Lysacek's toes twinkle - despite two broken ones

What's a couple broken toes to an Olympic champion, much less a dancer on a reality TV show?

Naperville's Evan Lysacek sucked it up - "Nothing was going to keep me from dancing," he said - and turned in another stellar performance on "Dancing With The Stars" Monday night.

Performing a quick step to a tune from the musical "Chicago," Lysacek and his Russian partner Anna Trebunskaya scored 26 out of a possible 30 points from the judges.

"You were dancing on air, and that's what you showed us," sometimes-cranky Judge Len Goodman said.

"You were going to give her the ride of her life - and then you dumped her," Judge Bruno Tonioli said, referring to the storytelling portion of the dance.

Judge Carrie Ann Inaba gushed that Lysacek's performance was "twinkling, athletic and energetic."

Still, the judges showed little compassion for his broken toes; the figure skating gold medalist from the Vancouver Olympics still needs improvement on his footwork.

Footwork aside, Lysacek's score was his best yet, and he and Trebunskaya have consistently been in second place in the eyes of the judges.

By contrast, 80-year-old former astronaut Buzz Aldrin remained at the bottom of the pack, collecting only 13 points of the possible 30.

The American public casts ballots, too. Based on those scores and that of the TV judges, one couple will be booted off the show Tuesday night..