Russia leads at figure skating team event at Sochi Olympics

Reigning World champions Tatiana Volosozhar/Maxim Trankov and Turin Olympic gold medallist Evgeni Plushenko gave hosts Russia the lead in the figure skating team event after the pairs and men's short programmes here.

Canada ranked second thanks to Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford's second place finish in pairs and reigning world champion Patrick Chan's third place in men's Thursday, reports Xinhua.

China came in third as Peng Cheng/Zhang Hao finished third in pairs while Yan Han ranked fourth in the men's.

"After the men's short (program), we had a little extra pressure after Patrick Chan was in third place," said Duhamel.

Skating to the music from Waltz Masquerade, Volosozhar/Trankov performed flawlessly and infectiously to get a score of 83.79 points. Canada's Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford, bronze medallist of the World Championships last year, trailed in 73.10. Chinese pair Peng Cheng/Zhang Hao came in third with 71.01.

"We skated very carefully. We wanted to show all our emotions and all our strength on the ice and concentrate on completing all our elements," said Trankov.

"I think we managed this very important task and we are happy we have put Russia into first place in this event for the first time in the Olympic Games."

The team event is making its debut at the Sochi Games. It features 10 teams and each has one representative competing in men's singles, women's singles, pairs and ice dancing. They each perform a short program after which the top five teams progress to perform a free skate.