World silver medalist Shoma Uno took the lead after the short program on Friday at Skate Canada.
The 19-year-old Uno earned 103.62 points to lead the 12-man field at Brandt Center, while three-time world champion Patrick Chan of Canada placed second with 94.43 and Jason Brown of the United States took third with 90.71.
Takahito Mura sits in eighth.
"My performance today was a reflection of my ability," Uno said. "I was able to control my body movement so well, maybe too well, and I was afraid of how smoothly my warm-up went.
"I hope I'm able to put forth a strong effort in the free skating as well."
Skating to "Four Seasons: Winter" by Antonio Vivaldi, Uno successfully executed a quadruple flip, a quadruple-double toe loop combination as well as a triple axel and collected a level four for his three spins.
In the women's short program Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond leads with 76.06, Rika Hongo (61.60) placed sixth for Japan's best performance. Russian skaters Anna Pogorilaya (69.05) and Maria Sotskova (66.10) were second and third, respectively.
"There's a part of me that's relieved but I performed better in practice so it's a bit disappointing," Hongo said. "I was able to relax on the ice so I hope I can put on my best show in the free skating, too."
Sixteen-year-old Marin Honda, who is making her Grand Prix debut, had points deducted for errors in jumps and spins while she skated to piano piece "The Giving" and finished 10th. Her score of 52.60 was more than 15 points below her personal best.
The women's free skate is scheduled for Saturday morning, with the men's free skate later in the day.
