HELSINKI, Finland -- Elvis Stojko pronounced himself fit and ready to battle for the men's world figure-skating title.
That may sound like a surprise, considering the Canadian has been a three-time world champion. But over the past 13 months, he has been a question mark.Stojko injured a groin muscle at the Nagano Olympics, aggravating an injury he suffered earlier in 1998.
He skipped the world championships that year, giving up the title he won in 1997. He also won in 1994 and 1995.
He's had to come back slowly and has not done well, barely winning the Canadian title and coming in third at the Four Continents competition.
He feels he is ready now.
"A lot of power has come back into my jumps now," he said prior to the men's qualifying, which opens the weeklong competition.
Later Monday, the pairs event had its short program.
Defending champions Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were considered favorites until recently. They withdrew from the European championships just before the free skate and she stumbled numerous times at the Grand Prix final.
Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo beat them at the Grand Prix finals and are the Four Continents champs.
Michelle Kwan, the American seeking her third world title, starts competition on Wednesday in the women's qualification round, which counts for 20 percent of the overall score this year.
Kwan had a fine practice on Sunday, completing jump after jump in a practice group that also included one of her principal rivals, Tatiana Malinina of Uzbekistan.
Malinina was the surprise winner at the Grand Prix Final two weeks ago but lacks the choreographic poise that Kwan exhibits every time she is on the ice.
Malinina, however, has been in International Skating Union competition throughout the year. Kwan chose to stay eligible for the next Olympics, although this is her only major ISU competition of the season. She bypassed the Grand Prix schedule to concentrate more on shows and TV.
Stojko tried the Grand Prix meets early in the season and lost to Plushenko twice.
Now Stojko said he was over his leg problems.
That could put him in contention with the three Russian favorites
The Russian trio of Alexei Yagudin, Yevgeny Plushenko and Alexei Urmanov have been taking turns beating each other throughout the season.
Yagudin is the current world and two-time European champion; Plushenko is the Russian champion and Urmanov won the Cup of Russia on the home rink of all three.
Now, Yagudin may be the one with an injury
After unleashing a powerful and well-executed quad in practice, Yagudin skated aimlessly for a while, leading to speculation that he may have injured himself. Both he and his coach declined to comment.
The top American man, Michael Weiss, has an outside shot at a medal, especially if he completes a quad, as he has been attempting for the past two years.