Olympic silver medalist Irina Slutskaya of Russia delivered a textbook routine Friday to take the lead in the women's skating event after the short program at the World Figure Skating Championships.
Japan's Fumie Suguri, meanwhile, is a surprise second and defending world champion Michelle Kwan of the United States is stuck in third heading into Saturday's free skating finale after stepping out of a lutz in the short program.
Slutskaya, a four-time European champion who narrowly missed the gold medal at last month's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, hit her jumps cleanly at the M-Wave ice arena and spiced up her program to earn her first perfect marks at the world championships.
Suguri, fifth in Salt Lake City, nailed a triple flip at the edge of the rink and then executed some clean spins to Schubert's "Ave Maria" for a pair of 5.8s for presentation.