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Russian pair closer to dance title
 Navka and Kostomarov have recovered from their poor opening dance LYON, France -- Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov edged closer to their third European ice dance title after climbing to the top of the standings following the original dance. The Russian world champions had been surprisingly left trailing in third place following the compulsory dance. However, they were back on familiar ground with a swinging rendition of the Cha Cha, Rhumba and Samba. Navka and Kostomarov's combined mark of 99.00 was enough to open up a 1.39 points lead over early pace setters Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov. The Ukrainian husband-and-wife team had to settle for second while another married couple, Lithuania's Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas slipped down a place to third with their total of 95.29. Navka, who was sporting a striking leopard print outfit, and her partner glided across the ice and showed off their intricate choreography that fitted perfectly with their chosen music. They drew the highest mark of 60.79 points. "It was like a stone fell off my soul," Navka said. The couple have been skating together regularly for the past six seasons and have not been defeated since the NHK Trophy in 2004. "I had such inner rage that I wanted to rip apart and devour everybody," Kostomarov said about Tuesday's performance. "I was still angry today and tried to use it to do our best today." Grushina and Goncharov finished third on Thursday but their score from the first part of the three-phase competition meant they did not drop any further in the rankings. "I didn't think about our placement, I just wanted to show my best today," said Grushina. "Being in the lead after the compulsory made us feel stronger. We were in a good mood when we skated today and the judges will decide the rest." Drobiazko had to contend with her bracelet flying off her wrist midway through the Lithuanian couple's routine but she said the incident failed to distract them. "I felt it coming loose and I knew I would not be able to continue to skate with it, so I just did an arm movement to throw it away," said Drobiazko, who is retuning to competition after a four-year break. Her husband added: "If it had happened earlier we probably would have been stopped (by the referee)." Local favorites and last year's bronze medallists Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder were awarded the second highest score in the original dance but it was not enough to lift them from fourth in the overall standings. Slutskaya claims seventh titleMeanwhile, Irina Slutskaya skated into the record books by capturing an unprecedented seventh European women's title. The Russian's elegant Rhumba and Flamenco choreography could not be matched by any of her rivals even though she had to put her hand down on the ice to keep her balance just 90 seconds into her routine. Despite the mistake, she easily outclassed compatriot Elena Sokolova by a margin of 15.43 points. Italy's Carolina Kostner claimed bronze with a score of 112.41. Slutskaya eclipsed the record of six European titles she had shared with Germany's Katarina Witt and Norway's Sonja Henie with a series of soaring jumps, deft footwork and imaginative spins. Her victory kept alive Russia's chances of sweeping all four titles at the championships for the second successive year. Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin began Russia's gold run in Lyon by clinching their fifth consecutive pairs title on Wednesday. 
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