World Figure Skating : Fadeev of Soviet Union Wins Men’s Title; Boitano 3rd

Alexander Fadeev’s powerful performance in the men’s final Thursday enabled the Soviet Union to win its second gold medal at the 1985 World Figure Skating Championships.

Brian Boitano of Sunnyvale, Calif., took the bronze behind second-place finisher Brian Orser of Canada.

The victory by Fadeev, the 1984 European champion, followed the winning finish Wednesday in the pairs event by Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, also of the Soviet Union.

Fadeev was appearing in international competition for the first time since suffering a thigh injury in December. With the exception of a momentary slip, he turned in a brilliant display of complicated steps and maneuvers.

Orser, who was third entering the final event, grabbed the silver with a deftly executed series of leaps.

Boitano, who skated a strong program of triple jumps to music from James Bond movies, breezed past Jozef Sabovcik of Czechoslovakia, winner of the men’s European championships last month, to clinch third place.

All three skaters were asked why they had not included the challenging quadruple jump in their routines.

Fadeev said he decided against it in practice earlier Thursday. Orser said, “I have done the quadruple in practice but decided not to do it, to make sure I had a clean program here.”

Boitano said he had not practiced the jump enough, and never considered attempting it this time.

Fadeev finished with 2.0 ordinals for his performance Thursday. Orser got 5.2 and Boitano 7.6.

Earlier Thursday, East Germany’s Katarina Witt, the Olympic gold medalist and reigning world champion, skated to spicy Spanish music and won the short program. But she remained third overall in women’s competition.

Tiffany Chin, 17, of Toluca Lake remained in second place after the short program, displaying sprightly footwork to the strain of Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.”

Olympic bronze medalist Kira Ivanova of the Soviet Union, first after compulsory figures, held on to the top spot, although she finished third in the short program.

“I went on the ice to do what I always do, nothing particularly special,” Chin said. “It went well, I think.”

Chin, asked about Witt and Ivanova, said, “We’re all very close (in ability).”

Debi Thomas, 17, of San Jose climbed to fifth place from seventh after the short program.

The championship continues today with the ladies’ final and the ice dance final.