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With three world pairs titles and an Olympic gold medal to their name, Sergei Grinkov and Ekaterina Gordeeva already are regarded as figure skating veterans.

Perhaps the youngest veterans anywhere in sports.

Gordeeva, 17, and Grinkov, 22, clinched their third world title in four years on Wednesday with what they described as their best ever free skating performance.

Now they want to go on, and on, and on, dominating the sport like so many of their competitors have in the past.

"We do not want to retire yet," Gordeeva said. "We want to insert some more elements in our program."

The Soviets' title-clinching routine on Wednesday was full of style and sophistication. Dressed in all-white, they dominated the other 10 pairs with marks of either 5.8 or 5.9 to stamp their authority on the competition.

Canada's Cindy Landry and Lyndon Johnston took the silver medal, Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov of the Soviet Union the bronze.

Kristi Yamaguchi and Rudi Galindo, sixth after the compulsories, did their best to earn the United States its first medal of the tournament with a romantic, sentimental rendition of Romeo and Juliet.

The U.S. national champions only managed to move up one place, however, and finished fifth.

Last year, after victories in 1986 and 1987, Gordeeva and Grinkov were upset in the world championships in Budapest, then missed the European event in Birmingham, England, in January because of an injury to Gordeeva.

"Because of that, it was very important for us to win today," Gordeeva said.

While the first medal of the championships went to the Soviet Union, Chris Bowman kept American hopes high in the men's event.

Bowman and Canada's Kurt Browning burst into contention for the men's gold medal in a three-way, sudden death battle with Soviet veteran Alexandr Fadeev.

Bowman, bidding to keep America's grip on the men's title following the now-retired Brian Boitano's 1988 success, moved up from fourth to third overall after the original program with a clean, error-free routine that ended with a showy bow and kisses to the four sides of the sparsely-filled arena.

Bowman's performance earned him second place in the original program - he came fourth in Tuesday's compulsories - and moved him into a virtual deadlock with 1985 champion Aleksandr Fadeev of the Soviet Union and Browning.

Fadeev stayed slightly in the overall lead despite placing third in the original program. That was won by Browning who produced a couple of triple axels to vault into second place, ahead of Bowman.

The three were so close that any of them could win the gold in Thursday's final free skating, worth 50 percent of the total mark.

"It's not going to be a wait and see, and who does what situation," Bowman said. "It's a competition between a Canadian, an American and a Russian who will be dealing some pretty heavy cards."

"I was very nervous, really tense but I turned it to my advantage," said 21-year-old Bowman, the U.S. national champion from Van Nuys, Calif., who performed the only triple-triple combination.

"The three of us are all aggressive guys and we'll be pulling out the stops to out-do one another tomorrow."

Earlier, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomorenko waltzed their way into the lead after the first of the three ice dance events.

The married Soviet couple earned top marks in the compulsories, with one perfect 6.0., ahead of compatriots Maia Usova and Aleksandr Zhulin.

Third place went to Isabelle and Paul Duchesnays of France. America's Susan Wynne and Joseph Druar performed what they described as their "best ever compulsory" to place fifth.

The Duchesnays, whose adventurous "jungle" routine in last year's free dance was hugely popular but poorly marked, got away with a bad mistake on their second compulsory. Isabelle skated briefly on two feet going into a turn, instead of replacing her left skate with her right.

"The ice was a bit rutty by the time we went on," she said. "I didn't miss any steps but lost a bit of balance. I put my foot down because that was safer than falling."

They were not heavily penalized, however, and stayed in contention for a medal, with the original set pattern and free dance still to come.

"Placement is totally secondary," Paul Duchesnay said. "First comes how we skated. It was not the best we can do."

While the judges let the French-Canadian pair off lightly, they treated another Canadian team with unusual disparity.

Michelle McDonald and Mark Mitchell, who placed 13th in the compulsories, earned marks ranging from 3.6 from the American official to 5.4 from the Swiss judge for their rendition of the Westminster waltz.

Laurence Demmy, technical delegate to the International Skating Union, said he never had experienced such a wide range of marking in a major event.

"It was a large discrepancy," Demmy said. "One mark is not out of the way but 1.8 is not common. I've never known a gap as large as that."

Bowman said he would approach Thursday's title-deciding men's free dance with like as if he needed the performance of his life.

"I'm going to have to skate like I'm coming out of 12th place," he said. "It's going to be a fight to the finish. No mistakes can be made."

Browning, who edged Bowman for technical expertise Wednesday, is expected to perform his trademark quadruple jump in a bid to win the gold.

"To say I'm delighted with the position is an understatement," the Canadian, who received seven marks of 5.9 for technical merit, said.

Fadeev came out wearing the same costume that created a stir at the European Championships in Birmingham, England, in January - a parrot embroidered on his back and long, imitation claws.