Yamaguchi, Browning lead after technical program

WASHINGTON (AP) Strictly by the numbers, Kristi Yamaguchi was twice as good as anyone else.

With a program that would probably contend for the gold medal if she were still an Olympic skater, the defending women's champion scored 99.0 out of a possible 100 points Friday night to take the lead after the technical program at the World Professional Figure Skating Championships.

The 1992 Olympic champion and three-time world pro champion kissed her way through a medley of Louis Armstrong songs, including "A Kiss to Build a Dream On,'' "Kiss of Fire'' and "It's Been a Long, Long Time.'' She landed four clean triple jumps, while no one else among the women landed more than two.

Yamaguchi's only significant stumble was an extra step between a triple flip and a double toe loop, and she received 12 scores of 9.9 and two of 9.8.

"Traditionally I've always done something classical for the technical program,'' Yamaguchi said. "After five years, we decided to do something a little more lighthearted.''

Two-time defending champion Kurt Browning, who scrambled all week to put together two routines for the event, edged Rudy Galindo to take the lead in the men's competition on a night when many skaters seemed to have problems with the soft ice inside the new MCI Center.

Browning landed three triples and earned 9.9 artistic scores across the board as he skated to "Antares'' by The Tragically Hip. For Saturday night's artistic program, he will reprise his funky rendition of the Commodores' "Brick House,'' which he used to win the title here two years ago.

"Due to a series of injuries and events and trouble and blah, blah, blah, I don't have very many numbers this year,'' Browning said. "So we've been juggling numbers a bit since we've arrived.''

Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny were tops among the pairs, while Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur led the dance competition.

The artistic programs, which count 50 percent of the final score, will be held Saturday night. This is the first time the event has been held over two nights, and it showed in the attendance. After years of sold out crowds at US Airways Arena in the suburbs, only 11,540 came Friday night to the downtown Q and very warm Q 20,000-seat MCI Center.

"The ice was a little bumpy from being wet,'' Yamaguchi said. "It can cause you to skate a little slow.''

Ekaterina Gordeeva, in one of her best performances since becoming a singles skater, performed a warm but technically less demanding routine to "Smile'' to place second behind Yamaguchi with 97.5 points.

Nancy Kerrigan and Denise Biellmann tied for third, ahead of Josee Chouinard and Oksana Baiul, who seemed close to tears as she took to the ice for her first major competition since an automobile accident in January.

Baiul skated slowly and had trouble virtually every time she attempted a jump, but managed a smile at the end.

"She did seem upset,'' Yamaguchi said. "But I don't know what had happened.''

Baiul was unavailable for comment.

Rudy Galindo, wearing shiny and metallic silver pants, gyrated his way to second place behind Browning with a routine to Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself.'' Galindo was sharper on his jumps, but was beaten out by Browning in the artistic marks.

Six-time champion Brian Boitano, who wobbled between two different combination jumps, was third, ahead of Victor Petrenko and Eric Millot.

In pairs, Kovarikova and Novotny took the lead after the technical program despite Kovarikova's nasty fall during warmups. She slipped and crashed into the boards with a hard thud.

"I went so strong and fast and slipped and couldn't stop,'' Novotny said. "It sounded worse than it was.''

Kovarikova and Novotna scored from 9.7 to 9.9 for a classical, flirtatious program to "Un Sospiro.'' Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler placed second, and Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko third. Defending champions Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov withdrew because of Bechke's nagging groin injury.