Canada sweeps pairs, women's singles at Finlandia Trophy

Canadian figure skaters Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford won the pairs event, while Kaetlyn Osmond captured the women's title at the ISU Challenger Series Finlandia Trophy on Friday in Espoo, Finland.

Duhamel, from Lively, Ont., and Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., the leaders after Thursday's short program, scored 197.78 points for the victory.

"We are feeling much more satisfied with this long program than the short [on Thursday]," said Radford. "We have felt uneasy all week but it is the beginning of the season and even though we left a lot of points on the table in the long program we did some really good stuff and set a good base for us to improve upon as we head into the rest of the season."

Added Duhamel: "That was the best we had in us today. Everyday your 100 per cent is different and today that was ours. It's a good start to a long season."

Russia's Kristina Astakhova and Alexei Rogonov scored 169.10 to finish second, while Germany's Mari Vartmann and Ruben Blommaert were third (164.91).

Osmond, a 20-year-old from Marystown, N.L., scored 187.27 to win the women's crown, beating Japan's three-time world champion Mao Asada (186.16). Anna Pogorilaya won bronze with 182.80.

"I'm really happy with my long program, the highlight was landing that triple-triple in my first attempt," Osmond said. "I couldn't be happier with it."

The Finlandia Trophy is considered a warm-up event to the ISU Grand Prix season.

The men's short program, which features Toronto's Patrick Chan, is scheduled for Saturday.