just make history; he set the bar so high other skaters are going to have to pole vault over it to top him. No one had ever landed a clean quadruple jump at nationals before. Goebel did three of them - in a span of one minute. One was even in combination, as he tossed a triple toe loop on the end of a quad salchow.

His last quad, a salchow, was so huge he probably could have touched the scoreboard if he'd put his hand up. Or turned it into that quintuple coach Carol Heiss Jenkins has threatened.

"To do this in any competition and to do it in front of so many family and friends, is very special," Goebel said, still shaking from after his history-making performance.

Both jumps were perfect, and Goebel tossed off the quad as effortlessly as most people take two stairs at a time. He made it look so easy the audience had to wonder why the rest of the guys couldn't do the same thing.

Next up was a quadruple toe loop, and he followed that with the quadruple salchow. When he landed that jump, a look of utter relief crossed Goebel's face.

"I was ready to put up a good fight and I'm just thrilled I did as well as I did," Goebel said.

But spectacular as his jumps were, Goebel's lack of artistry left room for Weiss.

"I've been on both sides," Weiss said. "I was there against Todd Eldredge when I came out and I was trying quads, but he won. The judges have shown there's a need to skate a solid program. I went back and worked on that, and I made sure I perfected it."

Skating to "Carmen," Weiss looked as if he could feel the music, flowing effortlessly through his program and drawing the audience into it with his expressiveness. He didn't even try a quad - Derrick Delmore was the only other skater to try a quad in the free skate - but he didn't need it. He landed nine triples, including four in combination, nailing each one.

"As everyone said, it's much harder to defend, to win a second time," Weiss said. "And I'm thrilled to pull it off."

Trifun Zivanovic, last year's silver medalist, finished third, but it wasn't good enough to make the world championships. The United States can only send two men to next month's competition, so Weiss and Goebel will go. Weiss finished third at worlds last year.