Russia’s Yagudin Skates to Six Perfect Scores

Just as he did in the Olympics, Russia’s Alexei Yagudin showed why he is a champion.

Relaxed and exuding confidence with every move, he scored a record six perfect marks in the men’s short program Tuesday in the World Figure Skating Championships at Nagano, Japan, including the first for a man in required elements.

“It is easy for me to skate here compared to the Olympics. I felt like I was going to a show,” Yagudin said.

There are eight jumps, spins, steps or combinations in the short program. Yagudin, who turned 22 on Monday, displayed exactly how to do them.

He had a textbook quad-triple combination, and his six 6.0 scores were the highest number an individual has received in a world championships short program. Yagudin even received a 6.0 in required elements and a 6.0 for presentation from the Ukrainian judge.

Alexander Abt of Russia was second and American Tim Goebel was third. Both landed quad-triple combinations.

In the women’s competition, Michelle Kwan had a nearly flawless routine to earn top marks in her qualification group.

Marie-Reine Le Gougne, the French judge at the center of the Olympic figure skating scandal, filed a formal complaint with the International Skating Union charging that ISU technical committee chairwoman Sally Stapleford and pairs referee Ron Pfenning “exercised undue influence” over her and made false accusations.

The ISU plans to hold a hearing April 29-30.

Pro Football

Denver reached a $775,000, one-year contract agreement with receiver Rob Moore, who sat out most of the last two seasons in Arizona because of injuries.

Tampa Bay re-signed cornerback Brian Kelly to a six-year contract worth more than $12 million and signed free-agent tight end Marco Battaglia to a three-year, $3-million deal.

Battaglia played with Cincinnati and Washington last season.

The NFL confirmed that free-agent tackle Victor Riley has been suspended for one game for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Riley, then with Kansas City, was accused of ramming his vehicle several times into a vehicle occupied by his wife and infant daughter in May at Overland Park, Kan.

Skiing

Thomas Vonn won the men’s giant slalom at Olympic Valley, Calif., for his first national title and Casey Puckett closed his skiing career unusually.

Vonn finished the two runs in 1 minute 47.41 seconds in the final event of the U.S. Alpine Championships.

Vonn took the lead after the first run and held on to beat Tom Rothrock by 0.24 seconds. Erik Schlopy was third and Bode Miller, who won a silver medal in the giant slalom in the Salt Lake City Olympics, was fourth.

The race was the final one in a 13-year U.S. team career for Puckett, who at Salt Lake became the second U.S. male Alpine skier to compete in four Olympics.

Puckett made his final run in a bear costume.

“I actually wanted to wear a gorilla suit. But I wasn’t able to make it to Reno to find a gorilla suit,” Puckett said.

Motor Racing

Alex Zanardi will return to the Lausitz, Germany, track where he lost his legs and will symbolically start the German 500 on Sept. 21, a year after the crash in which he nearly died.

Zanardi lost his legs Sept. 15 during the inaugural CART race in Germany. The Italian driver has learned to walk on artificial limbs and has driven a car.

Indy Racing League rookie Anthony Lazzaro has been released from a hospital after a three-car crash in the Copper World 200 at Phoenix on Sunday, but has not been cleared to resume driving.

Dr. Henry Bock, the IRL’s director of medical services, said he will reevaluate Lazzaro this week to determine his availability for Sunday’s Yamaha Indy 400 at California Speedway.

Jurisprudence

Olympic gold medal sprinter Jon Drummond pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles to a charge that he transported seven pounds of marijuana last year.

Drummond, a member of the U.S. 400-meter relay team at the 2000 Sydney Games, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the felony count April 17. He remains free on $20,000 bail.

He was arrested Oct. 23 as he was leaving LAX with a backpack containing the marijuana.

Miscellany

Two corporate groups have teamed to acquire the Major League Soccer champion San Jose Earthquakes.

Anschutz Entertainment Group, which already owned five of the MLS’s 10 teams, is joining with Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment, which has managed the Earthquakes since January 2001.

Ian Thorpe won the 200-meter freestyle but failed to set a world mark for the second consecutive night in the Australian swim championships at Brisbane.

Thorpe won six gold medals and set three world records in the world championships at Fukuoka, Japan, in July. He won the 400 in Brisbane on Monday.

He finished more than a second slower than his Fukuoka world record time of 1:44.06 in the 200.

Makhtar Ndiaye, a member of the North Charleston Lowgators of the National Basketball Development League, was questioned by airport security at Charlotte, N.C., and not allowed to board a US Airways flight to Huntsville, Ala., on Sunday after allegedly making a comment a gate agent deemed a security breach.

A passenger on the flight told The Huntsville Times that Ndiaye used the word “bomb” in a joking manner.

Ndiaye, a native of Senegal, played at North Carolina.

Someone stole the $15,000 artificial limb that a golfer known as the “One-Armed Bandit” needs for charity matches.

The custom-made golfing arm was in Larry Alford’s sport utility vehicle when it was stolen early Saturday from an apartment complex at Spring, Texas.

Alford, 28, was a promising amateur golfer before he lost his arm below the elbow 10 years ago in a car accident.

T.J. Simers is on vacation.