More Than Figure Skating’s Encore to Albertville : World titles: With the next Winter Olympics around the corner, event has special significance.

Coming so soon after the Winter Olympics, figure skating’s World Championships, which begin today at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, might seem redundant.

That is not so this year.

Although post-Olympic World Championships usually are most important for skaters seeking to enhance their market value before starting professional careers, the competition has additional significance this year because skaters who will remain amateurs already are beginning to position themselves for the next Winter Games, in less than two years at Lillehammer, Norway.

That is expected to be most evident in the unpredictable men’s competition, which will begin Thursday. Ukrainian Viktor Petrenko won the gold medal unimpressively at Albertville, and it would not be surprising to see him standing on one of the lower levels of the victory stand here.

With silver medalist Paul Wylie of the United States out of the competition, Petrenko might receive his most severe challenges from two skaters who did not finish among the top five in the Olympics.

Three-time world champion Kurt Browning of Canada and 1991 world bronze medalist Todd Eldredge of the United States, both suffering from back injuries last month, were sixth and 10th, respectively.

Now, both appear to be fit, and if they can regain their competitive edge, they should re-establish themselves here as medal favorites for 1994. Eldredge, a two-time national champion who trains in San Diego, plans to remain an amateur, and Browning appears to be leaning in that direction.

It was with 1994 in mind that the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. decided in January to appoint Mark Mitchell, 23, instead of Wylie, 27, to the team for the World Championships. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but less so after Wylie won the silver medal at Albertville.

But the USFSA reasoned that it needed to start exposing other skaters to international competition to compensate for the imminent retirements of Wylie and two-time U.S. champion Christopher Bowman of Van Nuys, the fourth-place finisher in the Olympics who will make his last stand here. Petrenko, who is retiring, also could be challenged by bronze-medalist Petr Barna of Czechoslovakia.

Otherwise, Olympic champions are expected to repeat.

This could be more of a coronation than a competition for Kristi Yamaguchi of Fremont, Calif., who will be skating in front of a home crowd. The only woman considered a challenger, silver medalist Midori Ito of Japan, withdrew, citing a cold.

For the second consecutive year at the World Championships, Yamaguchi could lead a 1-2-3 finish for the United States. Tonya Harding finished second and Nancy Kerrigan third in 1991, although they seem to have switched positions in the eyes of the judges with Kerrigan’s third place and Harding’s fourth in the Olympics.

Harding also has switched coaches since Albertville, as has fifth-place Surya Bonaly of France. If neither is ready, sixth-place Chen Lu could move up.

Dance competition will begin today without the silver medalists, Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay of France, who have retired. Teams from the Commonwealth of Independent States--gold medalists Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko, bronze-medalists Maia Usova and Alexander Zhulin, and fourth-place Oksana Gritschuk and Evgeni Platov--should sweep.

The CIS also should do well in the pairs competition, which will begin tonight. Three of its teams, including gold medalists Natalia Michkouteniok and Artour Dmitriev and silver-medalists Elena Betchke and Denis Petrov, finished among the top five at Albertville.

The best U.S. pair in the Olympics, sixth-place Natasha Kuchiki of Canoga Park and Todd Sand of Costa Mesa, was third in the world last year. But perhaps the best Kuchiki and Sand can expect here is to maintain their advantage over U.S. champions Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval, who finished 10th in the Winter Games.