March 8, 2000 4:39 PM AP

By SALVATORE ZANCA

Associated Press Writer

OBERSTDORF, Germany (AP) Aljona Savchenko and Stanislav Morozov of Ukraine took the first gold medal of the World Junior Figure Skating Championships, winning the pairs event Wednesday.

Two-time champions Julia Obertas and Dmitri Palamarchuk, also of Ukraine, were second, even though Palamarchuk had a hand injury that hampered his lifting. They were leading after the short program.

Russians Julia Shapiro and Alexei Sokolov were third.

The Ukrainians won the pairs, but the biggest thrill of the day came from a Chinese pair. Fourth-place Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao did a huge quadruple twist list, the first in junior world competition. The Zhangs were seventh after the short program.

Earlier, Deanna Stellato and Jennifer Kirk emerged from the shadow of more celebrated American teammate Sasha Cohen to win their qualifying groups.

In the women's qualifying, Stellato, a 16-year-old from Glenview, Ill., beat Cohen in the afternoon round as Cohen fell once and was a bit off in two other jumps. Stellato did five triples and had an artistic program that earned her five first place votes, to Cohen's two.

Stellato played down her victory over Cohen, who nearly beat Michelle Kwan at the U.S. championships. Cohen, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., needs to finish in the top three to advance to the senior world championships in Nice at the end of March.

"It's just the qualifying round. It's not the main thing yet," Stellato said. "It is just the warmup for what's really going to happen. You just try to skate your best and don't think about placements."

The women's short program is Friday, followed by the free skate Saturday. The qualifying counts for 20 percent of the total score.

Kirk, a 15-year-old from Newton, Mass., did well considering she was the fourth skater in the morning group. She did seven triples in all, including a triple toe loop-triple toe loop combination.

That earned her the best scores of the day, mostly in the 5.3 to 5.5 range with one score as high as 5.7 for technical merit.

Daria Timoshenko of Russia, the defending champion, had a poor skate and finished seventh in Kirk's group.

The women's qualifying was also highlighted by a near triple axel by Japanese skater Yukari Nakano. She got around on it but failed to hold the landing.

Americans are dominating the championship so far.

Matt Savoie of Peoria, Ill., is leading the men's event and two couples are tied for second in the ice dance in addition to the three women.

The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast or redistributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.