Former world champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva lived up to her billing as ‘The Empress’ when she took her fifth career Grand Prix victory at the Rostelecom Cup on Saturday.

The 23-year-old from St Petersburg saw off compatriot and European champion Alena Kostornaia with fellow Russian Anastasiia Guliakova finishing third on her Grand Prix debut.

Tuktamysheva, who had been in second place following the short program, nailed a triple Axel-double toe in her Japanese-themed performance of “Chronicles of a Mischievous Bird”.

She finished with 148.69 points for the program for a total of 223.39 points.

“I was not confident of victory as the competition was very strong,” Tuktamysheva told isu.org.

“It was a nice surprise and a nice ending to this Grand Prix.

“It was a great atmosphere and great support and I did not want the program to go downhill. The music keeps building and it is such a rare chance now to perform in front of an audience. I fed off the energy of the crowd and I gave energy back.”