So Weir, who said he had not considered himself among the top 10 contenders for a gold medal here, began this Olympic quest exactly where he ended the last, trailing a handful of skaters.
"It was gorgeous," Weir said of his skate. "The scores are out of my hands. . . . But I actually had fun tonight, and that's something that I haven't been able to say for a long time. I felt like I showed my heart. I smiled. I can't remember the last time I smiled."
Given the gap between the top three and the rest of the field, it will be difficult to dislodge them tomorrow.
Plushenko, the defending gold medalist and three-time world champion, put up his score early, and none of the remaining 20 skaters could top it.
"I'm not thinking about gold," he said. "I'm not thinking about a medal. I was trying to think about my jumps. I'm in history already, so I skated not bad."
Coming closest to him was Lysacek, the defending world champion and Weir's longtime rival. He skated an energetic and fault-free routine that left him just 0.55 points behind the leader. Takahashi, 23 and the first Japanese male to get a silver medal at a world championship, was next.
Among the other men expected to contend, Switzerland's Stephane Lambiel, the 2006 silver medalist, was fifth at 84.63; Japan's Nobunari Oda was fourth at 84.85, and Canada's Patrick Chan was seventh at 81.12. The third American, U.S. champ Jeremy Abbott, never found a rhythm and ended up 15th with a total of 69.40.
Ex-world champion Brian Joubert of France cut short his quad combo and fell on another jump to essentially eliminate himself with a score of 68.00.
