Bulgarian figure skating champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski received a high mark for their first performance in the European championship 2007 held in Warsaw.

The world ice dance champions received 38.56 points for their first appearance in the championship, Focus news agency reported. The score ranks them third.

Darik Radio reported that the main opposition of the Bulgarian couple will come from the Russians Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin. The Russian pair ranked second after the compulsory dance, receiving 38.99 points.

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder ranked first getting a highest mark of 39.57 points, BGNES Sport agency reported.

The Bulgarians have two silver medals from European championships. They have not managed to win a gold medal yet, Darik reported.

Free programmes will be performed on Wednesday January 24 and the original dance is scheduled for Friday January 26.