Russian Swimmer Sets Butterfly Record

Denis Pankratov of Russia set his third short-course swimming world record in eight days Saturday, clocking 23.35 seconds in the 50-meter butterfly in the final meet of the World Cup season at Paris.

The two-time Olympic champion erased the mark of 23.45 set by Britain’s Mark Foster in 1995.

Pankratov is the first to hold three short-course and two long course world records. He has the 100- and 200-meter records in the 50-meter pools.

Using his unusual technique of staying underwater as long as possible, Pankratov surfaced less than 3 meters from the edge on the first length of the 25-meter pool. He then came up midway through the second leg to beat teammate Konstantin Ushkov by more than a half-second.

Wednesday at Imperia, Italy, Pankratov set a 100-butterfly record of 51.93 in the 25-meter pool.

Pankratov set a short-course 200-butterfly record of 1 minute 52.64 seconds Feb. 1 at Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

Mark Warnecke of Germany and the Netherlands’ Marcel Wouda broke their world records in the 25-meter pool.

Warnecke was timed in 26.97 seconds in the 50-meter breaststroke.

Wouda bettered his mark in the 400-meter individual medley for the second time in a week. He did 4 minutes 5.41 seconds.

Costa Rica’s Claudia Poll won the women’s 200-meter freestyle and the 800-meter freestyle.

Track and Field

Ivan Pedroso of Cuba, the 1995 world long jump champion, won with a season’s best of 27 feet 6 1/2 inches, at the adidas world class meet in the Army Track and Field Palace at Moscow.

Kiril Sosunov of Russian was runner-up at 27-0 1/2.

Olympic silver medalist Fiona May of Italy won the women’s long jump with an Italian indoor record of 22-4 1/4.

Eszter Szmiredi of Hungary won the women’s pole vault at 13-9 1/4, as former world record-holder Daniela Bartova of the Czech Republic failed three times at that height.

Russian Olga Kaliturina took the women’s high jump at 6-5, only an inch short of the season’s best.

Nigeria’s Sunday Bada won the men’s 200 meters in 21.28 seconds.

Olympic champion Donovan Bailey of Canada won the men’s 60 meters in a season’s best at the Gunma international indoor track and field meet at Tokyo. Carl Lewis finished fourth in the 200.

Bailey, the 100-meter world record-holder, was timed in 6.51 seconds, bettering the previous season’s best of 6.52 by Jamaican Michael Green. Green finished second in 6.53.

Lewis, the nine-time Olympic gold medalist, wound up next-to-last in a five-man field in the 200 in 21.53. Kevin Little won in 21.01.

Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas was a double winner. Sturrup won the women’s 60 meters in 7.27, with American D’Andre Hill second in 7.39, and she won the 200 in a meet-record 23.29.

Olympic gold medalist Inessa Kravets of Ukraine won the women’s triple jump at 45 feet 11 1/4 inches, and the men’s long jump title went to Joe Greene at 26-7 1/4.

Ukrainian Aleksandr Bagach, the shot-put bronze medalist at Atlanta, put 67-9 to defeat silver medalist John Godina. Gold medalist Randy Barnes was third at 66- 1/4.

Jason Rouser set a meet record in winning the men’s 400 in 46.73.

Olympic bronze medalist Falilat Ogunkoya of Nigeria won the women’s 400 in 52.66, and Haitian Jean Destine took the men’s 800 in a meet-record 1:48.20.

Julia Kirtland put her local knowledge to good use in the U.S. Women’s Marathon Championship at Columbia, S.C., breaking away over the final 10 miles to win by nearly 1 1/2 minutes.

Kirtland, who does her winter training in Columbia, passed early leader Jeanne Peterson along the 16th mile of the rain-slicked course and ran alone the rest of the way for her first marathon triumph.

Kirtland, who lives in South Harpswell, Maine, had a personal-best time of 2 hours 37 minutes 46 seconds, despite suffering from leg cramps down the stretch.

Cheryl Collins of Pittsburgh finished second in 2:39:18, and Mary Alico of Winter Park, Fla., was third in 2:40:11.

