Ice Skating: Lipinski sets early pace

Tara Lipinski narrowly won the short program at the World Figure Skating Championship in Lausanne, Switzerland, yesterday to raise her hopes of becoming the youngest women's world champion in history.

France's Vanessa Gusmeroli was second with Maria Butyrskaya, of Russia, third. The American defending champion, Michelle Kwan, was fourth after faltering in a combination jump.

"It felt great after having a bad short last year and being able to do a clean short this year gave me a lot of confidence," said Lipinski, who was 23rd after the short last year and was 15th after the free programme.

The 14-year-old Lipinski received marks up to 5.8, but the two 5.5s in for technical merit showed two judges were not impressed with her jumping. She barely gets off the ground but rotates quickly. Gusmeroli, by contrast, is a slow turner with plenty of height on her jumps.

Late on Thursday, Canada's Elvis Stojko won the men's title for the third time in the last four years, with the American, Todd Eldredge, last year's champion, second after Russia's Alexei Urmanov, who led after the short program, had to withdraw with a pulled groin muscle.