The Junior Figure Skating World Championships in Sofia have already seen their first Russian champions. Photo by flickr.com
The first gold medal has already been awarded at the 2009 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships which opened Tuesday in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. A record number of 208 skaters have been entered for the competition, the competition's official web-site reported Thursday.
Russian pair Lubov Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze won the first title with a very confident short program and only a few mistakes in the free program.
"We are very glad to win the title but we are disappointed with our skating, especially by my partner's performance" said Nodari.
Another Russian pair Martiusheva and Rogonov, the current Russian junior champions claimed the Silver and Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir took the bronze for the US.
Bulgaria has hosted the World Junior Championships before in 2001 and 2008. This year's event will continue until March 1 and as ever is expected to uncover a lot of new youthful talent.