The field wasn’t nearly as strong as last year, when the race served as the U.S. Olympic Trials. Only four of the nation’s top 20 women were entered.

Baseball

American League most valuable player Juan Gonzalez underwent surgery at Harris Methodist Hospital in Forth Worth, Texas, to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb.

The Texas Ranger outfielder could be sidelined through mid-May.

Doug Linton and the Kansas City Royals agreed to a $500,000, one-year contract, more than double his 1996 salary of $189,000. . . . Graeme Lloyd, who didn’t give up a run in eight postseason appearances for the Yankees, agreed to a $765,000, one-year contract with New York.

Luis Polonia hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Dominican Republic beat Venezuela, 11-9, in the Caribbean Series at Hermosillo, Mexico.

The Caribbean title will be decided today when the Dominican Republic plays Mexico, which beat Puerto Rico, 10-6.

Third-ranked UCLA was within one strike of beating Nevada and remaining unbeaten this season, but the Wolfpack used a hit batsman, an infield single, a throwing error and three walks to score three runs and beat the Bruins, 6-5, at Jackie Robinson Stadium. . . . Freshman catcher Eric Munson hit two home runs to help sixth-ranked USC defeat Long Beach State, 4-3, at Dedeaux Field. . . . Every Cal State Fullerton starter had at least one hit, one run batted in and scored a run as the ninth-ranked Titans beat Arizona, 20-9, at Tucson.

Boxing

Steve Collins of Ireland retained his World Boxing Organization super-middleweight title for the sixth time by stopping Frederic Seillier of France in the fifth round at the London Arena.

Referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight at 2:20 of the fifth on the advice of the ringside doctor, with Seillier bleeding profusely from cuts over his nose and left eye.

Collins improved his record to 35-3 and Seillier dropped to 43-7-3.

In other bouts:

--Robin Reid floored South Africa’s Giovanni Pretorius for a third time and a knockout victory in the seventh round, his first defense of the World Boxing Council super-middleweight title.

--Naseem Hamed unleashed a right uppercut to knock out Tom “Boom Boom” Johnson in the eighth round and add the IBF featherweight title to his WBO title and likely end the American’s career.

--South Africa’s “Baby” Jake Matlala retained his WBO light-flyweight title with a split decision over British challenger Micky Cantwell.

Miscellany

Chanda Rubin of Lafayette, La., upset top-seeded Jana Novotna, 7-5, 5-7, 6-3, and advanced to the final of the Austrian Open at Linz.

Rubin, who struggled against Barbara Rittner in the quarterfinals, plays Karina Habsudova in today’s final. Habsudova, who is seeded second, defeated third-seeded Judith Wiesner of Austria, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

The Denver Broncos have offered Shannon Sharpe a $1.75-million contract, which could make him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL next season.

Bruno Kernen, winless this season on the World Cup circuit, was the surprise winner of a crash-filled downhill at the World Alpine Ski Championships at Sestriere, Italy.

The 24-year-old from Switzerland, the silver medalist in men’s combined on Thursday, was clocked in 1 minute 51.11 seconds. Lasse Kjus of Norway was second in 1:51.18, followed by Kristian Ghedina of Italy in 1:51.46.

Casey Colby of Lake Placid, N.Y., won the first national ski jumping title of his career with a jump of 116.5 meters at the U.S. large hill championships at Westby, Wis.

Canadian skier Nicolas Fontaine uncorked a huge final jump to pull past Eric Bergoust of Missoula, Mont., to win the aerials gold medal with a record score of 254.98 points on the final day of the freestyle World Championships at Nagano, Japan.

Earlier, Australian Kirstie Marshall set a record for women’s aerials points, earning 197.92 to break her own mark of 186.39 set two weeks ago at Breckenridge, Colo.

Elvis Stojko used a near-flawless performance in the long program at Vancouver to capture the Canadian Figure Skating Championships for the third time in four years.

Brent Fair, who coached basketball at Golden West College, Fullerton High and several other Orange County schools, died Friday of an apparent heart attack. He was 37.