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KITCHENER, Canada : Canada's world silver medallist Joannie Rochette skated to the top of the women's leaderboard at Skate Canada on Friday with a flawless short programme that earned a personal best score of 70.0.
In other early action at the sixth and final stop in the ISU figure skating Grand Prix series, Germany's reigning two-time world pairs champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy turned in a poignant performance to Send in the Clowns to take a sizeable lead in their opening round.
Rochette, 23, delighted fans with her sensuous, tango-themed programme which included a solid triple lutz-double toe jump combination followed by a perfectly executed triple flip.
The five-time Canadian champion, who won Skate Canada last year, enjoys a healthy but not insurmountable lead over US champion Alissa Czisny.
Czisny, the 2005 Skate Canada champion, also performed without major error and beamed as her personal best score of 63.52 flash on the board.
Another American, Mirai Nagasu, ranked third (56.34).
Japan's Akiko Suzuki, 24, coming off a win at Cup of China three weeks ago, was back in eighth (53.10) due to technical errors on her two triple jumps.
"I was really happy to do this after China. We worked really hard on the short program and tried to change the psychological approach to it," said Rochette, who had finished third behind Suzuki in Beijing.
"My goal here was to feel more and calm and relaxed when I stepped onto the ice and I did that today."
Earlier in the day, Savchenko and Szolkowy opened their routine with a huge throw triple flip and successfully executed the remaining elements to earn 74.16 points, however their movement across the ice appeared sluggish.
Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov, of Russia, delivered a solid routine but she put both hands down to save the landing of the throw triple loop. They scored 65.80.
In third with 57.90 are Canadians Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison.
"We were satisfied with our performance. It was not perfect for us, but it was good," Szolkowy said.
"We felt slow and had a little bit shaky moments for us, but I don't think the audience could see it."
After the Grand Prix in France where they had a disastrous skate in the finale, Savchenko and Szolkowy decided to create a new long programme which they will debut here on Saturday.
The Russian and Canadian duos competed against each other in this same arena at the 2005 ISU world junior championships when Mukhortova and Trankov took gold and Dube and Davison silver.
Later Friday, the ice dancers and men will take the ice for their first round of competition. Men's Women's and Pairs medals will be awarded on Saturday, and ice dancing concludes on Sunday.
The six men, women, pairs and ice dance couples who accumulate the most points in their two appearances in the Grand Prix series qualify for the prestigious Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in two weeks.
- AFP /ls
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