Russian duo seizes early pairs lead

Russians Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov were last out of the gate but first in the standings with an assured performance in the pairs short programme to open the ISU World Figure Skating Championships. The twice world silver medallists Volosozhar and Trankov will not be resting on these laurels with five couples still in podium position and just over six points separating fifth from first place. The Russians posted a score of 75.84 ahead of Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford (73.61) who had a stellar showing that brought the Canadian crowd to its feet on Wednesday. Both couples hold a slim advantage over Germany's four-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy (73.47), who delivered the least convincing performance among the top five with a small and major miscue that saw their individual spins turn well out of unison. In fourth are a second Russian team, Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov with 69.98 points, a fraction ahead of the second Canadian pair Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch (69.25). The pairs final on Friday promises to be an exciting and pressure-packed race to the finish. At these pre-Olympic championships, competitors are looking to stake early claims to the 2014 Olympic podium and, in the process, help to earn their countries the maximum entries possible for the Sochi Winter Games. The Canadian and the Russian pairs are now in perfect position to earn the maximum three berths in pairs for their countries. From: AFP