Bobrova and Soloviev set new personal best to land Rostelecom Cup gold

The Russian champions scored 111.76 points in their free dance to total 186.68, supplanting overnight leaders Madison Chock and Evan Bates of USA at the top of the standings.

Bobrova and Soloviev collected a level four for their lifts, twizzles and a spin, and a level three for their step sequences to secure the title, ahead of Chock and Bates in silver medal position and Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje in bronze.

"Today was a very strong performance, we were able to put together the choreography and the technique and to bring across the idea of our programme," said Soloviev.

It was another victory for Russia in the ladies' event, with Anna Pogorilaya pipping fellow countrywoman Elena Radionova and Courtney Hicks of USA to the gold medal.

The World bronze medallist achieved a season's best score of 141.28 points in her free skate, pulling off a triple Lutz-triple toe combination and a triple Lutz-single loop-triple Salchow combination to secure a total of 215.21.

The two-time European bronze medallist said: "Overall I feel that I did a good job. Obviously there are some glitches that I noticed already during the performance.

"My next Grand Prix is Japan, I'll have a short break and then I'll prepare."

Elsewhere, in the men's programme, Spain's Javier Fernandez struck gold to push overnight leader Shoma Uno into silver with Alexei Bychenko of Israel winning his first Grand Prix medal with bronze.

Fernandez, who sat in second place following Friday's short programme, performed a quad toe, quad Salchow-triple toe, quad Salchow and two triple Axels, as well as four more triples, to score 201.43 points, leaving him with a final total of 292.98.

But despite missing out on the gold medal, Japan's Uno qualified for his second consecutive Grand Prix Final, with Fernandez to compete again next week in Paris.

"My performance today was really, really good," said four-time European champion Fernandez.

"There are not many bad things I have to say. There are a few levels missing that we have to practice.

"I'm glad I fought through the programme. When you fight you always have a reward, so this was the reward today."

In the pairs, Germany's Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot enjoyed a dream Grand Prix debut as a team as they skated off with the gold medal.

Russians Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert took silver and Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov won bronze, with European silver medallists Savchenko and Massot posting a new season's best of 138.38 points in the free skate to total 207.89.

Sportsbeat 2016