told reporters that he had difficulty with his spins and that he almost tripped during his step sequence. He successfully completed a triple Axel, a triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, and a triple flip, earning 76.28 points, a little over 2.5 points behind Daisuke Takahashi from Japan, who came in first place after the short program. Weir needed a clean skate in his free skate to win the gold medal, but he came in fourth place. Skating last, he put a hand down on his opening triple Axel, popped his second triple Axel, and fell out of his triple salchow. He earned 122.42 points in his free skate and 198.70 points overall. Weir was in second place after the short program at Cup of Russia, less than two points behind Joubert. Weir successfully completed his jumps, but did not attempt a quadruple jump and according to the Associated Press, "generally seemed a bit slow". He came in fifth place in the free skate, with 121.38 points, over 40 points less than Joubert's free skate score, and came in second place overall, with a total score of 196.28. Weir competed at the Grand Prix Final, but had to withdraw after the short program due to an injury to his right hip from a fall. Weir later said that he was embarrassed by his withdrawal, done after "trash-talking" Lysacek for also withdrawing due to an injury. He admitted that his Grand Prix season was "disastrous" and that he had not been skating well going into the 2007 U.S. Nationals in Spokane, Washington. Shortly before Nationals, former figure skater and analyst Mark Lund, who was openly gay, speculated about Weir's sexuality on television; Weir chalked it up to jealousy. Weir went into Nationals hoping to become the first American male since Boitano to win his fourth U.S. championships in a row. His rival Lysacek, who had beaten Weir the last three times they had competed internationally, was seeking his first Nationals title. According to Weir, both the press and U.S. Figure Skating, due to his performances during the season and at the 2006 Olympics, and despite his past successes, began to actively support Lysacek over him. As Weir said, "I couldn't outskate the negativity following me into the competition". In the short program, both Weir and Lysacek skated clean programs and were essentially tied going into the free skate, although Weir had better