SportsLine wire reports

SALT LAKE CITY -- Michael Weiss knew it was his time. He didn't waste it.

After two years of barely missing a national title, Weiss was nearly flawless Saturday in winning the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

"I worked real hard for this," Weiss said. ``I felt like this was my national championships and I didn't want anyone to take it away from me.

"People look at you a little differently when you have that title. A lot of times people skate with a little bit more enthusiasm and a little more confidence, so it's good to have that title."

Weiss fell early on his quadruple toe loop, but it didn't matter after he hit eight triple jumps, four in combination. He came to nationals a heavy favorite following runner-up finishes to Todd Eldredge the past two years, and he responded to the pressure with a strong showing.

Weiss, 22, of Fairfax, Va., leads a young squad to next month's world championships. Only Weiss, who was seventh at the Nagano Olympics last February and sixth at the 1998 worlds, has much international experience on the senior level. And he hadn't won a major competition since 1996.

"I think a lot of the international judges have a lot more confidence in you when they see that title underneath your name now," Weiss said. "The U.S. always sends a strong team to worlds and I'm just proud to be the No. 1 guy right now."

The surprise member of the three-man world team is Trifun Zivanovic, who surged from seventh in '98 to second this year.

"It's a little unexpected," he said. ``I was aiming for top three, but I knew I was capable of anything coming here."

The 23-year-old from Los Angeles drew a standing ovation for his routine to West Side Story. He nailed seven triple jumps in the best performance of his career, capping a solid season in which he has not finished worse than second in four events.

"I said when I got off the ice, I didn't care what place I got, it felt so good to skate that way," Zivanovic added.

WHEN HE WAS DONE, Zivanovic saluted the crowd, throwing kisses and pumping his arms. When he reached the kiss-and-cry area, coach Gary Visconti placed a hat on Zivanovic's head and he wildly waved it in the air.

"Uplifting, one of the greatest feelings in my life," Zivanovic said. "It's a dream come true."

Third place went to Timothy Goebel, the only American to land a quad in competition. Goebel did that last year when he won the Junior Grand Prix final, but he crashed on the quad salchow Saturday.

Still, the 18-year-old from Rolling Meadows, Ill., did enough to get onto the team for worlds at Helsinki.

"I just squeaked in this year," he said, ``so I definitely want to skate well and defend my spot."

Michael Weiss made eight triple jumps, four in combination. (AP)

Weiss also won the short program, as expected. But he lacked fire in that performance, and he was solid -- if not spectacular -- in the free skate, worth two-thirds of the total score.

Portraying the warriors from Mulan, he completed the four rotations on his opening quad toe loop, but couldn't hold the landing and hit the ice. Weiss came up determined, hitting a triple axel-triple toe, followed by a triple flip-triple toe.

As the crowd warmed to him, Weiss knocked off one element after another to complete his climb from 1994 world junior champion to king of U.S. skating.

"It's an incredibly prestigious title to hold and being close to it the last couple of years, it feels great to be the champion of the United States," Weiss said. "Now I can go out and celebrate and have a pizza."