The European figure skating championships carried on Thursday, even as the skating world mourned athletes who died when an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C.

Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin put themselves firmly on course for their first European figure skating title Wednesday in the pairs short program. Coming off a win at the Grand Prix Final last month,

Anastasiia Gubanova has taken a narrow lead in the short program as she aims to regain her title at the European figure skating championships.