Who’s Left Standing?

Handicapping the not-quite-all-comers World Figure Skating Championships, which begin Tuesday in Minneapolis:

WOMEN’S SINGLES

* Short program: Friday.

* Long program: Saturday.

* Outlook: Michelle Kwan will reclaim the world title she won in 1996 and lost to Tara Lipinski in 1997, but after her? Russians Maria Butyrskaya and Irina Slutskaya placed 4-5 in Nagano and at least one should reach the medals podium in Minneapolis.

MEN’S SINGLES

* Short program: Wednesday.

* Long program: Thursday.

* Outlook: Show up, win a medal. Saturday’s bailout by Ilia Kulik means than none of the three medalists from Nagano will be anywhere near Minneapolis, leaving Todd Eldredge, a disappointing fourth at the Olympics, the favorite by default. Michael Weiss, seventh in Nagano, suddenly gives the U.S. two medal contenders. Russian Alexei Yagudin, fifth at the Olympics and third at the ’97 worlds, should also wind up on the podium.

PAIRS

* Short program: Tuesday.

* Long program: Wednesday.

* Outlook: Americans Kyoko Ina and Jason Dungjen, fourth in Nagano, will try to prevent a Russian sweep of the medals. Olympic gold medalists Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev should repeat here, as should runners-up Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. A third Russian tandem, Marina Eltsova and Andrey Bushkov, won the world championship in ’96 and placed second in ’97. Americans Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, eighth in Nagano, are also entered.

ICE DANCE

* Compulsory dance: Tuesday.

* Original dance: Thursday.

* Free dance: Friday.

* Outlook: It will be interesting to see if Pasha Grishuk and Evgeny Platov can repeat, since they’re not entered. Maybe the judges will notice. Most likely, they’ll just move the teams that finished 2-3-4 in Nagano up a notch, which means it will be Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov of Russia, followed by Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France, followed by Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz of Canada. The top U.S. tandem, Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow, placed seventh at the Olympics.