FIGURE SKATING : Injury to Prevent Trenary From Defending Her Title

Jill Trenary, who underwent surgery twice within 12 days last month for an infected right ankle, surrendered Tuesday in an attempt to recover in time to defend her title in figure skating’s World Championships.

Trenary had withdrawn from the U.S. Championships, which began Tuesday night at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

A three-time national champion from Minnetonka, Minn., Trenary could have applied to the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. for a waiver into the March 11-17 World Championships at Munich. But after off-ice exercises last week caused inflammation and an increase in fluid in the ankle, Trenary postponed her scheduled return to the ice Monday for a workout at her Colorado Springs, Colo., rink.

“I can’t physically compete to defend my national and world titles,” she said Tuesday in a statement released by her business representative, the International Management Group. “My heart wanted to. . . . Unfortunately, my ankle didn’t cooperate.

“Obviously, I am very disappointed, but I plan to be back and compete at full strength in the 1992 Albertville (France) Olympics.”

With Trenary’s withdrawal, the World Championships could be without defending champions in three of the four competitions.

Trenary upset 1989 winner Midori Ito of Japan in last year’s World Championships at Halifax, Canada.

Skating Notes

The International Skating Union confirmed Tuesday that the Soviet Union’s Marina Klimova, who teamed with husband Sergei Ponomarenko in winning the last two World Championships in dance, failed a recent drug test and could be suspended for two years.

Beate Hasler, ISU president, said that Klimova had a higher ratio of the male hormone testosterone to epitestosterone than allowed under ISU rules when she was tested after a first-place finish in the recent European Championships at Sofia, Bulgaria. Hasler said that indicated illegal use of either natural or synthetic testosterone. Some doctors, however, contend the testosterone level can be elevated by birth-control pills. Her sample will be retested. If it is positive, she will be suspended for two years, pending appeals.

The favorites took the lead in ice dancing in the U.S. Championships Tuesday. April Sargent and Russ Witherby, national runners-up the last two years, were first in compulsories, followed by Jeanne Miley and Michael Verlich.