World Figure Skating Championships : Gordeeva, Grinkov Leading Way in Pairs Event

Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov led a Soviet 1-2-3 sweep of the pairs event Tuesday night at the World Figure Skating Championships.

To toreador music from Bizet’s “Carmen,” the 16-year-old Gordeeva played the fluttering sparrow to the steady power of her 21-year-old partner with feather-light lifts and spins.

Fast, stylish footwork and gestures timed almost perfectly together completed the formula that has won them one Olympic and two world titles.

Earlier, Soviet ice dancers Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin glided to a decisive lead after the three compulsory dances.

The ice dancing continues today with the original set pattern dance, and the pairs wind up with the final long program.

Gordeeva and Grinkov were joined in the top ranks of the pairs by teammates Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, the Olympic silver medalists, and Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov.

Two United States’ teams came next.

Olympic bronze medalists Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard were close behind in fourth place. Gillian Wachsman and Todd Waggoner finished fifth, the same place they held coming out of the Olympics.

Watson and Oppegard seemed content with their performance.

“It was one of our best performances,” said Watson, 24, of Bloomington, Ind. Her partner took the assessment a step further.

“It was the best performance of our life,” the 28-year-old from Knoxville, Tenn., said. “We did even better than we did at the Olympics.”

In contrast, the reigning champions seemed a bit lukewarm about their marks, although they were first with all nine judges with a number of 5.8s and 5.9s.

Gordeeva tightened her face in disgust when the technical marks were posted.

She seemed a bit shaky coming out of her split double twist and was pushing a bit at the end. The routine, however, was error-free.

In ice dancing, the Olympic gold medal-winners Bestemianova and Bukin, are seeking their fourth world title. The victory in the last compulsory dances of their career gives them a big edge heading into today’s original set pattern dance and the final free dance Thursday.

Stretching over seven hours, the required Tango Romantica, quickstep and Viennese waltz count for 30% of the total score in the quest for gold.

Apart from four 5.7s out of a possible 6.0 perfect score, the winning Soviet duo picked up all 5.8s and 5.9s.

In second place were Soviets Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, followed by Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall of Canada.

Susan Wynne of Camillus, N.Y., and Joseph Druar of Amherst, N.Y., placed ninth, up two places from their 11th spot at the Winter Olympics last month in Calgary, Canada.

All ice dancers moved up a notch due to the absence of Scott Gregory of Skaneateles, N.Y., out with a back injury, and partner Suzanne Semanick of Bridgeville, Pa.