Plushchenko completed two quadruple jumps in a program for the first time for him. Goebel also did two. However the last time Goebel skated a long program he did three for the third time in beating world champion Alexei Yagudin at Skate America.

Plushchenko opened his program with a quad-triple-double combination then added a solo quadruple toe loop along with six other good triples. His only error was when he had to put a hand down on a triple loop.

Still he scored 5.9's for every mark except for one 5.8 for technical merit. Although he had won a minor meet in Finland, this was his first Grand Prix meeting which counts for points and money.

"For my first competition I was quite pleased," Plushchenko said. " We have been working hard and we did what we planned, including two quadruple jumps for the first time."

Goebel had a quad salchow-triple toe loop for his start but then fell on a quad toe loop attempt. He came back later to successfully do another quad salchow.

He also did six other triples but stepped out of a landing on his triple axel-triple toe loop combination.

"I'm disappointed because I made a few mistates and didn't do as well as I did in skate America," Goebel said.

Still scored nearly all 5.8s for technical merit and 5.6s and 5.7 for presentation for his classical routine. He has improved his presentaiton scores since switching to Frank Carroll, who also coaches Michelle Kwan, the three-time world champion.

Also with his first and second in Grand Prix competition, Goebel qualified for the final in Tokyo in February, which takes the top six scorers in the six meets. Kwan, also with a first and second, has clinched a spot in the women's field.

However that comes at a time just after the American championships in Boston and the Four Continents, a test event at Salt Lake City where the Olympics will be held. s "Those competitions do fall very close together and I am just going to wait and talk it over with Frank and see what he has to say," Goebel said.

Third was China's Li Chiangjiang, who missed his quad attempt but still had seven triple jumps.