Jeremy Abbott claimed the gold medal at the 2009 U.S Championships tonight in Cleveland, Ohio. The reigning Grand Prix Final champion cruised to a 12-point victory in Cleveland.

"I felt awful leading up to this event and on the ice, but I pulled it together," Abbott said. "I'm learning to be a competitor. I'm so happy that I won.

"I let a lot of outside pressure get to me being the Grand Prix champion ... [but] I guess it's just my time."

Abbott, 23, tallied 241.89 overall points as he performed a graceful program to Astor Piazzolla's "Eight Seasons." The leader after the short program, Abbott had one crucial mistake in the long; he popped an intended triple jump. He tacked one on later in his program to make up for the miscue and had a wobbly landing on that try.

Abbott won the long program with 155.49, followed by Brandon Mroz, who scored 154.82. The 18-year-old landed a quad in his electrifying long program and took the silver medal with a competition mark of 229.70.

Evan Lysacek had to settle for the bronze tonight with an overall score of 229.10. Meanwhile Ryan Bradley placed fourth (221.40) and Johnny Weir was fifth (203.99).

Bradley had the third-best long program of the night with 147.35 while Lysacek place fourth in that segment of the event with 145.51 points. A fall on his opening quad attempt seemed to set the tone for Lysacek, who was second in the short, as he never seemed to really get his legs under him.

Weir, seventh after the short program, had several mistakes in his long program for which scored 133.23 points.

Abbott and Mroz are training mates in Colorado Springs, Colo. Tom Zakrajsek coaches both skaters as well as two-time and reigning U.S. ladies silver medalist Rachael Flatt.

"There's a competitive atmosphere but we root for each other and challenge each other," Abbott said. "It drives us to work harder. It helped us all three to be on the podium."

Added Mroz, "We're all great friends, but we're always pushing each other and it brings us to the next level."

Although U.S. Figure Skating leaves room to make selections based on the year's worth of results, the committee who selected the World team went with tonight’s three men’s medalists. That means Weir, who has been sick, will not be able to defend his spot on the World podium. Last year, he was the World bronze medalist.

The only U.S. skaters who were given a spot on the U.S. team to compete at the 2009 World Championships who did not compete at this year’s nationals were five-time (2004-08) U.S. champions Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. They missed this year’s U.S. Championships as Agosto has been nursing a back injury.

U.S. Figure Skating also named its international selections for ladies, men's, pairs and ice dancing for the 2009 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and 2009 World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

LADIES

2009 World Championships; Los Angeles, Calif.

• Alissa Czisny
• Rachael Flatt

Alternate 1 – Caroline Zhang
Alternate 2 – Ashley Wagner
Alternate 3 – Mirai Nagasu

2009 Four Continents Championships; Vancouver, Canada

• Alissa Czisny
• Rachael Flatt
• Caroline Zhang

Alternate 1 – Ashley Wagner
Alternate 2 - Mirai Nagasu
Alternate 3 – Katrina Hacker

2009 World Junior Championships; Sofia, Bulgaria

• Mirai Nagasu
• Ashley Wagner
• Caroline Zhang

Alternate 1 – Katrina Hacker
Alternate 2 – Alexe Gilles
Alternate 3 – Brittney Rizo
Alternate 4 – Angela Maxwell

MEN’S

2009 World Championships; Los Angeles, Calif.

• Jeremy Abbott
• Evan Lysacek
• Brandon Mroz

Alternate 1 – Johnny Weir
Alternate 2 – Ryan Bradley
Alternate 3 – Stephen Carriere

2009 Four Continents Championships; Vancouver, Canada

• Jeremy Abbott
• Brandon Mroz
• Evan Lysacek

Alternate 1 – Ryan Bradley
Alternate 2 – Johnny Weir
Alternate 3 – Curran Oi

2009 World Junior Championships; Sofia, Bulgaria

• Curran Oi
• Adam Rippon
• Ross Miner

Alternate 1 – Armin Mahbanoozadeh
Alternate 2 – Alex Johnson
Alternate 3 – Richard Dornbush

PAIRS

2009 World Championships; Los Angeles, Calif.

• Caydee Denney/Jeremy Barrett
• Keauna McLaughlin/Rockne Brubaker

Alternate 1 – Rena Inoue/John Baldwin
Alternate 2 – Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig
Alternate 3 – Brooke Castile/Ben Okolski

2009 Four Continents Championships; Vancouver, Canada

• Caydee Denney/Jeremy Barrett
• Rena Inoue/John Baldwin
• Keauna McLaughlin/Rockne Brubaker

Alternate 1 – Amanda Evora/Mark Ladwig
Alternate 2 – Brooke Castile/Ben Okolski
Alternate 3 – Chloe Katz/Joseph Lynch

2009 World Junior Championships; Sofia, Bulgaria

• Brynn Carman/Chris Knierim
• Marissa Castelli/Simon Shnapir

Alternate 1 – Molly Aaron/Daniyel Cohen
Alternate 2 – Brittany Chase/Andrew Speroff
Alternate 3 – Kloe Bautista/Galvani Hopson

ICE DANCING

2009 World Championships; Los Angeles, Calif.

• Meryl Davis/Charlie White
• Emily Samuelson/Evan Bates
• Tanith Belbin/Ben Agosto

Alternate 1 – Kimberly Navarro/Brent Bommentre
Alternate 2 – Madison Hubbell/Keiffer Hubbell
Alternate 3 – Jane Summersett/Todd Gilles

Alternate 4 – Trina Pratt/Chris Obzansky

2009 Four Continents Championships; Vancouver, Canada

• Meryl Davis/Charlie White
• Kimberly Navarro/Brent Bommentre
• Emily Samuelson/Evan Bates

Alternate 1 - Jane Summersett/Todd Gilles
Alternate 2 - Trina Pratt/Chris Obzansky
Alternate 3 – Lynn Kriengkrairut/Logan Giulietti-Schmitt

2009 World Junior Championships; Sofia, Bulgaria

• Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein
• Madison Hubbell/Keiffer Hubbell
• Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani

Alternate 1 - Piper Gilles/Zachary Donohue
Alternate 2 – Shannon Wingle/Timothy McKernan
Alternate 3 – Isabella Cannuscio/Ian Lorello