Slutskaya Dominates Kwan

Irina Slutskaya of Russia won the Grand Prix figure skating finals at Tokyo for the second consecutive time over Michelle Kwan by winning all three phases of the competition Saturday.

Kwan was experimenting with a new program and she said the unfamiliarity caused her to make minor mistakes.

“I had it for two weeks. I was not familiar with it and that made me a little nervous,” Kwan said.

Sarah Hughes, 15, of the U.S. finished third.

In the men’s event, Yevgeny Plushchenko defeated Alexei Yagudin of Russia, but under this format, they will compete for the men’s title today.

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Jean Racine and Jennifer Davidson led an unprecedented U.S. sweep in the final women’s World Cup bobsled competition of the season at Park City, Utah. The USA I pair edged USA II’s Bonny Warner and Vonnetta Flowers, with Jill Bakken and Kristi McGihon third. . . . Pierrick Bourgeat of France won two World Cup slaloms at Shigakogen, Japan. In the first event, Erik Schlopy of the U.S. finished fifth after coming from 14th place after the first run. . . . Silke Kraushaar won the final women’s World Cup luge race of the season at Lake Placid, N.Y., holding off German teammate Sylke Otto with a two-run time of 1 minute 29.989 seconds to win the overall title for the second time in three years. . . . Alexandra Coomber of Britain capitalized on a mistake-filled run by Michelle Kelly of Canada to win a World Cup skeleton title in a combined time of 1:40.60 at Park City, Utah. . . . Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann broke her world record in the 3,000 meters by 0.25 of a second with a time of 4:00.26, leading a German sweep at a speedskating World Cup meet at Hamar, Norway.

Tennis

With her knee ailing, top-seeded Venus Williams lost, 7-6 (8), 6-4, to unseeded Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria in the semifinals of the Terazura Open at Nice, France. Maleeva will play Amelie Mauresmo of France in today’s final. Mauresmo defeated Anke Huber of Germany, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. . . . Martina Hingis cruised to a semifinal victory over Barbara Schett of Austria, 6-1, 6-1, at the Qatar Open at Doha. Hingis will play Sandrine Testud of France, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Adriana Gersi of the Czech Republic.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia defeated Roger Federer of Switzerland, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4, and advanced to the final of the Marseille Open in France. Kafelnikov will play Sebastien Grosjean of France, a 6-4, 7-6 (7) winner over Max Mirnyi of Belarus. . . . Defending champion Andreas Vinciguerra reached the Copenhagen Open final for the second consecutive year, defeating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. He will play top-seeded Tim Henman of Britain, a 6-3, 7-6 (3) winner over Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands.

Miscellany

Rik Currier struck out seven and gave up two hits in eight innings as USC defeated UCLA, 6-0, in a nonconference baseball game at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Currier improved to 3-0 for the Trojans (7-2), who are ranked No. 2 by Baseball America. Jon Brandt (2-1) took the loss for the Bruins (8-3), who had won eight in a row. The teams conclude a three-game series today at 1 p.m. at UCLA.

Deena Drossin of Agoura easily won her fourth consecutive U.S. cross-country title at Vancouver, Wash., in 26 minutes 14 seconds, then broke down in tears after crossing the finish line because she had been thinking of her cancer-stricken mother, Heleana. Tim Broe won the men’s 4K race in 11:02.5.

Cyclist Javier Otxoa is in a coma in Malaga, Spain, two days after he was hit by a car while training in an accident that killed his twin brother and teammate, Ricardo.

Takanori Hatakeyama of Japan retained his World Boxing Assn. lightweight title at Tokyo by salvaging a draw with Rick Yoshimura of New York.

The Buffalo Bills hired Steve Fairchild, an assistant at Colorado State, to be their running backs coach.

Mike Dunn earned his 12th career top-fuel top qualifying spot in the Checker Schuck’s Kragen Nationals at Chandler, Ariz., with a run of 328.22 mph.

The Ice Dogs completed a two-game sweep of the Colorado Gold Kings with a 3-2 West Coast Hockey League victory at Colorado Springs.

Passings

Former Oregon football coach Jerry Frei died Friday in Denver, after an extended illness related to heart disease. He was 76 (see Page B7).