Michelle Kwan sent a cross-Atlantic challenge with her fifth American title. Now her two main Russian rivals show what they can do at the European Figure Skating Championships that begin Monday.

Irina Slutskaya and Maria Butyrskaya, who each have beaten Kwan over the last two seasons, have taken the last five European women's championships. Those victories were part of a Russian domination.

After winning all European titles between 1997 and 1999, Russia lost the dance title to the French last season when injuries forced the defending champion Russians out of the competition.

The Russians could sweep the men's and women's events again this year. The men, whose qualifying opens the event Monday, have three-time world champion Alexei Yagudin looking to take back his title after bowing last year to teammate Evgeny Plushchenko.

In a quirk of the draw, the Russian men are skating in the first positions in qualifying, Yagudin and Alexander Abt leading off the morning group, Plushchenko starting the afternoon session. The top 15 in each group advance to Tuesday's short program.

Yagudin won Europeans in 1998 and 1999, but a broken bone in his hand limited him in Vienna last year, and Plushchenko took the title. Yagudin came back to win worlds.

"The world championships are the most important for me," Yagudin said. "This is just practice for it."

With Plushchenko, 18, working on a quad-triple-triple in practice, Yagudin knows he has to increase his quad arsenal.

"I have been working on a quad salchow and I plan it for the Grand Prix final and the world championships," said the 20-year-old Yagudin.

The Grand Prix final in Tokyo next month, bringing together the top six scorers in the Grand Prix series, will serve as a preview for the world championships in March in Vancouver. Kwan will meet Slutskaya and Butyrskaya in Tokyo.

Kwan beat both Russians to win the world title last year in Nice. Slutskaya beat her at last year's Grand Prix final and twice this season. Butyrskaya won the 1999 world championship over Kwan.

The Russian women have swept all the medals for the last two years at Europeans, while the men have taken eight of nine medals over the last three years.

In pairs, another 1-2 for the Russians is likely, with the current champions facing the former champions.

Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov have won the last two years, benefitting from the misfortune of teammates Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze.

Two years ago Berezhnaya fell sick just before the long program and they had to withdraw. Last year Berezhnaya and Sikharulidze actually won on the ice, but two months later had their title taken away when Berezhnaya was found to have taken a banned doping substance in a cold remedy. That also caused them to withdraw from worlds, which they won in 1998 and 1999. Petrova and Tikhonov won in their place.

The pairs short program is Monday, with the first final on Wednesday. The men's final is Thursday and the women's final is Saturday, although qualifying is Thursday.

The Russians failed to win the ice dance title last year when two-time champions Angelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsiannikov could not compete due to her back injury. They have subsequently left the Olympic-eligible ranks.

The French pair of Gwendal Peizerat and Moscow-born Marina Anissina took the European event and went on to the world title.