2010 European Figure Skating Championship

The 2010 European Figure Skating Championship was held in Tallinn. The most dazzling moments from the first day of competition can be found in the RIA Novosti image gallery.

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© RIA Novosti . Iliya Pitalev

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Yana Khohklova and Sergei Novistky received their best score this season, with 37.87 points for the compulsory dance. This is just shy of their personal best of 37.98.

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© RIA Novosti . Iliya Pitalev

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Italy’s Frederica Faiella and Massimo Scali placed third after the first day of competition. They scored 37.47 (also a personal best).

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© RIA Novosti . Iliya Pitalev

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Current Russian champions Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov placed second in the pair skating tournament in the short program.

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© RIA Novosti . Iliya Pitalev

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Judges gave the leading Russian pair 73.92 points, which was just 0.20 points shy of the favorites in the competition – two-time world champions and three-time European champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany.

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Another Russian pair – Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov – took third place after the short program, scoring 73.54 points.

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Olympic champion Yevgeny Plyushchenko, the leader of the Russian figure skating team, concluded his appearance with a personal best for international competitions in the short program at the 2010 European Figure Skating Championship in Tallinn.

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Plyushchenko scored 91.30 points for his routine on Wednesday, beating his previous personal best of 90.66, which he earned in his “gold” tournament at the 2006 Olympics in Turin.