VANCOUVER, Canada - - Italian ice dancers Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio edged into first place ahead of France's defending champions Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat at the World Championships on Thursday.

The Italian duo, who seized the French team's European crown in January, garnered first place scores from six of nine judges for their "Puttin' on the Ritz" rendition of a Quickstep and Foxtrot.

	Barbara Fusar Poli and Maurizio Margaglio edged into first place at the World Championships on Thursday.

Three judges voted for the French couple's performance to "More" by Nat King Cole, setting up a head-to-head showdown between the gold medal co-favorites in Friday's final.

A similar battle is shaping up for the bronze medal between Russia's Irina Lobacheva and Ilia Averbukh and Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz.

The Russians, who finished fourth at the last three World Championships, earned six third-place rankings to Bourne and Kraatz's three.

The Canadians, four-time world bronze medalists, missed the 2000 Worlds due to Borne's knee injury.

Last year's bronze medalists Margarita Drobiazko and Povilas Vanagas of Lithuania were fifth after the compulsories and original dance which combine for 50 percent of the total score.

"We did a great job today. We did a great job all through the season. It was very hard to do better today," said Margaglio, who ranked second at the 2000 Worlds.

NEW ROUTINE
Coming into these championships, the French couple decided to create a new original dance routine after failing to win with this season's initial offering.

"We changed the (Quickstep) music and the choreography was changed. We changed it for various reasons, Peizerat explained.

"We thought we could do better. We didn't win this dance at Europeans. We set up a choreography to win," he said. The judges were not in agreement.

"It's the judges point of view, but my point of view is we should have won today," Peizerat said.

The top two couples also appeared to be looking for top honors in the category of most vivid costuming.

Fusar Poli was decked out in a blinding lime green ensemble while Anissina sported a dazzling neon tangerine dress.

Although not the judges' choice, Bourne and Kraatz were the clear favorites of the partisan crowd of 16,500.

Their cheers for the Canadians' routine, choreographed to music by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, were ear-splitting. The booing and catcalls when the panel scored the Russians higher was deafening.

"We were very excited. We really felt the energy from the crowd. It was very intense," said Bourne, who won her first world bronze medal in 1996, the last time the Worlds were held in Canada.

Margaglio, who has been struggling with a knee injury for several months, said, "The public is great but they are not cheering for us. We are in the same group as Shae and Vic. It was a little bit difficult with the atmosphere."