HARBIN, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Finnish Kiira Korpi turned into a romantic skate to lead women's short program in the Harbin Winter Universiade on Monday, paving the way for gold after Tuesday's final free skate.

    Korpi, bronze medalist of the 2007 European Championships and fifth of the 2009 European Championships, collected a highest 58.96scores to edge over Japanese Nana Takeda at the second place with 53.20.

    Elena Elebova from Estonia, 12th place of the 2009 European Championships, stood third at 52.90 among the 28 athletes.

    Chinese favorite Liu Yan put a hand on ice after an unstable landing in her performance, only scored 44.62 to place 12th.

    The Universiade figure skating moved on into the third day on Monday, with free dance of ice dancing and short program of the synchronized skating to start later in the evening.

    Tuesday will witness the women's gold medal after the free skate competition.

    Altogether 204 participants from 26 countries participate in the four-day competitions.