Dec. 25, 1999 3:13 PM Reuters

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Former European women's figure skating champion Irina Slutskaya edged out reigning world champion Maria Butyrskaya on Saturday to win her first Russian title.

Slutskaya, 20, leapt from third to first place, skating last in the free programme.

Butyrskaya, 27, whose BMW car was blown up outside her apartment building in central Moscow two days ago, lost her lead with a shaky free performance, missing two triple jumps.

She had to settle for second place overall after winning the Russian title five years running.

"I can't be happy with my performance tonight, but it could be a blessing in disguise because I always do a much better job after a poor skate," she said.

Slutskaya, who has won two European titles in the last three years but never been national champion, was pleased with her performance.

"I skated as well as I could at this time of the year," she said.

Viktoria Volchkova, 17, finished third, securing a place in the Russian team for next month's European championship.

In ice dancing, in the absence of double world champions Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov due to Krylova's back injury, European bronze medalists Irina Lobachyova and Ilya Averbukh won their first Russian title over their training partners Anna Semenovich and Roman Kostomarov.