Figure Skating

Evgeni Plushenko is on target to defend his Olympic crown in Vancouver.

The 26-year-old Russian, the men's solo gold medalist at the 2006 Winter Olympics, won the Cup of Russia event this weekend after a 3 1/2-year absence from international competition. Plushenko quashed doubts about his fitness level and his resolve by winning both the short and long programs, for a total score of 240.65.

He threw down the gauntlet for Vancouver 2010 opponents by landing ambitious quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combinations not only in the long program on Saturday but in the risky short program on Friday.

Plushenko has two quads in the long program but decided to attempt just one in Russia, "because I wanted to skate a clean program for my confidence, for the audience and for the judges," he said.

Plushenko won by more than 25 points over Takahiko Kozuka of Japan, one of many in the new generation of figure skaters who is struggling with quads. Kozuka couldn't complete the rotation and stumbled out of his lone attempt on Saturday. Artem Borodulin of Russia swept into third place past a fumbling Johnny Weir of the United States, a world bronze medalist two years ago.

Shawn Sawyer of Edmundston, N.B., a three-time Canadian bronze medalist, finished eighth in the men's event after two-footing a triple Axel, falling on a triple Lutz and stumbling out of another jump.

While Plushenko was soaring, another former world champion, Mao Asada, failed to land any of her three triple Axel attempts and finished fifth in the women's event. She placed second last week in Paris. Miki Ando, the 2007 world champion, won the Moscow event but wasn't impressive enough to be considered an Olympic contender.

Amélie Lacoste of Delson, Que., finished seventh in her first international competition in two years and was disappointed to land only three triples. "My focus here was not on the medals," said the Canadian bronze medalist.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States will contend strongly for gold in Vancouver. They won the ice dancing event by a whopping 32.53 points. Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier, the Canadian silver medalists, finished fourth to give Canada its highest finish at the competition.

"We were really happy with how we performed the program for the first time in competition," said Poirier, who shook off the flu to compete. "We're still getting comfortable with it at this point."

Mylène Brodeur of Stanbridge Station, Que., and partner John Mattatall of Tatamagouche, N.S., finished sixth in the pairs event.