Russians clean up at Europeans

Led by defending Olympic champion Evgeny Plushenko, Russians won three of the four titles in Tallinn, Estonia, at the European figure skating championships, which ended Saturday.

Carolina Kostner of Italy broke the Russian stronghold by winning the women's event on Saturday, while Russian Alena Leonova finished seventh and Russian champion Ksenia Makarova finished ninth.

But with an array of mistakes, Kostner hardly figures in the Winter Olympics picture for the women's event next month in Vancouver.

Kostner fell on a triple loop and popped a triple flip into a single. She landed a triple flip - triple toe loop combination, but it wasn't perfect.

Her final point total of 173.46 pales in comparison to the world record of 210.03 set by Kim Yu-Na of South Korea earlier this season, or even to Canadian champion Joannie Rochette's best score of 191.29, set at the world championships, at which she won the silver medal.

Meanwhile, Plushenko scored world record points of 91.30 in the short program - which defeats the record he set previously at the 2006 Turin Olympics. And his final score of 255.39 was 16.85 points ahead of silver medalist Stéphane Lambiel of Switzerland, who made mistakes, but still finished second in the free skate. Lambiel narrowly defeated Plushenko in the presentation marks.

Former world champion Brian Joubert of France may not have been ready after overcoming an ankle injury, and finished almost 19 points behind Plushenko with numerous mistakes, including an error on his opening quad.

Plushenko wasn't at his best in the free skate, doubling his triple Lutz,. But he landed six triples overall, and a big quadruple toe loop - triple toe loop combination, the only skater in the competition to do so.

Plushenko expressed amazement that the past two world championships have been won without a quad. "At the Olympics, I need to do two quads and I need to skate much better," he said. "The most important competition is still to come.''

Russians have dominated pairs and ice dance in past years, and after some lacklustre years, they're trying to do it again. Yuka Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov were upset winners of the pairs title, defeating two-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany, although Savchenko had been ill in the weeks leading up to the European championships.

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia won the dance event, despite a controversial original dance to aboriginal music. However their final total of 199.25 doesn't threaten the highest marks in history or even this season.

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