France’s Candeloro Leads Petrenko in Qualifying for European Skating

Philippe Candeloro of France defeated 1992 Olympic and world champion Viktor Petrenko of Ukraine in men’s qualifying at the European Figure Skating Championships Sunday at Copenhagen.

In the second group, Viacheslav Zagorodniuk upset Ukrainian compatriot Dmitri Dmitrenko, the defending European men’s champion.

The qualification rounds will reduce the field from 37 to 24, taking 12 from each group.

Katarina Witt of Germany, the two-time Olympic champion, begins her comeback in the women’s qualifications today. She needs to finish among the top two Germans to advance to the Olympics.

Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Great Britain, the 1984 gold medalists, have their compulsory dances Tuesday. There are 29 dance couples and no qualifying eliminations.

Witt, Torvill, Dean, Petrenko and the Russian gold-medal pairs from the 1988 and 1992 Olympics--Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov, and Natalia Mishkutienok and Artur Dmitriev--took advantage of a one-time-only reinstatement to allow pro skaters to re-enter competition, paving the way for chances at another gold medal at the Olympics next month at Lillehammer.

In other skating competition, Elvis Stojko defeated four-time world champion Kurt Browning on Saturday night to win the Canadian Championships at Edmonton.

Stojko and Browning will be joined on the Canadian Olympic team by bronze medalist Sebastian Britten.

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Thomas Stangassinger earned his second victory of the World Cup season, leading a 1-2 Austrian finish in a slalom at Kitzbuhel, Austria. Thomas Sykora finished second.

Alberto Tomba of Italy, who had failed to complete his previous three races, finished third.

Stangassinger also took the lead in the World Cup slalom standings. He is 61 points ahead of Olympic champion Finn-Christian Jagge of Norway, who was 11th Sunday.

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Anita Wachter of Austria won her third World Cup event of the season, defeating Deborah Compagnoni of Italy in a giant slalom at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

Wachter moved into second place overall, only 11 points behind Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden.

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Olympian Tad Langlois set a Lake Placid normal hill, or 70-meter, ski-jumping record in the second leg of the 1994 Olympic trials at Lake Placid, N.Y.

After an opening jump of 94 meters, Langlois, of Newport, N.H., recorded a jump of 97 meters on his second effort to break the old mark of 95.

Langlois and Randy Weber, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., have already qualified for the Olympics because of their World Cup standings. Four spots remain on the Olympic team, and qualifying continues Jan. 28 in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Boxing

James Toney, battering his opponent at will by the fight’s end, stopped Anthony Hembrick in the seventh round of a light-heavyweight bout at Bushkill, Pa.

Toney, the IBF super-middleweight champion from Ann Arbor, Mich., raised his record to 41-0-2 with 27 knockouts. Hembrick of Detroit, the IBF’s sixth-ranked contender, fell to 27-5-1 with 19 knockouts.

Pro Basketball

The group attempting to build a new downtown sports arena in San Diego is pursuing the Minnesota Timberwolves as a tenant, and an owner of the NBA team says moving to San Diego is “very plausible.”

Late last month, Timberwolves owners Harvey Ratner, Marv Wolfenson and Joe Pettirossi, the team’s chief financial officer, met in San Diego with members of Arena Group 2000, which wants to build a new arena.

“There’s still some work to be done, but (a move to San Diego) is very plausible,” Pettirossi said. “I wouldn’t dismiss it as being out of hand.”

San Diego has been without an NBA team since the Clippers departed for Los Angeles in 1984. They played in the San Diego Sports Arena.

Forward/center Tod Murphy, a former UC Irvine standout, signed a 10-day contract with the Golden State Warriors.

Murphy, 30, fills a roster opening created Friday when forward Byron Houston was placed on the injured list because of a sprained ankle.

Running

Leonid Shvetsov of Russia and Judit Nagy of Hungary ran through three complete theme parks to win the Walt Disney World Marathon at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Shvetsov led a field of nearly 6,000 runners in 2 hours 14 minutes 27 seconds. Danny Gonzales of Anaheim finished second in 2:16:25 to qualify for his third trip to the U.S. Olympic marathon trials. Jackson Kipngok of Kenya was third in 2:16:33. Nagy won the women’s event in 2:32:32.

Colin Moore of England pulled away from Canada’s Peter Fonseca at the 25th mile and won the Houston-Tenneco Marathon in 2:13:34.

Miscellany

Ohio University basketball player Gary Trent, the freshman of the year and most valuable player in the Mid-American Conference last year, says he was contacted by larger schools about transferring last summer and was offered money. . . . Nancy Darsch, coach of the Ohio State women’s basketball team, denied intimidating a former player and throwing her off the team without good reason. Monica Taylor, a fifth-year senior who played for the Buckeyes in 1990-92, has filed a lawsuit against Darsch seeking $150,000 in compensatory damages and an unspecified amount in punitive damages. . . . Heidi Caruso of Lafayette College had five steals against Bucknell to become the NCAA career steals leader with 455, breaking the record of 454 set by Dawn Staley of Virginia. . . . Xavier of Ohio, which had hoped to join the Atlantic 10 Conference, signed an agreement with the Midwestern Collegiate Conference to remain through the 1994-95 academic year.