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Copyright 1997 the Associated Press. -- All Rights Reserved

It was one day to showtime, and Kurt Browning realized he didn't have a program that worked.

So he called home to Canada and had someone send him the same shiny black pants and white shirt he wore when he won his first title at the World Professional Figure Skating Championships two years ago. He donned them again and gyrated his hips once more to the Commodores' ''Brick House'' Saturday night to win the crown for the third straight year.

''We went with a program that we knew we could get to the audience and get a reaction,'' said Browning, who admitted he had reservations about having repeating a winning routine from two years ago. ''Sometimes you just don't have the repertoire you need to get through the whole season.''

Browning had planned to skate to an Elvis number in the artistic program, but wasn't satisfied with the choreography. His change of plans worked out he performed the rerun flawlessly, hitting four triple jumps in a program that shows off his preternatural dancing ability. He earned seven 10s from the judges.

''I wouldn't have chosen it if I didn't think it was a strong program, one that I get excited with,'' Browning said. ''With that music, if you're not excited, you're just a guy trying to dance, so you've got to be into it and have fun.''

Although Browning didn't do Elvis, Kristi Yamaguchi did, skating and shimmying to ''Trouble'' to win the women's title for a fourth time.

''With that music, you have to have a certain attitude,'' Yamaguchi said of her routine that earned all 9.8s and 9.9s. ''I was having fun out there.''

The pairs event was won by Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny, who also won the title two years ago. Renee Roca and Gorsha Sur were first-time winners of the dance.

Yamaguchi held such a huge lead after a superb technical program Friday night that she was able to retain her crown Saturday even though she did as much dancing as skating landing only one triple jump in between her Elvis-style movements in a short, 2:10 program.

''I missed my last jump tonight,'' Yamaguchi said of a stumble that forced her to abandon a triple toe loop. ''The technical side only counted 40 percent (tonight), so I concentrated on the artistic.''

Her marks placed her ahead of Ekaterina Gordeeva, who had another fine skate to complete her best competition as a singles skater. Her flowing, etherial routine to Brazilian classical music ended with her hands pointed to the sky, a reference, she said, to a ''flying soul.'' She earned five 9.9s for artistic impression.

''It feels better when you're landing your jumps,'' said Gordeeva, whose pairs partner and husband, Sergei Grinkov, died of a heart attack two years ago. ''It makes me feel more like a singles skater.''

Third went to Denise Biellmann, followed by Nancy Kerrigan, Josee Chouinard and Oksana Baiul. Baiul, after an embarrassing technical program Friday night, came back strong with a sassy routine to ''All That Jazz.''

It was Baiul's first major competition since a car accident in January had her considering retirement.

''I was very, very, very, very, very, very, very nervous,'' Baiul said of her Friday skate, when she crossed herself and seemed close to tears before her program. ''I was there, but I wasn't. ... I felt uncomfortable.''

But on Saturday: ''I was really enjoying it. I was smiling. I was skating for myself.''

Second to Browning was six-time champion Brian Boitano, who skated masterfully to a ''Shenandoah-They Call the Wind Mariah'' medley. But he was unable to make the gap between him and Browning after his third-place finish in the technicals.

''I've never skated that program better,'' Boitano said. ''I didn't have a good skate last night, so I really needed for myself to have a good skate tonight.''

Rudy Galindo, who performed an imaginative routine in a red clown outfit essentially skating pairs with a hula-hoop was third, ahead of Victor Petrenko and Eric Millot.

''I always wanted to be a rhythmic gymnast,'' Galindo said, laughing.

Kovarikova and Novotny's lovely, romantic piece included an unusual death spiral in which she placed her hand on his foot, and their marks were all 9.8s and 9.9s.

The Czech couple's season seemed in doubt when Novotny broke his left index finger in August. He was unable to lift his partner for six weeks, but he was able to launch her into a throw triple toe loop with no problem Saturday.

Roca and Sur were the only dance pair to stick somewhere close to the concept of ice dancing. Their sensual dance to ''Maria'' from West Side Story was more technically demanding and earned two perfect 10s to upset favored Maia Usova and Alexander Zhulin. ''I never expected that,'' Roca said. ''I really nice because it didn't go in the predictable order that it usually goes in. It's really a big surprise.''