Their first European Championships were held in Zagreb, Croatia in January 2008. During the long program they landed the throw quad Salchow but a fall on a triple jump and planned double Axel that was turned into a single was only enough for a bronze medal. The 2008 World Championship was held in Gothenburg, Sweden. Kavaguti/Smirnov received a personal best short program score of 71.42 which placed them in third place. They landed a throw quad Salchow and several elements received a level four but they dropped to fourth place only 1.45 points out of third.