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Katarina Witt has retired, and so have the two Brians - Boitano and Orser. But Kurt Browning has his quadruple jump, Aleksandr Fadeev has the experience and Chris Bowman has the showmanship. For the first time in years, the World Figure Skating Championships are wide open.

Competitions begins Tuesday with the men's singles compulsories, followed at night by the pairs original program, in which 17-year-old Kristi Yamaguchi of the United States begins her double-pronged quest for honors.

"Anything could happen," said Bowman, the U.S. national champion renowned for his flashiness and individuality. "We are setting new ground for the next four years."

Browning, who became the first skater to successfully land the quadruple jump at last year's world championships, agreed.

"There are five or six guys that are right up there," the Canadian skater said. "Looking at the field, everyone is so equal."

Another leading contender is the Soviet Union's Viktor Petrenko, last year's Olympic and world bronze medalist, but he's coming off a groin injury for his first international event of the year.

Browning said Fadeev, the veteran Soviet skater who won the world world championships in 1985 and retained his European title in Birmingham, England, last January, had a slight edge over the others.

"Because of Aleksandr's past and experience, he has the potential to win," said Browning, who placed sixth last year in Budapest, Hungary. "He's been there more often than any of us."

The first test for all the contenders comes with compulsories, the supreme test of a skater's precision and technical expertise.

Both Browning and Bowman criticized the phasing out of the long-established figures, reduced this year from three to two and from 30 percent to 20 percent of the total mark. They are due to be eliminated in July, 1990.

"I'm disappointed because my parents, myself and my coach have spent years working on the figures," Browning said. "I'm just starting not only to enjoy them but to get good at them. Now that they are being eliminated, it's like buying a compact disc and finding out they've made something better."

Bowman said the figures should either stay as they are, or be kicked out for good.

"What they are doing this year is a halfway house and it's ridiculous," Bowman said. "I personally think they are very valuable to our sport."

While the retirement of the two Brians has opened up the men's event, the same scenario has emerged in the women's competition.

The end of the Witt era - the East German arrived in Paris Tuesday as a spectator - has opened the door to a group of Western women skaters in what is expected to be the most competitive event at the Palais Omnisports in Paris.

With Witt, Canada's Liz Manley and American Debi Thomas all now professionals, the battle for gold probably will be between U.S. national champion Jill Trenary, European champion Claudia Leistner and Japan's Midori Ito, whose dazzling jumping and refreshing youthfulness endeared her to fans throughout the world last year at Seoul.

"It's wide open. Anyone could win it," said Trenary, who flew into Paris by Concorde from New York. "I don't feel nearly as much pressure here as I did at the nationals."

Trenary, from Colorado Springs, Colo., injured a groin just after the U.S. championships.

"I was a little scared," said the 20-year-old American, fourth in last year's Calgary Olympics and fifth in Budapest. "I didn't skate for a week and only started again last Tuesday. I feel OK now."

Trenary has until Thursday, the start of the women's event, to hone her program and make up for lost time on the ice.

But for teammate Yamaguchi, the action starts immediately.

The teen-ager from Fremont, Calif., regarded by many experts as America's fastest rising star, is doubling up in singles and pairs.

Yamaguchi, world junior women and pairs champion in 1988, outskated Trenary in the free skating finale at the U.S. championships, finishing second overall.

Then she combined with Rudi Galindo to upset Kim and Wayne Seebold for the pairs title.

Yamaguchi's pairs coach, Jim Hulick, says his pupil's potential is unlimited.