Menno, Sand Lead

Jenni Meno and Todd Sand won the pairs short skating program at the NHK Trophy.

Russians Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev were second, followed by Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo of China.

The pairs final is today.

In men’s singles, Ilia Kulik of Russia, one of Nagano’s top medal hopefuls, won the short program.

American Dan Hollander came in second, with Japan’s teenage star, Takeshi Honda, in third place. Scott Davis of the United States was fifth. The men’s final is Sunday.

Defending champion Maria Butyrskaya of Russia was first in the women’s short program. China’s Chen Lu, the 1995 women’s world champion, who has faded during the past year, was second, followed by Tanja Szewczenko.