Canadian figure skater Gabrielle Daleman leads the pack after the ladies’ short program at the Cup of China in Beijing.
The Newmarket, Ont., native earned a score of 70.65 on Friday to narrowly edge Wakaba Higuchi of Japan at 70.53 and Russia’s Elena Radionova at 70.48.
Skating to Carmen, Daleman opened with a triple toeloop and added a triple lutz and a double axel.
Mikhail Kolyada of Russia opened up a sizeable lead in the men’s short program with a score of 103.13. China’s Boyang Jin sits in second place at 93.89, while Javier Fernandez of Spain is third with 90.57. Kevin Reynolds of North Vancouver,. B.C., is 10th with a score of 64.40.
Kolyada turned in a near flawless routine that featured a quad lutz, a quad-toeloop-triple toeloop and a triple axel.
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France earned a score of 81.10 to grab the early lead in ice dance. Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States are in second, but have some ground to make up with a score of 72.66. Russia’s Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev are third at 72.34.
The pairs short program is scheduled for later Friday.
This is the third event of the International Skating Union’s Grand Prix series. The series consists of six events and culminates with the Final in Nagoya, Japan, in December — the last competition featuring the world’s top skaters before the Olympics.
CBC Sports will have live coverage of Saturday’s free programs, beginning with the ice dance at 2:30 a.m. ET.
