Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy have won their third pairs title in four years at the world figure skating championships, setting two world records on Thursday in Moscow.
The Germans were in second after the short program behind defending champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian of China. But their clean and playful free skate to music from The Pink Panther put them on top.
Savchenko and Szolkowy finished with 217.85 total points, topping the previous mark of 216.57 by Olympic gold medalists Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo in Vancouver last year. Savchenko and Szolkowy also topped the free skate record, set by Pang and Tong in Vancouver.
Pang and Tong took bronze after he put his hand down on their opening double axel sequence.
Russia's Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, skating together just a year, won silver.
Both Canadian entries placed in the top eight. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford finished seventh, while Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch were eighth.
Radford was competing with a broken nose suffered when Duhamel inadvertantly hit him with an elbow during Wednesday's short program.
The top programs were a contrast of styles, only their superb technical skills in common.
Dazzling triple flip
Savchenko and Szolkowy were playful and sly, she in a magenta catsuit and he in blue trousers just a shade less electric.
Savchenko traveled so far on the opening throw triple flip she seemed almost to hang in the air, and the rest of the elements were deft. They scored 144.87 for the free skate, topping the record of 141.81 set at the Vancouver Olympics by Pang and Tong.
"It was really something special and it will go down in the history of German figure skating," Savchenko said.
Volosozhar and Trankov were the epitome of tortured Slavic romance, skating to the brooding strains of Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. They opened with a high triple twist, and two dramatic throws made the crowd roar. But the pair, who only teamed up last May after successful careers with other partners, had a few flaws, including poor synchronization on a triple toe-double toe combination.
Pang and Tong had graceful lifts and a solid triple twist. But Tong had to put his hand down on the second jump of their opening double axel sequence.
Friday includes the first day of the women's competition. Japan's Mao Asada, the defending champion, and Miki Ando face Olympic champion Kim Yu-na of South Korea in her return to competition. Asada, though capable of two triple axels in her free program, said Thursday that's not in the cards for this championships.
"I will be doing one triple axel for the short program as well as one for the free program," Asada said. "Because that's what I've been practicing and training for. I'll keep that."
With files from CBCSports.ca
