World ice dancing champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria were left third after the final free dance in Warsaw the European Championships of figure skating.

The final ranking did not change until the very end of the European Championships of figure skating on Friday, depriving the charming Bulgarian duo from a deserved victory.

The French combination Isabelle Delobel-Olivier Scheonfelder grabbed the first place with 199.47 and Russians Oksana Domnina and Maksim Shabalin coming second with 199.16. The French winners, who won the European bronze in 2005, took the surprise lead in the ice dance after Tuesday's compulsory dance.

The Bulgarian duo scored a total of 193.97 performing a wonderful golden waltz in the compulsory dance on Tuesday and an impeccable free dance on Friday.

"We are here to delight the audience, but not to a classification," said Denkova. They complained they were awarded a level one grade for a jump they considered a level four, calling Tuesday's scoring "absurd".

The Bulgarians were favorites having dominated the discipline since winning their first world title last year.

This season they won Skate America and the Trophee Bompard in Paris as well as the ISU Grand Prix final last month.

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