NAGANO, Japan -- Alexei Yagudin demonstrated why he is the Olympic gold medalist in regaining the men's title Thursday at the World Figure Skating Championships.

	Alexei Yagudin received two perfect scores for presentation on Thursday.

The Russian won his fourth world title in completing two quads and six triples, an identical routine to his Winter Games victory a month ago in Salt Lake City.

"It feels great to get my title back," Yagudin said. "I had this title for three years in a row and then, unfortunately, I lost it last year."

American Tim Goebel was second, improving on the bronze medal he gained at the Olympics. Takeshi Honda of Japan delighted the packed stadium at the M-Wave Arena with third.

Yagudin's routine to "Man in the Iron Mask" earned him perfect scores from Azerbaijani and German judges for presentation.

He opened his routine with a quad-triple-double combination and seconds later another quadruple jump. A triple axel was so high that he finished the rotations in the air before lightly coming down.

Yagudin was the only Olympic champion to compete.

"It was a lot easier to skate here than at the Olympics because of less pressure," Yagudin said. "But physically it was harder because of the time change."

Goebel's was the best performance by an American at a worlds since Todd Eldredge also earned silver in 1998.

As at the Olympics, Goebel had three quadruple jumps. But he had trouble with some triples. His high technical marks that almost challenged Yagudin were compromised by presentation scores ranging from only 5.5 to 5.8.

"I really wanted to survive this competition," Goebel said. "I had to fight all the way through, and ending up with a medal with the way I kept fighting through the program means more than when you have one of those perfect skates."

Honda, who finishes third, had a quad-triple combination but fell on another attempt.

Yagudin previously won in 1998, 1999 and 2000 but lost the title last year to his Russian rival Evgeny Plushenko, who did not defend his title because of a knee injury.

Earlier, Russians Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh led the ice dancing after the original program.

The Olympic silver medalists had the top marks in the section where all the couples do a routine to a Spanish medley. The original dance counts 30 per cent of the total score after the compulsories, which were 20 per cent. The final free dance is Friday.

Second were Canadians Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz. The Olympic fourth-place finishers are in contention after the Olympic gold and bronze medalists decided to skip this competition.

Third were Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas.

Lobacheva and Averbukh scored nearly all 5.8s and 5.9s to their dramatic tango and Flamenco presentation, highlighted by Averbukh doing almost 10 spins on one foot with her wrapped around his leg.

"We have a dance coach off the ice so we train dance as well as skating," Averbukh said. "We felt pressure because we are in the lead after the compulsories, and it was very difficult."

Their free dance on Friday is dedicated to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

The women's event, with Michelle Kwan and Irina Slutskaya, continues on Friday with the short program.

Both took their qualifying groups Wednesday and head into the short program on Friday tied.

Kwan is seeking her third consecutive world title and fifth overall. Slutskaya has beaten Kwan the four times they have met this season and seven of the last nine times.