VANCOUVER, British Columbia OK, guys, let's see what you've got.

If the short program is an accurate indication, what Evgeni Plushenko, Evan Lysacek and Daisuke Takahashi have is the goods to grab gold.

"The truth is, 90 is a pretty darn good score in the short and if one guy had a 90, it's great. It shows the depth of this competition that three guys got 90," Lysacek said Wednesday. "It's pretty impressive and shows the quality of the competition."

It also shows how the top three have broken away from the rest of a strong field. Reigning Olympic champion Plushenko of Russia has 90.85 points going into tonight's men's final, .55 ahead of Lysacek, the current world champ from the United States. Japan's Takahashi is .05 behind Lysacek.

Takahashi has a 5.40-point edge on countryman Nobunari Oda, with Turin silver medalist Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland another .22 back. Even Johnny Weir, a three-time U.S. champion in sixth place, and Canadian hope Patrick Chan (seventh after the short) believe they could win a medal.

Bronze, perhaps.

The gold rush is almost certainly between Plushenko, trying to become the first repeat winner since Dick Button in 1952; Lysacek, seeking to be the first American man to top the figure skating medals podium since Brian Boitano in 1988; and Takahashi, who would be the first Japanese man to medal at an Olympics, let alone win gold.

"If all three skate well, and pretty much all are at the same level, it means needing a perfect performance to win," Button said. "I think they will separate themselves, and that usually means someone makes mistakes. They will write their own tickets."

Button thinks it will come down to Plushenko's leaps vs. Lysacek's skating skills and Takahashi's total components. Just don't ask him to pick a winner.

None of the top six men did a complete run-through at Wednesday's practice, and Lysacek was the only one of the Big Three to talk.

"I'm really prepared and don't know if I've ever been so ready for a competition," said Lysacek, a two-time U.S. champion who was fourth in Turin. "All I can do is my job. I might be eighth or ... who knows?"

Several skaters with no chance to win suggested Plushenko's experience in such a position — he won a silver medal in 2002, as well as the 2006 gold — will serve him well.

"If Plushenko holds it together, I think he can be the champion," two-time U.S. champ Jeremy Abbott said. Abbott was 15th in the short program. "Evan can (win), but Plushenko is so consistent."

Since returning from a three-year retirement, Plushenko has won all three of his competitions, finishing first in every program. He even set a world record for the short at the European championships last month.

And then he posted that monster score on Tuesday.

But he didn't pull away from Lysacek and Takahashi.

"It's really interesting," Chan said. "Plushenko was so far ahead after (the short program) in Torino that he walked away with the gold. I want to see how he handles having Evan and Dice-K right behind him."