Russia's Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov won their first major title on Friday when they clinched the pairs crown at the Grand Prix figure skating final, sounding out a warning for the 2018 Olympics. In their four-year partnership, their best previous performances had been bronze medals at the 2015 and 2016 European championships.
But on Friday, they triumphed with 213.85 points, winning the free programme ahead of Canadian favourites Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford. Skating to Music by English rocker John Miles, they obtained 135.25 points in the free programme with the Canadians on 134.55.
"Obviously, you always have the goal to win, but we focused on skating clean," said Tarasova. "We've had two weeks of good preparation and worked very hard and this is the result. This victory is a big step forward for us. The judges now look at us as potential winners and that is important." World champions Duhamel and Radford, who finished third overall behind China's Yu Xiaoyu and Zhang Hao, paid dearly for a fall on a triple axel. In the women's individual event, Russia's world and European champion Evgenia Medvedeva started her Grand Prix final defence by taking the lead in the short programme.
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