Kwan, Kulik Skate to Victories at Tokyo

Amateurs outshone the professionals as Michelle Kwan, the 16-year-old U.S. champion from Torrance, won the women’s title, and Ilia Kulik of Russia, the 1995 European men’s champion, took the men’s crown at the Honda Prelude Cup open figure-skating competition at Tokyo.

In Sunday’s interpretive free program before 10,000, Kwan and Kulik, both amateurs, retained the leads they had established in the short program.

But the Russian amateur ice-dancing pair of Oksana Grischuk and Evgeny Platov climbed from second place to first, moving past Finnish pros Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko, who had led after the short program.

In the pairs event, in which only three amateur pairs competed, Americans Jenni Meno and Todd Sand won by moving ahead of short-program leaders Marina Eltsova and Andrey Bushkov of Russia.

*

Swiss ski racer Michael Von Gruenigen routed the competition in a World Cup giant slalom at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, for his second consecutive victory.

In a sport in which hundredths of a second make a difference, Von Gruenigen completed the two-run race an astounding 1.64 seconds ahead of Austria’s Siegfried Voglreiter.

Italian star Alberto Tomba, competing in his first giant slalom this season, fell during the second run and failed to complete the race.

*

Russian cross-country skier Yelena Vyalbe not only won a 15-kilometer race at Kavgolovo, Russia, but also overtook World Cup leader Stephania Belmondo of Italy.

Vyalbe covered the 9.3 miles in 47 minutes 32.6 seconds, on the steep Kavgolovo course near St. Petersburg, the tour’s fifth stop.

Belmondo, who started the race in a yellow jersey to indicate her leading position, lost it after finishing 13th.

Russia’s Larisa Lazutina finished second, 15.7 seconds behind Vyalbe.

*

At Schonach, Germany, Samppa Lajunen of Finland won his first Nordic combined World Cup event and took the lead in the season standings.

Lajunen made up for a score of 236.5 points in the ski jump with a time of 39:34.5 in the cross-country race, nearly 1 1/2 minutes faster than Mario Stecher of Austria, the runner-up.

Lajunen leads the season’s points race with 415.

College Football

Gary Barnett--who transformed Northwestern from perennial Big Ten doormats into bowl contenders the past two seasons--will interview this week for the Detroit Lion coaching position, according to The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. The Lions fired Wayne Fontes last month.

Motor Racing

Wheelchair-bound Frank Williams, the head of the Williams racing team, said he will appear before judges in Imola, Italy, next month to face a manslaughter charge arising from the death of Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

“I will be there and I will be defending my company and myself,” Williams said.

Williams and five other members of the team, including design director Adrian Newey and technical manager Patrick Head, have been charged with manslaughter in Senna’s death, which occurred at Imola when his Renault-Williams car hit a wall after failing to take a bend.

The manslaughter charge arises out of allegations that the steering column on Senna’s car may have been badly rewelded after the driver had asked for it to be shortened so he could have a better view of his instrument panel. There is speculation that the steering column snapped.

Through his lawyers, Williams has denied the allegations and said his team’s explanation for the crash would be given at the trial.

Tennis

Jim Courier won his 20th career title by defeating Tim Henman of Great Britain, 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, in the final of the Qatar Open at Doha, Qatar. Henman was seeking his first ATP victory.

Third-seeded Elena Likhovtseva of Russia rallied from a set and 4-1 down to beat Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3, in the final of the Gold Coast Classic at Gold Coast, Australia.

In the opening round of the Tasmanian International tournament at Hobart, Australia, Marianne Werdel-Witmeyer upset fourth-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria, 6-1, 6-3.

Miscellany

A memorial service for former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, who died Dec. 6 after a long bout with brain cancer, will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Washington Redskins will hire New York Giant defensive coordinator Mike Nolan to fill the same position with the Redskins, and an announcement could be made today, the Washington Post reported.

Irish masters competitor Dick Hooper, 40, won the Walt Disney World Marathon at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., in 2:31:19, beating Paul Marmaro of Delray Beach, Fla., by more than a minute.

Tunisian soccer player Medi Ben Rekhissa, 26, died of a heart attack after an exhibition match against a French team, the official news agency TAP reported.

Ben Rekhissa was voted best Arab soccer player in 1995.