TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin put themselves firmly on course for their first European figure skating title Wednesday in the pairs short program.

Coming off a win at the Grand Prix Final last month, Hase and Volodin skated a clean program, except for a one-point penalty for a time violation, to score 71.59 points.

The Germans lead by just over three points from Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy, who dropped points when Conti put a knee down on landing a throw triple loop.

Hungary's Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko are third on 65.88.

Last year's European champions Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise of Italy aren't defending their title because of a season-ending foot injury for Beccari that required surgery.

The women's short program is later Wednesday. Defending champion Loena Hendrickx is not competing because of an ankle injury.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports