Elvis Records 2nd Straight Golden Moment

Defending champion Elvis Stojko, ignoring the pain of a recent careerthreatening injury, won the men’s title Thursday at the World Figure Skating Championships.

Stojko became the first repeat champion since fellow Canadian Kurt Browning won three titles from 1989-91.

Stojko touched down trying a rare quadruple jump, but he didn’t need it. Performing as Christopher Columbus to the soundtrack of ” Conquest of Paradise” he hit six of seven triple-jump attempts.

The French judge gave Stojko a perfect 6.0 for technical merit, and the Canadian received no mark less than 5.8 for either technical merit or presentation to finish first on six of the nine scorecards.

The other three judges voted for U.S. champion Todd Eldredge, who completed a remarkable comeback season to take silver.

Skating as a Civil War soldier to the “Gettysburg” soundtrack, Eldredge fell on a triple axel but hit seven other triples. He pumped his arms in triumph to the 6,600 fans at the NEC Arena at the end of his routine.

His marks ranged from 5.7-5.8 and 5.7-5.9.

Frenchman Philippe Candeloro, in a reprise of his “Godfather” routine - complete with gray hair and an enhanced goatee - took the bronze, moving up from fifth after the short.

Stojko, 23, tore a ligament above his right ankle in a fall during practice for the Canadian nationals on Jan. 10. The pain spread to his Achilles tendon, knee and lower back, jeopardizing his chance of skating at the Worlds.

But Stojko, a psychology student and martial arts master who likes dirt-biking and often quotes from the Zen philosophy, relied on acupuncture, physiotherapy and his own mental toughness to put aside the pain.

Stojko injured the leg again when he fell attempting a double axel during practice on Tuesday. But on Thursday, it took the pounding from the landing on every jump with no obvious ill effects.

Olmypic champion Alexei Urmanov was fourth. American Scott Davis, third after the short program, performed only four triples and looked exhausted at the end of his “Untouchables” routine. He finished seventh.

For Eldredge, 23, it was the type of finish predicted when he became the youngest U.S. champion for 24 years in 1990. After successfully defending the U.S. title in ‘91, Eldredge went on to take the bronze at the World Championships in Munich, Germany.

Then came three years of injury and inconsistency, which forced him to contemplate retirement.

A second place at last summer’s Goodwill Games signaled the start of his comeback. The Chatham, Mass., native, who chose figure skating over hockey at age 5 because he wanted to “jump and spin,” then won Skate America, the Philadelphia Pro-Am, the NHK Trophy, and the U.S. nationals before his second-place finish here.

Earlier, defending ice dance champions Oksana Grischuk and Yevgeny Platov of Russia won the original dance to maintain their overall lead.

Doing the quickstep, Grischuk and Platov placed first with eight of the nine judges.

The 1994 Olympic champions, who train in Wilmington, Del., will unveil a much-anticipated Fred AstaireGinger Rogers routine in the medal-deciding free dance tonight.