Feb. 11, 2000 8:51 AM Reuters

VIENNA, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Deposed European champion Alexei Yagudin believes a month's preparation will be all he needs to hold off the challengers to his world title next month.

But with new holder Evgeny Plushenko already outjumping him and planning more spectacular leaps in the future, Yagudin's two-year reign could be at a permanent end.

While Yagudin, still only 19, paid the inevitable price on Thursday night for a series of misadventures and injuries in the run-up to the European finale, Plushenko reaped the benefits of a calm and stable build-up and snatched the title away from his fellow-Russian.

At 17 years, three months and seven days, he became the second youngest European champion in history. Frenchman Alain Giletti was just 15 when he won in 1955.

Yagudin feels that -- barring further accidents -- he will be ready to retain the world title in Nice at the end of March, by which time he intends to have recovered the technical skills and killer instinct that marked his two European and two world titles in 1998 and 1999.

He is still widely regarded as the more mature and artistically superior skater and, at his best, Yagudin would have seized on the two errors Plushenko made in his programme and buried him in the ice with a flawless rejoinder.

SLOPPY LANDINGS

But this time Yagudin, who skated right after his former training partner and close friend, was not up to the challenge. His landings on three triple jumps were sloppy, even though his opening quadruple toe loop jump was flawless.

It was, however, just a quadruple and that was not enough against Plushenko, who had begun his display with a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination, to which he attempted to tack on a double loop at the end.

He failed with the loop on this occasion, but already he is planning more difficult combinations for the future.

Coach Alexei Mishin, who also used to train Yagudin, says Plushenko is already building on his jumping ability.

"He is already able to do quad toe-triple toe-triple loop, a 4-3-3, and he is also working on the more difficult quad toe-triple loop-triple toe loop. And he may one day do a 4-4-2, quad toe loop-quad toe loop-double toe loop," Mishin said.

And even, Plushenko said, five-rotation jumps - quintuples - are not beyond the realm of possibility.

Yagudin has already done quad toe-triple toe in competition, though he did not attempt it on Thursday. He knows he needs it and is sure to have it ready for Nice.

The seeds of Yagudin's defeat were planted last year when he was kicked off the Tom Collins Tour of Champions in the United States for alleged heavy drinking.

CASUAL DRINKING

He denied anything more than casual drinking and debunked reports that he had appeared on the ice drunk, but the Russian federation still hit him with a one-year suspended sentence and a promise of heavier punishment if he transgressed again.

Then, in December, Plushenko beat him for the Russian title - which he has never won.

Yagudin's problems continued in January when he broke a boot and hurt his heel in a practice accident which cost him a week's training and forced him out of the Grand Prix finals in mid-month. Then two weeks ago he broke a bone in his right hand in practice and he has skated in some pain with it bandaged this week.

Historically, skaters who have interrupted build-ups do not do well in competition, and so it proved for Yagudin.

Even if he suffers no further setbacks, Yagudin knows he faces a battle to regain supremacy from Plushenko.

Even in the area where Yagudin is still seen as superior - artistry - Plushenko is catching up fast. On Thursday six of his nine marks for artistry were higher than Yagudin's and the other three were the same.

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