Figure Skating : Soviets Dominate at Tokyo

The Soviet Union dominated the second day of the 1985 World Figure Skating Championships as its skaters took substantial leads over other performers from 23 countries in all three events held Tuesday.

A total of 119 skaters are competing in the championships, being held in Japan for the first time in eight years.

Soviets skaters were in first place after the men’s short program, in first and second place after ice dancing compulsories and in first and second place following the pairs skating short program.

In the men’s short program, Alexander Fadeev displayed a well-executed performance, successfully extending the lead he took in compulsories on Monday.

Before a relatively small crowd of 2,000 at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium, Fadeev, who placed third in last years’s world championships at Ottawa, was awarded 5.9 points out of a perfect score of 6.0 from four judges. He received three 5.8s and two 5.7s from the other judges.

In ice dancing compulsories, the first event in the category, top Soviet pair Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin took an early lead, exceeding others in technical skill and dancing expression.

The graceful Soviet pair, Olympic silver medalists at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in 1984, gave three superb performances in Viennese Waltz, Yankee Polka and Blues, to lead 19 pairs of competitors.

Another Soviet duo, Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, who made an impressive debut by winning the bronze medals at Sarajevo, came in a close second.

Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov, also of the Soviet Union, showed a combination of powerful and gentle skating and topped others in pairs short program.

Selezneva and Makarov, who earned bronze medals at Sarajevo, were followed by fellow Soviets, Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, gold medalists at the same Olympics.

Among skaters with a chance to upset the Soviets was Canada’s Brian Orser, who moved up to the third after the men’s short program. He was fourth after compulsories.

Orser, 23, who finished second both at Ottawa and Sarajevo, showed a series of difficult 3-2 combination jumps and received high scores from judges.

Jozef Sabovcik of Czechoslovakia, who won the men’s title at the European Figure Skating Championships last month after Fadeev dropped out because of illness, was in second place Tuesday.

In ice dancing, Judy Blumberg and Michael Seibert of the United States placed third with their steady performance after Tuesday’s compulsories.