HARBIN, Northeast China, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israeli skaters Alexandra Zaretski and Roman Zaretski were crowned ice dance title at the Harbin Winter Universiade figure skating, while Finland's Kiira Korpi led the charge for women's singles gold.

    The Israeli aces, ninth of the 2008 World Championships and silver medalists of the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, turned in a romantic dance to the music of Jesus Christ Superstar, collecting an overall177.43 points to top the 16 pair.

    Russian duo Ekaterina Rebleva and Ivan Shefer, who trailed closely along the three-event ice dance, were awarded 170.43 to take the silver. Ukraine pair Alla Beknazarova and Vladimir Zuev settled for bronze with 163.07 points.

    "We did everything we can for the competition, and we are very satisfied with the gold medal," said the brother Zaretski.

    "We performed to our personal best in the three events of the ice dance," he added. "It is not easy to fly to China. We really appreciate the great efforts of the organization committee and appreciate all the athletes for competing with us."

    In women's part, Finland's Kiira Korpi, bronze medalist of the 2007 European Championships and fifth of the 2009 European Championships, presented a near-perfect short program to score 58.96 points, well ahead of the second placed Japanese Nana Takeda before Tuesday's final free skate.

    An eye-catching synchronized skating became a highlight of Monday's figure skating, as five teams of Finland, Sweden, the United States, Switzerland and Russia, each consisting of 20 athletes, united as one with high speed while skating on ice.

    Team Sweden took the lead in the short program of the synchronized skating, still to strive for gold in Tuesday's free skate.

    Previously as demonstration event in Universiade, synchronized skating is for the first time offering gold medal at the biennial sports gala.

    Tuesday will decide the final two figure skating gold medals of women singles and synchronized skating at the Universiade. Altogether 204 participants from 26 teams participate in the four-day competitions.