Russian couple in control

Ice Skating

Russia's Olympic champions, Oksana Gritschuk and Yevgeny Platov, skated into the lead of the ice dance at the European Figure Skating Championships in Paris yesterday.

Russian and French competitors dominated the event, sharing the top five positions. Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov, of Russia, were second with France's Marina Anissina and Gwendel Peizerin third.

Gritschuk and Platov were late additions to the Russian team after missing their national championships in December.

With tomorrow's original dance and the free dance on Friday to come, the British pairing of Marika Humphreys and Phillip Askew are well down the field in equal 13th place.