FIGURE SKATING / U.S. CHAMPIONSHIPS : Injury Puts Eldredge in Difficult Position

ORLANDO, Fla. — Two-time men’s national champion Todd Eldredge, considered a medal contender in next month’s Winter Olympics at Albertville, France, will decide after a workout today whether he will withdraw from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships because of a back injury.

Dr. Arthur Pappas, the Boston Red Sox orthopedist who had tests that the skater underwent at a hospital here this week forwarded to his Worcester, Mass., office, advised Eldredge by telephone Wednesday night he should rest.

After hearing the prognosis, Richard Callaghan, who coaches Eldredge in San Diego, urged the skater to withdraw from the men’s competition, which begins Friday at the Orlando Arena. “But he wants to try to skate tomorrow in practice before making a decision,” Callaghan said. “The doctor told him that he couldn’t hurt the back worse if he skates, but it could delay the healing.”

Even if Eldredge, 20, withdraws, there is a possibility he could be one of three men selected by the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. to represent this country at Albertville Feb. 8-23.

Margaret Faulkner, the international committee chairman from Ann Arbor, Mich., said USFSA rules allow the selection of skaters who are injured or ill at the time of the national championships if they finished among the top three in the previous World Championships.

Eldredge was third in the World Championships last year behind Canada’s Kurt Browning and the Soviet Union’s Viktor Petrenko, who also have been hampered by back injuries this winter. Browning has withdrawn from next week’s Canadian national championships, and Petrenko recently finished third in the Soviet nationals.

Callaghan said he believes the 39 members of the international committee should grant a waiver to his skater. Christopher Bowman of Van Nuys was selected to skate in the World Championships in 1986 and 1990 despite withdrawing from the nationals because of injuries.

“I hope they give him credit for what he’s done,” Callaghan said.

If Eldredge is named to the team, Faulkner said the committee would name an alternate to compete at Albertville in case Eldredge’s condition does not improve. Bowman, Paul Wylie of Denver and Mark Mitchell of Hamden, Conn., are considered the other contenders to finish in the top three here.

Eldredge, from South Chatham, Mass., and the son of a commercial fisherman, has congenital back problems. But he said the pain has become increasingly worse in the last two weeks.

“It’s made everything 10 times harder,” he said. “Everything I do, I wonder if it’s going to hurt. It’s a mind game. When you say, ‘Forget about the back,’ what are you thinking about? The back.

“It’s really hard to deal with this. I’m thinking, ‘If I don’t compete here, my year could be over.’ It’s been my dream since I was 5 years old to compete in the Olympics.”