Wow this thread is a total time warp. Just when I'd managed to scrub my memory of that awful decade of men's eligible skating, the memories all come flooding back.
Regarding Elvis vs Ilia in Nagano, from an objective standpoint, there really was no contest. I never liked either of their skating, so I think I can say this fairly confidently. Virtually everything Stojko did looked forced, while Kulik had much more ease about him, particularly with his stroking, jumping and edges. Both were weak spinners, but for different reasons. Stojko lacked flexibility (even for basic spinning positions) and variety but had good speed with the positions he did achieve. Kulik had good to decent positions and better variety but not the best speed. The same comparison can be applied to their footwork. Elvis was fast but repetitve and limited while Kulik was a bit slower but more diverse. As far as choreography, neither was spectacular that year or in most prior ones, but that was the trend back then anyway. Everyone was trying to prove how manly they were, so too much style was actually a detriment if you weren't Russian and classically dance trained.
Let's not forget that Elvis had about two free skate themes applied to different music tracks in 5-6 years. Martial arts warrior and barbarian/explorer. In every case he played out the same scenario where he skated as the strong hero figure to who does some big jumps landed in awkward positions and eventually does a fast footwork straightline sequence near the end and scratch spin before his final pose. So to claim any superiority on his part with regard to his relationship to the music is a stretch.
Still, this is not meant as a blanket indictment of him alone. Almost that entire decade of men's skating, but especially between the fall of 1992 and the winter of 1998 was quite possibly the worst in the history of the sport. Men's skating really regressed in every other area except jumping during that time. The pursuit of the almighty triple axel-triple toe and quad jumps sacrificed vitually everything else. Spinning became just an afterthought that was only done because the rules manadated them. The same applied to footwork. Skating programs themselves were all designed to have big jumps at he beginning and end, with huge empty rest periods in the middle filled with posing and very little content. Good transitions were also pretty much thrown out the door during that era as well.
Bekalc and Pangtongfan are both right in their posts. Tarasova realized 98 was all about who would skate cleanest in Nagano, so she watered down Ilia's programs to make them simpler and harder to screw up. People forget that 97 Worlds was a skating bloodbath. Coming in Urmanov was the favorite. He'd won Euros and had finally remastered his quad. He dominated his qualifying round and then won the SP easily. But he tore his groin muscle before the FS and withdrew. That had multiple effects, first his withdrawl before he took the ice reshuffled everyone's ordinals from the SP, moving them all up one spot. That made Stojko third and capaple of winning overall if he won the FS. It also put Todd in the worst position for him, the lead. He came up just short as he typically did when the pressure was on. Had he skated like his did at the GPF, he might have won and defended his title. Kulik blew up in the FS and came 5th IIRC. His FS was very complex and with so much emphasis on the quad, he always seemed to have trouble with the rest of the complexities in the programs once that jumping pass was over landed or not. Yagudin snuck in to move up and place third in a surprise. That left Elvis to do his usual bit and win. But it was something of a hollow victory. The judging in the SP, at Worlds the previous year and the 1996 GPF had already placed the writing on the wall. All things being equal, the judges would go for someone else who was more complete. That could be Urmanov, Kulik or Eldridge depending on the situation. Had any one of those three skated consistently well and stayed healthy over that cycle, he likely would have won multiple worlds and been OGM. With Urmanov out for the 98 season and Eldridge aging and prone to falling short at the finish line, Tarasova knew all she had focus on was Stojko. So everything she did in designing Kulik's programs was done to contrast the two skaters. Nothing was too bunched together, every element is on it's own, clear and uncluttered. It's not beautiful by any means, but it's clear and clean. With Elvis hurt, quadless and skating quite slowing ith poor choreography and skating skills anyway, there was no chance.
Lastly, Elvis multiple WCs should not be viewed as the only measuring stick of his quality versus other skaters. Robin Cousins and Toller Cranston never won an overall world championship. However they won the free skate multiple times and everyone acknowledged them as being either the or among the best skaters of their genereations. Of course John Curry wallows in the middle ranks for years before he realized his potential and had his golden year in 1976. But before that he was losing consistently to far more pedestrian skaters like Jan Hoffman, Vladimir Kovalev and and Sergei Volkov among others. No one thinks of Hoffman, Kovalev or Volkov as better skaters, but combined they have 5 WC golds plus 9 other medals over nine years, a virtual lock on Euros over two Olympic cycles and two Olympic silvers. By comparison, Curry, Cranston and Cousins won only one WC along with only six other medals. Curry and Cousins each won only one European title en route to their Olympic wins. So listing a heap of titles or medals Elvis won versus his competitors does not shore up his legacy in my book. The quality of his skating is all that matters, and his skating looks worse with each passing year, quads or not. That is not to say that Kulik was brilliant by comparison. He was just better than his nearest competitor at the right time. The fact that he retired so early prevents us from having a longer career to examine which might have shown further improvement in his overall presentation.
! Ilia went on to become an amazing pro, so all is good. 
