TURIN, Italy, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Three-time world champion Evgeni Plushenko of Russia easily won the short program portion of the Olympic men's figure skating event Tuesday night.
Plushenko, considered virtually unbeatable for the gold medal, was given a score of 90.66 while American Johnny Weir moved into second place at 80.00.
Current world titleholder Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland was third at 79.04, followed by Brian Joubert of France, Daisuke Takahashi of Japan and world championship silver medalist Jeffrey Buttle of Canada.
It took more than four hours for the 30 competitors to complete the short-program phase of the competition. The men's free skate will take place Thursday night.
Plushenko finished second at the Olympics four years ago to Russian rival Aleksei Yagudin.
