Russian Yevgeny Plushchenko hit a quadruple jump in combination to beat American Tom Goebel in the men's short program.

Butyrskaya, who beat Michelle Kwan for the world title in 1999, held a narrow lead with first place votes spread among the top five women.

Sarah Hughes, 15, and Sasha Cohen,16, who finished behind Kwan at American championships, were second and fourth behind Butyrskaya with France's Vanessa Gusmeroli third.

Butyrskaya made two mistakes on jumps but her presentation scores were up to 5.9 to allow her to edge Hughes, who did each of her required elements cleanly.

"It was very hard for me to do the triple flip in the short program," Butyrskaya said. "I'm happy I did it the way I did." Hughes's routine to Rachmaninov was judged in extremes with technical marks ranging from 5.2 to 5.9. Her presentation marks were more consitent, 5.4 to 5.8.

"I felt it was a good performance, not only the jumps but also the things in between," Hughes said.

Hughes actually had more first place votes than Butyrskaya, three to two, but the Russian beat her 5-4 in a head-to-head vote among the judges.

Cohen skated to a soft version of "Sentimental Waltz" which illustrated her balletic moves. In her first major competition of the season, she barely held her double axel but her spins and spiral sequences were outstanding and even she had a first place vote.

In the men's event, Plushchenko, who won six consecutive competitions last year before losing at the world championships, got a 6.0 score from the Russian judge for his presentation in a routine to the music "Bolero."

He opened with a high quadruple-triple toe loop combination, the first time he had done one during a short program.

Goebel was superb in his short program to Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra," the theme music for the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." The second part of the routine was to a waltz.

Goebel opened with a clean quadruple salchow, then added a triple axel-triple toe loop combination, although his landing on the first part of the combination could have been better.

Goebel earned marks of 5.6 to 5.8 for the eight required elements. He also had presentation marks in the same range.

He credited his new coach, Frank Carroll, for his success. "I've only been with him for four months," Goebel said. "I'm improved a lot, but we still have a long way to go."

Goebel upset three-time world champion Alexei Yagudin at Skate America two weeks ago with a long program that included three quadruple jumps and two triple axels, one of the most difficult technical routines ever skated.

Third was China's Li Chiangjiang, who included a quadruple toe loop in his routine.

The long program, worth two-thirds of the total score, is Saturday along with the pairs and women's.

In the pair's event, France's Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Bernadis produced an error-free free with a karate theme to gain all firsts in the short program. World champion Russians, Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov were second despite three minor mistakes by Petrova on the required moves.

Former American pair champions Danielle and Steven Hartsell, competing for the first time in nearly a year, placed seventh. Last year she fell from a lift and fractured her kneecap.

The dance event was led by Italians Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio, world runners-up in March. They skated a smooth compulsory dance to a samba and earned marks in the 5.5 to 5.8 range.

Lithuanians Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas were second, with Canadians Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, who won last year, third. The original dance is Saturday with the free dance on Sunday.