SALT LAKE CITY - Emanuel Sandhu, who wowed the crowds with exceptional skating when he won the Canadian championship in Winnipeg last month, lived down to his reputation as an inconsistent performer by delivering a dud of a short program at the Four Continents figure skating meet Wednesday night.

Danish judge Anita Hilbert was so disappointed by Sandhu's lack of execution of the required jumps, spins and footwork that she punished him with a 3.8 of the possible 6.0 for technical content.

Sandhu has all the talent in the world, as he showed in Winnipeg, yet the 20-year-old native of Richmond Hill, Ont., displays it only sporadically.

He started so well, landing a quadruple toe loop. He then blew his required jump combination, popping out of the scheduled triple Axel entry and managing only a single revolution in the air. The triple toe loop that was to follow never happened.

After some footwork and a flying spin, he was to do a double Axel. He decided on the spot to try and insert a combo in its place. All he could manage was a single Axel on the entry. Forget it.

The judges placed him 13th among 22.

Ben Ferreira of Edmonton was seventh, and Jason Denommee of Asbestos, Que., was 12th.

Top marks went to Todd Eldredge of the United States, Chengjiang Li of China was second, Matthew Savoie of the United States was third, and Takeshi Honda of Japan was fourth.

The free-skating final is Friday night.

On Thursday, the women's short program follows the pairs free-skating final. Canadian champions Jamie Sale of Red Deer, Alta., and David Pelletier of Sayabec, Que., are in first place.

Sandhu practically ran past reporters waiting for interviews. He found a deserted corridor and paced in circles. He then sat on the cement floor in a corner while coach Joanne McLeod hovered. After 10 minutes to gather himself, he re-emerged to face the critics.

I'm a little bit angry at myself but life goes on, he said. Everyone has his good days and his bad days.

On his missed combo: I think I was just thinking about it a little too much.

In practices back at his training rink in Burnaby, B.C., He never missed an Axel, McLeod said. Here, he was popping triple Axels in practice. He gets frustrated with himself and goes with his mood.

As she watched the performance deteriorate, I wanted to throw my water bottle onto the ice.

Sitting in the kiss-and-cry zone waiting for his marks, Sandhu waited dejectedly for the embarrassment he knew was at hand.

I felt sick, especially with the 3.8, especially coming off a 6.0 (in Winnipeg), he said.

Other than a bronze medal at the Lalique Trophy meet in France in 1998, Sandhu has been a disappointment at the international level. In two world championship appearances, he was 29th in 1998, failing to get out of the qualifying round, and 18th in 1999. He teases with exceptional nights along the way.

The only positive that could be taken from Wednesday's washout was conjecture that he'll show up at the worlds in Vancouver in March and outskate everybody.

Ferreira landed a triple Axel-double toe loop combo instead of a scheduled triple-triple, and he followed with a triple Lutz, combination spin, footwork, a change-foot-spin, more footwork, a double Axel and a flying spin.

It was good enough to keep him within striking distance of the podium.

I didn't fall, I didn't make any big mistakes, he said. I'm just happy everything went according to what I've been training.

It'd be nice to finish with a nice long (free-skating program).

He empathized with Sandhu.

That's the way this sport is, he said. We're not machines, although that's what we try to be.

Denommee turned his scheduled triple Axel-triple loop into a triple-double. He landed his triple Lutz and double Axel. Some of his footwork was slightly off. He lacked the speed for which the judges look. Skating first didn't help, either.

I didn't have my best program, he admitted.

But even with the shortcomings, the judges had him ahead of Sandhu.