The Russian figure skating championship finished on Saturday night in the Moscow Region with Andrey Gryazev winning male single, Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov best in pairs and Ksenia Doronina grabbing the gold medal in female single.

The championship unveiled a new star for the future 13 year old Artur Gachinsky from St Petersburg. According to the rules, skaters under sixteen are not allowed to take part in such a competition. But they made a special exception for Artur. Although he didn’t perform his best at the tournament,  his coach believes, that in several years the world will see the new Evgeny Pluschenko.

It was Andrey Gryazev, who won the male single contest which consists of two programs with the combined scores added up. In the short program the Muscovite made some mistakes and finished in second spot. But the judges put him on top after a stunning display in the compulsory section.

Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov from St Petersburg won in the pairs contest. They hadn’t performed well in the last two years. But they were back to somewhat near their best as they took first place by ten points.

In the female single contest, Elena Sokolova from Moscow had been considered as one of the favourites for the tournament, but she only came third. Ksenia Doronina from St. Petersburg was out of the medals after the short program. But she produced a brilliant display in the compulsory section to leapfrog all her rivals and claim victory.