FIGURE SKATING / WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS : Browning Leads After Technical Program

Kurt Browning of Canada led Mark Mitchell of the United States in the World Figure Skating Championships after the technical program of the men’s competition Wednesday.

Two other Canadians, Lloyd Eisler and Isabelle Brasseur, won the pairs event after winning a bronze medal at last year’s Olympics.

Browning, a three-time world champion who finished second last year after a disappointing Olympics, hit the most solid combination, a triple axel-double toe loop, the hardest element of his required eight maneuvers.

Mitchell, of Hamden, Conn., earned the first perfect 6.0 of his career, from a Russian judge for style. A slip on his combination jump, however, gave the lead to Browning.

Alexei Urmanov, a Russian who has been edging up in international competition, was third, followed by Erik Millot of France and Elvis Stojko of Canada. U.S. champion Scott Davis was seventh.

Davis, of Great Falls, Mont., had a chance to challenge for the lead, skating after Browning and Urmanov put on strong programs. But Davis, skating to “Fiddler on the Roof,” had to touch his hand to the ice on his triple axel and struggled to complete the rest of his combination.

His technical marks, from 4.9 to 5.2, reflected his mistake, although he was in the 5.2-to-5.7 range for the style score.

The final is tonight.

In the pairs competition, Eisler and Brasseur overcame the errors and injuries that plagued them in past years.

“This gold medal is a reward for a performance that meant everything to us,” Eisler said.

Said Brasseur, whose fall during the 1992 Olympics haunted her: “We were so close before and now we did it.”

Second place went to Germans Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer, while Russians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov took third. Fourth went to the Czech pair of Radka Kovarikova and Rene Novotny.

In fifth place was the U.S. couple of Jenni Meno and Todd Sand.

Finishing a disappointing eighth were U.S. champions Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval.