SOFIA, Bulgaria - Kristina Oblasova of Russia beat Ann Patrice McDonough of the United States on Saturday to win the women's title at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
Oblasova and McDonough skated clean programs with six triples each, but the Russian earned first-place votes from seven of the nine judges in the free skating.
``I was a little nervous and shocked at my performance today,'' Oblasova said. ``It's not every day you get to become a world champion.''
Russians have won five of the last seven women's titles, with Jennifer Kirk of the United States having won last year.
McDonough, 15, of Colorado Springs, Colo., beat the Russian at the junior Grand Prix final in December.
Susanna Poykio of Finland came in third, the first medal ever for Finland at world junior skating championships. Another American, Sara Wheat of Swedesboro, N.J., finished 10th.
Oblasova had the most difficult combination of the competition, landing a triple flip-half loop-triple salchow. The 16-year-old Russian had marks between 5.6 and 5.8 with a single 5.4.
She is coached by Yelena Tchaikovskaya, who also trains former world champion Maria Butyrskaya.
McDonough skated to music from ``Love Story'' and hit a late triple-double combination 10 seconds from the end of the program. However, she had only a double salchow in the middle of the program, which may have cost her the title.
``The triple salchow is not a good jump for me,'' McDonough said. ``I decided not to do it going into it.''
She had technical marks from 5.3 to 5.7 and her presentation marks were 5.5 to 5.8.
McDonough's medal was the fifth for the United States, which ended with the most medals. Russia had two titles and three medals.
The Americans went 1-2 in the men's event, the first sweep of the top two places for the Americans since 1987.
Johnny Weir, 16, of Newark, Del., became the 10th American man to win the world junior title. Evan Lysacek, 15, of Naperville, Ill., was second.
Russians Natasha Romaniuta and Danili Barantsev defended their ice dance championship and China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao won the pairs event.