Gachinski leads idol Plushenko in European figure skating

Rising Russian star Artur Gachinski overshadowed his idol Evgeni Plushenko to grab a slim lead at the European figure skating championships here on Thursday. Three-time world champion Plushenko, 29, who is competing for the first time since taking silver at the 2010 Olympics, trailed 0.09 behind the 18-year-old world bronze medallist after the men's short programme. Skating to the music 'Saint Louis Blues' Gachinski scored 84.80 points with Plushenko achieving 84.71. Czech Tomas Verner is in third position (81.14) and Spaniard Javier Fernandez fourth (80.11). "I don't think I've ever skated so well," said Gachinski. "I succeeded with all my jumps, the pirouettes, the little steps. For the moment I'm just the leader of the short programme, anything can change with the long programme." The young Russian has been coached for the past nine years by Plushenko's mentor Alexei Mishin in St Petersburg, where he often rubbed shoulders with the three-time Olympic medallist. "It's a great honour for me to compete against him in competitions because I'm still inspired by him. It's good to do battle with him for a medal," added Gachinski. Plushenko, the 2006 Olympic champion, has returned to competition with an eye on the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. But the six-time European champion did not attempt the quadruple jump so dear to his heart during his programme. "I know that it's difficult to win without the 'quad'," he admitted. "Doing a programme without a quad is like going back in time. But to be honest my rivals gave me a big present today." Only three skaters landed the quad including defending champion Florent Amodio of France. But the French skater only achieved the fifth highest scores (78.48 points) for his classic routine to "Tears of the sun" as the landing of his quad wasn't clean. "It's a very good start. I'm still in the competition," said Amodio. "I feel good, we've worked hard and have reworked the long programme." Compatriot Brian Joubert, the 2007 world champion, managing just the 10th best score (67.92) ahead of Saturday's free skating final, and looks set to finish off the podium for the first time in 11 appearances. "This programme was a catastrophe," said the three-time European champion, who fell on his opening quadruple and failed to execute his combination jumps and triple axel. Pairs skaters Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov took the first title of the championship when they lead a Russian sweep of the discipline. It was the first major title for Volosozhar and Trankov who scored 210.45 points to take the gold ahead of compatriots Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov (193.79) and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov (171.81), who took silver and bronze respectively. Germany's triple world champion and four-time European pairs champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy were unable to defend their continental title as Savchenko suffered a left thigh injury.