A young pairs’ team from Russia is in position to win at the world figure skating championships, potentially ending an eight-year gold-medal drought.
Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitriy Kozlovskiy topped Wednesday’s short program in Stockholm with 80.16 points, edging two-time world champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China by 2.54.
Boikova, 19, and Kozlovskiy, 20, were sixth in their senior worlds debut in 2019, then won both the 2020 European title and Russia’s Grand Prix Series event this past autumn.
The last duo from once dominant Russia to win a world title was Tatyana Volosozhar and Maksim Trankov, who ended an eight-year drought in 2013.