Yagudin Wins European Title

Alexei Yagudin of Russia reclaimed the European figure skating title Thursday night at Lausanne, Switzerland, but it was an imperfect victory with silver medalist and countryman Alexander Abt beating him on the jumps.

Yagudin fought through his final free program, touching down on his opening quad, then coming right back to hit a clean quad toe loop at the other end of the rink.

He completed one quad and six triples, including two triple axel-triple combinations, but he finished the program with two double loops and failed to deliver a planned quad-triple-triple combination--a jump he hopes to have polished for the Olympics.

“The double loops made my program dirty, but in my opinion, I had the stronger free skating,” Yagudin said. “I didn’t fall, I didn’t look bad, I just stepped out of the first quad. I know that is not going to be enough to be Olympic champion, but today it was enough to win.”

Yagudin clapped sullenly from rinkside as Abt wrapped up his program: a quad and eight triples, including a quad-double combination on his opening move.

Despite Abt’s technically superior program, Yagudin won the 6-3 decision on his highly stylized presentation, the deciding factor in the free program and the moves that give context to the jumps and distinguish champions.

In a startling ascent to the top of European figure skating, France’s Brian Joubert, 17, won the bronze at his first European championships. He finished third at the French nationals this year and was 14th in last year’s nationals.

Earlier, Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat of France moved into the lead of the ice dance event with an uncharacteristically restrained Flamenco/Tango routine for the original dance that earned one 6.0 for presentation.

The championships continue with the women’s short program today.

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Angela Nikodinov of San Pedro, fourth in last week’s U.S. Figure Skating Championships, has withdrawn from next week’s Four Continents Competition in Korea. She will be replaced by Andrea Gardiner of Baytown, Texas.

Miscellany

Byron Nelson had back surgery and will remain hospitalized in Irving, Texas, until next week to recuperate, a spokesman for his golf tournament said. Nelson turns 90 on Feb. 4.

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Illinois football Coach Ron Turner received a $200,000 raise and a one-year contract extension after leading the Illini to the Sugar Bowl last season.

The deal also pays Turner an additional $1 million in deferred money if he stays at Illinois through the end of his contract in 2007, a university official said.

The Illinois coach’s annual salary increases to $900,000 under the new contract.

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Former middleweight world champion Felix Trinidad said he will face Frenchman Hacine Cherifi in a 10-round middleweight bout on May 11 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Former UCLA forward JaRon Rush signed with the practice squad of the ABA’s Kansas City Knights.

The Knights drafted Rush in 2000, when he left UCLA after a suspension-shortened sophomore year and was not taken in the NBA draft.

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French sprinter Christophe Cheval, banned for two years after failing a drug test at the Track and Field World Championships, tested positive again and can’t compete until January 2004.

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Alan Alborn, who has finished in the top 10 three times in World Cup ski jumping events this season, was selected to the U.S. team for the Salt Lake City Olympics.

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Pepperdine senior Al Garland, ranked No. 7 nationally in men’s singles in the Intercollegiate Tennis Assn., will be the top-seeded player in the Sherwood Collegiate Cup men’s tennis tournament today through Monday at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

The 32-player draw includes second-seeded Oliver Maiberger of San Diego State, ranked No. 11, as well as No. 3-seeded UCLA sophomore Tobias Clemens, ranked No. 19, and fourth-seeded USC senior Andrew Park, ranked No. 22.

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University of Maryland midfielder Philip Salyer, 20, signed with Werder Bremen, a club team in the Bundesliga, Germany’s top soccer league.

Passings

Carl “Bobo” Olson, middleweight champion in the mid-1950s, has died. He was 73. Olson died Wednesday night in a Honolulu hospital after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.