Evan Lysacek's 1.35-point edge in the free-skating segment was enough to let him retain his U.S. men's title Sunday.

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — This is as close as a rivalry can get.

Evan Lysacek won his second straight title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships on Sunday, despite finishing with the same score as Johnny Weir. The two — who have combined to win the last five U.S. crowns — both finished with 244.77 points. But Lysacek won the free skate, 162.72 to 161.37, and that's the tiebreaker.

"If you were scripting this whole deal, you probably couldn't have done any better job than this," Lysacek said.

Stephen Carriere, last year's world junior champion, was third with 228.06 points.

Weir's showing was much better than last year's, when an awful free skate dropped him to third. That prompted him to uproot his entire life. He moved to New Jersey, and now trains with Galina Zmievskaya, who coached Olympic gold medalists Viktor Petrenko and Oksana Baiul.

"It's really fantastic vindication to know I came back and didn't totally fall apart," Weir said.

Lysacek and Weir have a back-and-forth that's one of the best things going in skating. Weir won the U.S. title from 2004 to 2006, while Lysacek was winning a pair of bronze medals at the world championships.

But Lysacek has had the edge at home recently, winning the last two U.S. titles.

Lysacek had said that he wasn't going to worry about the results this year, that coming in as the defending champion would give him a confidence boost, not a case of the nerves. It didn't quite work out that way.

Skating to "Tosca," he didn't have his usual sharpness or precision, and until his last two sections of footwork, his free skate lacked his usual emotion.

He landed his quadruple toe loop jump on two feet, and needed to do a turn before the triple toe that's supposed to be a combination.

He wasn't very secure on the landings of either of his triple axels, too, though he held on to both of them.

He did end the program nicely, though. Four of his elements — two jump combinations, a triple lutz and a double axel — came after the halfway mark, which earn bonus points.

His straight-line footwork is filled with intricate steps and kicks and fast hops and turns, and it always gets a nice reaction from the crowd. Sunday was no different. Fans were cheering and clapping before his music even finished, and Lysacek pumped his fist in satisfaction.

But he'd left room for Weir. The two were separated by only 1.35 points after the short program, so there was a good chance whoever won Sunday's free skate would be the champion.

The two were evenly matched in jumps — both two-footed their quads and did seven triples.

But Weir also appeared to land his triple flip on two feet, and he had simpler entrances to his jumps. It was enough to be the difference between silver and gold.

Weir also didn't skate with his usual intensity. He seemed to be more about business in both his short and long programs, skating as if he was crossing one thing after another off a mental checklist. He still had his usual elegance, but not his fire.

Tucsonan Chelsi Guillen and partner Danny Curzon are one of three pair teams headed for the World Junior Championships, U.S. Figure Skating announced Saturday.

The World Championships will be Feb. 25-March 2 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Guillen and Curzon will be joined by U.S. junior pairs champions Jessica Rose Paetsch and Jon Nuss of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Southern Californians Bianca Butler and Joseph Jacobsen, who placed ninth in senior pairs.

Guillen and Curzon earned a spot on the team based on their bronze medal performance in the junior pairs event at the U.S. Championships. It will be their third international event together.

– Jamie Blanchard