Americans back to work

 PARIS (AP) -- After coming close to surprise victories, it's back to practice for Michael Weiss and Nicole Bobek.
 Both led after the short programs at the Lalique Trophy figure skating but both ended up losing to Russians who were better in the long program Sunday.
 Alexei Yagudin, the world and Olympic champion, beat Weiss in a battle of quads. Maria Butyrskaya, the European champion, rallied to beat Bobek in the women's event.
 Both Russians beat the Americans in Skate America.
 The quads showed the battle between the men. Yagudin landed his without any doubt.
 Weiss is still slightly two-footing his. He has yet to land one cleanly in competition, although he has been trying one since the 1997 nationals, when it took five hours and a videotape replay to notice a slight scrape of the ice with his blade.
 When Weiss stepped out of his triple axel on the long program, he knew he couldn't hold the lead.
 "I did a good program but the level is incredibly high now," Weiss said. "The competition is becoming so strong."
 Bobek also couldn't hold her lead, and it was not a quad problem. It was the failure to do a good program. She scaled four jumps in the long program and it cost her.
 Still she showed improvement after her return to Richard Callaghan, who coached her to the national title in 1995.
 "Definitely I think it is a new start. I think we accomplished a lot in this competition and the other competition," Bobek said.
 Both Weiss and Bobek have chances to make it to the Grand Prix finals featuring the top six singles skaters of the six meets during the season. It depends on the results of the final two competitions -- the Cup of Russia this week and the NHK trophy next week.