U.S. Figure Skating announced today that 2010 Olympic champion Evan Lysacek and 2006 Olympic silver medalists Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto will not compete at the 2010 World Figure Skating Championships in Torino, Italy. Ashley Wagner has announced she has withdrawn from the 2010 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in The Hague, Netherlands.

An immaculate Olympic medal streak ended for the American ladies on Thursday at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. For the first time since Peggy Fleming won gold at the 1968 Olympics, the U.S. ladies failed to place on the podium, unable to overcome the stellar performances of South Korea’s Yu-Na Kim, Japan’s Mao Asada and Canada’s Joannie Rochette.

Rachael Flatt and Mirai Nagasu, who finished first and second at the recent national championships, served notice at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada, that American ladies skating is not dead. The two teenagers from California finished fifth and sixth in the short program, scoring a personal best 64.64 and a seasons best 63.76, respectively.

When Evan Lysacek arrived at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada, last week, he wrote a message to himself on a note card and taped it to the wall. It read: “Mind your own business.” His stock went up Thursday when he skated the best performance of his career to win the Olympic gold medal, ending an 18-year reign of Soviet and Russian skaters in men’s figure skating. Russian Evgeni Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic Champion, finished 1.31 points out of first-place despite winning the short program.

Dominique Moceanu knows what it takes to be the best in the world. In Atlanta, she was a part of the first United States gymnastics team, known as the Magnificent Seven, to win Olympic gold. “Standing on the podium watching the flag being raised was one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” she said from her home in Cleveland. Moceanu thinks the next person to hear the national anthem could be World Champion Evan Lysacek, who is in second place heading into Thursday’s free skate at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Evgeni Plushenko has the advantage in the men’s competition at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada. He is the only Olympic Champion among the field, even if only for today. “He has power mentally because he has what we all want,” said reigning World Champion Evan Lysacek, who finished fourth at the 2006 Olympics. “It’s going to take some mighty fine skating to get that power away from him.”

Johnny Weir in pictures from the 1999 U.S. Championships through the short program in Vancouver.

Evan Lysacek’s journey to the 2010 Olympic Games in pictures from 1999 through Vancouver.

Photos of the top competitors from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games men’s short program.

Evan Lysacek skates at approximately 8:15 p.m. local time with Johnny Weir at 8:48 p.m.