Slutskaya seeking six

Illness and injuries meant Slutskaya was unable to defend her crown last year but she surpassed her rivals, Sebestyen and fellow Russian Elena Sokolova, with a segment score of 65.02.

Chasing the record held by Germany's Katarina Witt and Norway's Sonja Henie, Slutskaya buried memories of her injury-plagued 2004 season with a series of soaring triple jumps and imaginative spins which drew rapturous applause from the crowd.

"The title here is not my goal, my goal is to skate my best," said Slutskaya.

"I don't think about titles and I have quite a few of these medals at home."

Sokolova had been expected to be Slutskaya's main challenger, but her interpretation of Don Quixote left the door open for the others after she doubled an intended triple toeloop and also singled out on another triple jump. A score of 52.46 left her 12.56 points adrift of Slutskaya and in fifth place.

"I'm not really satisfied, I didn't do the triple flip and I don't know why," said Sokolova.

Having skated in the second of seven groups planned for the day, Slutskaya had to wait for over 4-1/2 hours to see if Sebestyen could draw a higher mark from the judges.

The Hungarian was the only other competitor to pull out an error-free display which lived up to her choice of music -- Fire on Ice.

But her personal best score of 61.28 was not enough to dislodge Slutskaya from the top and she finished second.

Finland's Susanna Poykio ended the day in third spot.