MALMOE, Sweden -- World ice dance champions Irina Lobacheva and Ilya Averbukh of Russia won the original dance Thursday to maintain their lead at the European Figure Skating Championships.

Lobacheva and Averbukh earned marks from 5.4 to 6.0 for their Strauss waltz. However, under the interim scoring system devised as a safeguard against a repeat of the Salt Lake City Olympic judging scandal, no one knows whether the 6.0 mark counted.

"There are a lot of 5.9s. One 6.0 can come from our (Russian) judge -- but not all the 5.9s,'' Averbukh said.

It was the second 6.0 for the pair, who also had one at the Olympics. They won silver in Salt Lake City.

The highlight of their routine was the straight-line step work that including rapid strutting, twirling toepicks and even a mock off-balance bobble in unison.

Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviyski of Bulgaria are second entering Friday's free dance, which is worth 50 percent. Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomomarov of Russia are third.

More than half the couples chose music from the king of waltz, Johann Strauss, to conform to the original dance theme, "Memories of a Grand Ball.'' The men typically wore costumes based on military uniforms echoing the Austro-Hungarian empire, and the women wore dresses of flowing silk and chiffon.

In sharp contrast to the others, the Bulgarians chose a more courtly minuet theme, spinning as if perched on a music box. They were also innovative, weaving in front of each other during the step sequence down the ice, in contrast to the more typical side-by-side footwork.

"We had to skate last, and that's a bit hard. It's a long wait after the warmup,'' Denkova said.

The pair will offer a complete change of pace for Friday's free skate: Elvis Presley and Little Richard in a rock 'n' roll medley.