Butyrskaya wins short program

 PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- There were good young jumpers, and polished older skaters who'd lost their edge.
 Only defending European champion Maria Butyrskaya possessed both the technical elements and sophistication, winning the shortprogram of the European Figure Skating Championships Friday with a sultry, blues program.
 Butyrskaya led a Russian sweep of the competition, with Viktoria Volchkova and Julia Soldatova, up-and-coming teen-agers just out of junior ranks, second and third, respectively.
 Though they held their own, neither could approach Butyrskaya's style and secure skating that masked the jitters of a defending champion.
 "I was terribly nervous," she said.
 Wearing a fire-engine red dress, Butyrskaya melded her movements to the long blues notes, swiveling her hips seductively at the judges as the trumpets played.
 The program completely wiped away the the memory of Vanessa Gusmeroli's short program immediately before to the same music, "St. James Infirmary." While Butyrskaya hit all her elements, a triple lutz-double toe combination, triple loop and the required double axel, the French skater's combination was flawed, and her presentation no rival for the Russian champ's.
 "I knew that there are many skaters on the same level, and that one mistake would cost me dearly," Gusmeroli said. "It's a long competition."
 Butyrskaya's success at 26 defies recent trends toward younger, athletic skaters, like Tara Lipinski, who won the 1998 Olympic gold at 15. Six times the Russian national champion, Butyrskaya did not win an international championship until the Europeans Championships last year, following a coaching change. She finished fourth at the Olympics.
 Her younger Russian teammates kept up technically, but just could not match the mood she created, or her presentation marks of 5.8 and 5.9.
 Finishing second, 16-year-old Volchkova's lapses showed in her loose arm and free leg extensions. And while third-place Soldatova, 17, skated to seductive music in a lacy costume, her movements did not convey any mood.
 If the Russian women hold their places in Saturday's free skate, they'll match the men, who swept the European medals Thursday.