Canadians Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps electrified home fans as they seized the lead in the pairs short program at the World Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday.
Later in the evening, Kaori Sakamoto's bid for a third straight women's title got off to an unsteady start in the short program. The Japanese star slipped near the end of her routine and finished the day in fourth with 73.29 points.
Montreal-based Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps earned a personal best 77.48 points for their short program for a commanding lead of 3.95 points over defending champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan.