Russian men sweep top sports at Rostelecom GP

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian men swept the top spots Friday in the short program of the Rostelecom Cup, the fifth of sixth figure skating Grand Prix preliminary competitions.

Alexander Samarin, who won silver at the French Grand Prix two weeks ago, started off with a quad lutz-triple loop combination but fell on his following quad flip attempt. He ended with 92.81 points.

Dmitry Aliev, the bronze winner at Skate America, aimed for the same opening combination, but turned the quad lutz into a triple. He then followed with a quad toe loop to finish in second with 90.64 points.

Makar Ignatov was the only skater to land two quads. He was third with 87.54 points.