Russian figure skater Anna Shcherbakova won the short program at the unofficial World Team Championship in Japan, with Elizaveta Tuktamysheva taking second place.
Shcherbakova scored 81.07 points for her rental, and Tuktamysheva – 80.35.
The Japanese woman Kaori Sakamoto closed the top three (77.78).
Thus, in the overall standings, after two stages, Russia is in the lead (35 points), followed by Japan (27 points) and the USA (25 points).
The athletes will present their free program on April 17.
On March 27, Shcherbakova, Tuktamysheva and Alexandra Trusova for the first time in history took the entire podium at the World Cup. The winner in the free program was Shcherbakova, silver was taken by Tuktamysheva, and bronze went to Trusova.
For Shcherbakova and Trusova, this was their debut world championship. Tuktamysheva became the world champion in 2015.
16-year-old Shcherbakova, speaking about her victory, said that this is a great honor for her and an important step in her career.