German pairs skaters Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin lead the short program at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague with 79.78 points. They called their tango routine the best of the season. The Georgian European champions trail by just 0.33 points.
Minerva Hase and Nikita Volodin from Germany dominated the pairs short program at the Figure Skating World Championships in Prague. With 79.78 points, the 26-year-olds lead ahead of European champions Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulawa from Georgia (79.45 points) and Canadians Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud (75.52 points). Hase said: «After we skated, we felt it was perfect. For us, it was the best program of the season» following their flawless tango performance. The previous year's vice world champions recall their performance at the Winter Games in Milan, where they led the short but dropped to bronze in the free skate. Japanese Olympic winners Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara are absent in Prague. Germany's second pair, Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel, sit tenth with 65.35 points after her fall on the triple Salchow. The free skate is Thursday at 18:15 (Eurosport, ZDF media library). In women's, Japan's Kaori Sakamoto leads with 79.31 points ahead of Mone Chiba (78.45) and Amber Glenn (USA, 72.65). Olympic champion Alysa Liu is absent. The decision comes Friday at 18:00. No German woman competes.