Meno and Sand Take Advantage of Field

The worlds’ losses were Meno and Sand’s gain.

With top contenders dropping out of the World Figure Skating Championships pairs competition because of injuries and illness, the Americans whose careers seemed on the wane wound up winning Tuesday night’s short program.

“This is a short program we really love, and this being our last competition, we wanted to skate to our favorite programs,” Jenni Meno said after she and husband Todd Sand edged Olympic silver medalists Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

Gone from worlds are Olympic champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev (he got food poisoning), two-time U.S. champions Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen (a training accident that gave him a concussion) and defending world titlists Mandy Wotzel and Ingo Steuer of Germany (Steuer’s shoulder).

Meno and Sand, the 1994-96 U.S. champions, are in strong position for their third world medal. They won bronze in 1995 and ’96.

They also could become the first American couple since Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner in 1979 to win the world pairs crown.

In the ice dancing competition, Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov of Russia, silver medalists in Nagano, were first after the compulsory dance. Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France, the bronze medalists, were tied with Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada, fourth in Nagano, for second place.

Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, five-time U.S. champions, were fifth. Jessica Joseph and Charles Butler, the other American couple, were 25th heading into Thursday’s original dance.

Figure Skating Notes

Timothy Goebel found out Tuesday that he officially made U.S. history. Goebel thought he’d landed the first quadruple jump by an American March 8 when he won the Junior Series Final at Lausanne, Switzerland. The jump, a quad salchow in combination with a double toe loop, was not ratified until this week, when International Skating Union officials saw a tape provided by the parents of the U.S. pairs team Tiffany and Johnnie Stiegler.