Euro champ on top at skating worlds

Defending champion Stephane Lambiel missed his first jump and sprawled on the ice. Japan's top duo crumpled under the pressure before home fans. Former U.S. champion Johnny Weir said he was so out of breath even his costume was tired. Then European champion Brian Joubert of France showed them how it's done.

Landing a quad-triple combination and skating a clean performance to a James Bond theme song, Joubert swept to the top of the standings Wednesday after the short program at the World Figure Skating Championships.

In pairs, China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo displayed a stunning performance to take the first gold of the championships, with reigning world champions Pang Qing and Tong Jian taking the silver.

"I did great," Joubert said after putting himself in a commanding lead going into Thursday's medal-deciding free skate. "I have had a great season. I won all of my competitions so far this year. Now, I am well on my way to win this one."

Joubert, dressed in a black "007" outfit and skating to the theme music from "Die Another Day," started strongly with the quad-triple and marked the highest technical scores of the day, despite once touching his hand to the ice.

He scored 83.64 points to have a solid, but not insurmountable, margin over Jeff Buttle of Canada, second with 79.90 points. In third was Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, with 74.51, and behind him Weir, at 74.26.

"I forgot to breathe a little bit. It was basically just nerves," Weir said. "I've been having some trouble adjusting here. My costume is even tired."

Lambiel, a two-time world champion and silver medalist at the Turin Olympics, was the biggest disappointment. Taking several deep breaths before he started, the Swiss immediately hit the skids, falling on his first jump. He then did a simple, triple-double combination to drop further behind.

"My triple axel was not there tonight," he said. "In the air, I felt very good. I don't know what happened."

He goes into Thursday's free skate in sixth position. Japan's Nobunari Oda, despite the loud support of the 6,000 Japanese fans at the Tokyo National Gymnasium, also missed his first jump and slipped to 14th.

"It was my worst performance this season," Takahashi said. "I was very nervous."

Buttle, who has been troubled by back problems, is glad to be in the competition and in position to go for gold.

"Every competition I aim for the gold," he said. "But I don't want to get too carried away about the color of the medal."

Later Wednesday, Shen and Zhao _ who said they are considering retirement or a break _ had the crowd on its feet after a nearly perfect skate to win the gold in pairs.

The two-time world champions had 203.50 points to 188.46 for Pang and Tong. In third were Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy, of Germany, at 119.74.

They won the world titles in 2002 and 2003 but missed the championships the last two years because of injuries.

Asked if it would be their last competition, Zhao said: "It is maybe the last time."

"We would like to stop and reassess our condition. We might rest for one year," Shen said. "We are not sure whether we will come back again."

They had two throws that covered a lot of ice after the three-minute mark. They also did double axels from close pair spread eagle position with their bodies nearly touching before the jump.

Two-time U.S. champion pair Rena Inoue and John Baldwin had to settle for 163.97 points and eighth place. Inoue, skating in her native Japan, hit the ice three times after missing jumps and throws.

"It's definitely a disappointment," Baldwin said. "It's tough to walk away from it like this."

Inoue was more succinct.

"My tailbone hurts," she said.