THE SIDELINES : Soviet Skater Petrenko Edges Czech to Win European Title

Viktor Petrenko of the Soviet Union won a tension-filled men’s final of the European Figure Skating Championships today.

Petr Barna of Czechoslovakia, who faltered on a quadruple jump attempt, was second with another Soviet, Viacheslav Zagorodniuk, third.

Petrenko used a difficult triple axel-triple toe loop jump combination to help capture the free program, which brought him from second place following the original program. He had four other clean triple jumps to a medley of music from Chopin and Verdi.

His marks were all 5.8’s and 5.9’s for his extremely musical performance.

“I was very nervous,” Petrenko said. “Nothing can be done easily.”

The 20-year-old from Odessa, who won the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics, succeeded another Soviet, Alexandr Fadeev, as European champion. Fadeev, a four-time winner, pulled out of the competition Monday with a back injury.