(Sapporo) Canadians Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen took the lead after the ice dance short program at the NHK Trophy on Friday.
Skating to the sound of “Conga”, a song by Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine, Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen obtained a total of 85.66 to narrowly edge Americans Madison Chalk and Evans Bates (85.00).
Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen, who finished ninth at the Beijing Games, won silver at the most recent Grand Prix competition in France.
Skaters are assigned two Grand Prix events each. The top six from each of the four events advance to the Grand Prix Final next month in Turin, Italy.
Canadians Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar sit third after the pairs short program with 62.31 points. Japanese Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara hold a comfortable lead with 78.25 points, while Americans Emily Chan and Spencer Howe follow in second place (64.62).
Canadians Conrad Orzel and Stephen Gogolev find themselves eighth and ninth respectively after the men’s short program. The Japanese Sota Yamamoto is in the lead.
There are no Canadians in the women’s competition.