Kovtun and Lipnitskaia lead Russian Cup

Russians Maxim Kovtun and Julia Lipnitskaia grabbed the lead respectively in the men's and women's sections at the Russia's Cup figure skating Grand Prix series sixth and final stage in Moscow on Friday. Germany's four-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy meanwhile are also firmly on course for the Grand Prix finals at Fukuoka, Japan from December 5-8 after taking the leading position in the pairs after the short programme. Three-time Russian champions Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev top the dancing section after the first day. The 15-year-old prodigy Lipnitskaia, who won her first career Grand Prix at Skate Canada, excited her home crowd with an almost flawless presentation of her 'You Don't Give Up on Love' by Mark Minkov in the short programme to receive her new personal best mark of 72.24 points. "Today I skated calmly and relaxed even though I was really nervous before coming onto the ice," the former junior world champion said. "I was afraid that the home crowd's support would prevent me from showing my best skating but everything went my way today. "I'm really happy with my marks today. I expected them to rise as I had a feeling that I skated well but I didn't imagine the marks would be so high." Five-time European and 2012 world champion Carolina Kostner also gained her personal best mark of 67.74 to finish second after the first day, more than seven points ahead of third-placed American Agnes Zawadzki. In the absence of Russian icon Evgeni Plushenko, his compatriot Kovtun performed a solid short programme 'Flamenco' by Pepe Romero to also set a new personal best mark of 92.53 points. "I have never experienced such a furious support from my fans like it was today," Kovtun said. "It just gave me strength and power, allowing me to perform at my best. "This season I've learned how to avoid nervousness which prevented me from performing at my best in the previous years. And it has added a great deal of stability to my performances." Tatsuki Machida of Japan, winner at Skate America, who was considered as the event's red hot favourite, was second with 84.80 after producing a couple of minor mistakes during his 'East of Eden' short routine. European champion Spaniard Javier Fernandez, who was also considered as one of the favourites of the event, fell during his short programme but took third place with 81.87. Though the Vancouver Olympics bronze medallists Savchenko and Szolkowy, who already won this season's Cup of China, made some mistakes during their short programme of 'When Winter Comes' by Chris de Burgh, they still managed to receive a season's best 73.25. Canadian duo Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch made a bad mistake during their short programme and were deducted one point pushing them down to third as Russians Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov took second with 69.72. Reigning European champions in ice dances Bobrova and Soloviev impressed both the referees and the spectators with their finesse of their short dance, the quickstep/slow foxtrot medley, scoring 68.42. Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, Skate Canada runners-up, were second almost seven points behind, while another Russian dancing duo Ekaterina Riazanova and Ilia Tkachenko were third. Source: AFP