Shanghai, China (SportsNetwork.com) - Elizaveta Tuktamysheva of Russia landed a triple axel Thursday and easily captured the women's short program at the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships.
Tuktamysheva hit the difficult jump early and flawlessly handled the remainder of her performance to earn a score of 77.62, posting more than an eight-point lead over her nearest opponent, countrymate Elena Radionova.
The 18-year-old Tuktamysheva won the European championship earlier this year. She finished 10th in the 2013 worlds.
Radionova, the runner-up to Tuktamysheva at the European championship, is just 16 years old and was the world junior champion each of the last two years. She posted a score of 69.51.
Japanese skaters occupy the next three positions. Satoko Miyahara is third at 67.02, followed by Kanako Murakami at 65.48 and Rika Hongo at 62.17.
China's Li Zijun is sixth, followed by Americans Polina Edmunds and Gracie Gold. Another American, Ashley Wagner, finished 11th in the short program.
The free skate will take place Saturday.