World Figure Skating Championships : Soviet No. 2 Couple Leads Pairs Sweep

In a dramatic ending to their career, Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev, the second-ranked Soviet couple, came from behind to win the pairs title in the World Figure Skating Championships Wednesday night.

Valova, 25, and Vasiliev, 28, who are retiring, artfully mixed romance and grace with a series of well-finished moves to take their third world crown. They upset the heavily favored Ekaterina Gordeeva, who took a spill on the throw triple Salchow, and her partner, Sergei Grinkov.

Gordeeva and Grinkov finished second, while compatriots Larisa Selezneva and Oleg Makarov completed a Soviet sweep.

In fourth place were Gillian Wachsman and Todd Waggoner of the United States.

Valova, still recovering from a serious foot injury in January, said: “This was our farewell competition. We are extremely happy because we faced a more difficult task than in any other competition.”

It was the first time the ever-dominant Soviets have gained all three medals since 1969.

Gordeeva and Grinkov were seeking their third straight title and a repeat of their Olympic victory last month. But both were suffering from colds in Budapest and seemed a bit off their usual form.

U.S. favorites and Olympic bronze medalists Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard tripped up in the freestyle to slip from fourth to sixth place overall, allowing Wachsman and Waggoner to move past them into fourth.

Watson went down on the side-by-side double axels--the same move that threw them off at the Olympics--and again on a throw double axel, causing an awkward 30-second break in their performance.

Earlier Wednesday, Soviet Alexander Fadeev, the reigning master of the figure-8, skated to the head of the pack after the compulsory figures, while compatriots Natalia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin easily maintained their lead in ice dancing after the original set pattern dance.

Fadeev, the 1985 world champion, led through all three figures to emerge on top, as expected. But the man behind him was a surprise.

Poland’s Grzegorz Filipowski, who finished fifth in the Olympics, moved up from fourth place to second in the figures, dropping U.S. champion and Olympic gold medalist Brian Boitano into third place.

In fourth was West German Heiko Fischer, while Boitano’s rival, Canadian Brian Orser, placed a disappointing fifth.