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Updated Friday, February 27, 2009 11:22 am TWN, AP

Russians go 1-2 in junior pairs; Rippon leads men

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Defending champion Adam Rippon was at the top of the standings after the men's short program, while Russia went 1-2 in pairs for a second straight year at the junior world figure skating championships on Wednesday. Rippon won every major junior title last year, and it looks as if the American will add another.

His score of 74.30 points was a personal best, and puts him almost five points ahead of Michal Brezina of the Czech Republic. Curran Oi of the United States was third.

Liubov Iliushechkina and Nodari Maisuradze won the pairs title, and Anastasia Martiusheva and Alexei Rogonov surged to the silver medal with a dazzling free skate. Americans Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir won the bronze.

Iliushechkina and Maisuradze led after the short program, and they struggled to keep their nerves under control in the free skate. She fell on their opening side-by-side toe loop jumps, stumbled on their throw triple lutz and had to put a hand down on a throw triple loop.

They finished behind Martiusheva and Rogonov in the free skate, but had built up such a big lead after the short that they easily won the title. Iliushechkina and Maisuradze finished with 144.32 points, almost six points ahead of Martiusheva and Rogonov.

"Our feelings are ambivalent right now," Maisuradze said. "We are happy about the result, but our performance was poor. I was not nervous at all, I'm never nervous, but Liuba unfortunately has been struggling with her nerves all season."

Martiusheva and Rogonov were in 11th place after a disappointing short program, but they made up for it with their delightful "Nutcracker" program on Wednesday. Their lifts were difficult, and they did a beautiful throw triple loop along with a side-by-side double axel-double loop sequence.

She touched her hand down on a throw triple salchow, but the flaw hardly mattered.

Rippon stumbled out of his triple axel, but landed a triple lutz and a triple flip-triple toe combination. His spins are some of the best in the competition and he received the highest levels for three of them.

"I was really excited to come back here to Bulgaria. I had a lot of success here last year," Rippon said. "I gained a lot of experience during the senior Grand Prix this year. I think it's really helped me and it's brought my skating to a new level."

The men's free skate is on Thursday.

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