Solid Gold

PRAGUE--Kurt Browning was standing atop the medals podium with a gold medal around his neck and Elvis Stojko was next to him wearing silver.

It was quite a sight: the first time Canada has taken the top two spots in men's singles at the world figure skating championships which have been going on since 1896.

"It's good for Canadian skating and for Elvis and I," said Kurt Browning. "Every time we get on the ice together it's going to cause a stir. We're going to enjoy this."

Still, Browning picks American Brian Boitano, the Olympic champion who is expected to apply for reinstatement of eligibility this month as the one to watch out for at the 1994 Winter Games in Norway.

"Boitano is the favorite as far as I'm concerned, " said Browning.

It's Browning's fourth world triumph. In the last 35 years, the only other skater to win as many as four times was Scott Hamiliton of the United States (1981-84).

Browning bruised the gluteal muscle in his right buttock in a workout fall two weeks ago and hadn't been practising his triple-triple jump combinations. Regardless, he said he planned to try the two of them in his 4 1/2 minute free skate. But while on the ice, he decided to turn them into triple-double combos.

He intuitively opted to play it safe, scaling down to six triple jumps in all and relying on the artistic attributes in a routine devised by choreographer Sanadra Bezic from plotlines and pieces of music from the movie Casablanca.

Dressed in a white dinnner jacket, hands in his pocket, he skated with a debonair melancholy to the strains of "As Time Goes By."

The strategy worked.

"I like to be the one at the end who did the right thing and came out on top, not necessarily the one who knocked the roof off the house," he said later.

The judges gave him 5.8s and 5.7s for technical content. For artistic impression, he got a perfect 6.0 from the French judge, seven 5.9s and one 5.8.

Victory washed away some of the bad memory of a sixth-place finish at the 1992 Olympics, which was due in large part to an injury-interrupted season.

"This is icing on the cake," said the 26-year-old native of Caroline, Alta., holding up his medal. "I just wanted to come back and be better than I was. I can't believe I held my body and head together enough to hold onto this. I'm going to hold this one closer to my heart than any of the other ones because I know how fragile they are."

Stojko's silver performance was remarkable. He'd been fifth in the short program won Wednesday by Browning and to rally to finish second overall is quite something.

"It was a rough go (Wednesday) but I want to pull it off for the Canadian team," said the 20-year-old Richmond Hill, Ont., skater who won bronze at the 1992 worlds. "I got a little angry with myself and I said, 'Geez, Elvis, this is not the place to be doing this. You've got redeem yourself. Do it for yourself and do it for Canada'."

He landed all eight of his triple jumps and got the best technical marks of the competition: four 5.9s and five 5.8s. His artistic marks were from 5.4 to 5.8.

The silver medal looks really nice," he said. "Now I've got two world medals and you never know what's going to happen next season. I'm going to enjoy what I have now."

Alexei Urmanov of Russia won the bronze medal.

Marcus Christensen of Edmonton finished 10th overall among 24.

"We've got the 1-2 punch in the world," said Doug Leigh, Stojko's coach. "That's pretty good for our country going into the Olympics."

In the original set pattern segment of the ice dancing event earlier Thursday, Shae-Lynn Bourne of Chatham, Ont., and Victor Kraatz of Qualicum Beach, BC, held onto 15th spot among 29.

The women's event begins today with presentation of technical programs and Josee Chouinard of Laval, Que., and Karen Preston of Mississauga, Ont., will be aiming for top-five placings.