Short program of Russia's Cup concludes

The short program of the Russia's Cup Figure Skating concluded here Friday with young path breakers becoming dark horse and veterans clinching the title. In the Ladies short program, the 17-year-old U.S. skater Gracie Gold came on he stage firstly. She chose the "Hernando's Hideaway" as her music. Although Gold is the lowest-ranked skater in the Cup of Russia, when she stood on the ice arena, she looked confident and elegant. The young girl knocked off an opening triple flip and triple toeloop, receiving loud applause of the audience. Finally, she gained 62.16 points for her performance winning, leaving 0.6 points ahead of European Championships runner-up Kiira Korpi from Finland. Another U.S. skater Agnes Zawadzki was the third with a result of 60.18 points for her dynamic performance of the "Sex and the City." Home audience favorite Alena Leonova, also the world silver medalist, only ranked fourth in the short program, saying applauding spectators had distracted her. In the Pairs short program, the Russian pair Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, the European champions, dominated the section of the event clinching the first place with 74.74 points, their best result of the season. They successfully presented a series of highly difficult routines, such as triple twist lift, triple salchow and throw triple loop without any mistakes. Their compatriots Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov scored 66.02 points. They were satisfied with the result as the Cup of Russia is their first competition in the season. The third place went to U.S. pair Caydee Denney and John Coughlin, who made a mistake in the warming-up but adjusted themselves in the competition timely. The following men's short program attracted the audience's attention more as the reigning world champion Patrick Chan of Canada presented Rachmaninov's Elegie routine perfectly. The 21-year-old veteran clinched 85.44 points, creating his best result in the season. The home crowd favorite Konstantin Menshov gave the audience an unexpectedly strong performance only was flawed by a wobbly triple axel landing. Finally, the 29-year-old veteran received 76.73 points, ranking second. Japanese skater Takahiko Kozuka was only 0.39 points behind Menshov, taking the third place. In the Ice Dance section, the world champions and Vancouver Olympics winners Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada took the lead, receiving their season's new best mark of 70.65 points. Two Russian young pairs Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov and Victoria Sinitsina/Ruslan Zhiganshin ranked second and third, with 65.70 and 60.85 points respectively. The Cup of Russia, or the Rostelecom Cup, scheduled from Friday to Sunday, was held in the stadium of Megasport. It is the fourth leg of the 2012-13 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. According to the schedule, the free skate will take place on Saturday.