Canadian national champion Keegan Messing is in second place after the men's short program on Thursday at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
The 31-year-old, who is set to retire this off-season, finished with 86.70 points to be just a few back of Japan's Kao Miura.
Miura rebounded from a disappointing sixth at Japanese nationals — along with a shaky opening quad salchow — to land a massive quad-triple combination and score 91.90 points.
That also put him clear of 27-year-old Jimmy Ma of the U.S., whose soaring quad to open his short program and exceptional triple axel were good for a personal-best 86.64 points in the annual competition between non-European nations.
Canadians Conrad Orzel (80.09) and Stephen Gogolev (72.82) are seventh and 11th, respectively.
The men's free skate is scheduled for Saturday. Four Continents continues Friday night with the pairs short program, rhythm dance and women's free skate.
In the women's short program, Yelim Kim breezed through a near-flawless short program to build the slimmest of leads over 15-year-old American Isabeau Levito earlier Thursday.
The 20-year-old from South Korea, performing to the moody piano piece “Mercy,” was fluid through an opening triple lutz-triple toe loop before landing a double axel and triple flip. When her score of 72.84 points was read inside the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Kim clapped her hands and pumped her fists in delight.
It was a strong bounce-back performance for Kim, who struggled to a sixth-place finish at the Grand Prix Final.
“I was so, so nervous before," she said, “but I did an almost clean program and I am happy about that.”
Levito was second with 71.50 points, and she would have been within a point of the lead if not for a point deduction for a time violation. South Korea's Chaeyeon Kim was third, followed by Americans Amber Glenn and Bradie Tennell.
Two-time Canadian champion Madeline Schizas was ninth with 60.11 points. Meanwhile, fellow Canadians Sara-Maude Dupuis (51.68) and Justine Miclette (51.24) were 12th and 13th, respectively.
Levito, the new U.S. champion, has been a revelation in her first season of senior competition, finishing no worse than second anywhere she's been, including a silver medal at the Grand Prix Final. Her performance to music by the Israeli singer-songwriter Yasmin Levy on Thursday night was almost balletic, with its easy opening triple flip, a double axel and a triple lutz-triple toe loop.
The only mistake came in running over time, something Levito has been docked for in the past.
“I haven't had time to reflect on my program so I don't have much to say about it right now," she said, “but for the most part, I am satisfied with my performance.”
Glenn and Tennell were more upbeat about their short programs, which have them within range of the podium. Glenn in particular was happy when, despite putting her hand down on her triple loop, she still scored 69.63 points.
“That's great!” she said in the kiss-and-cry area. “OK!”
“The emotion I was feeling at the end was a bit of a disappointment,” Glenn said later. “Usually the loop is my best jump, and to put my hand down on it was very disappointing.”
Tennell has been on the comeback from an ankle injury that sidelined her most of the season. She was second to Levito at nationals, though, and the former Four Continents bronze medalist was pleased with her showing Thursday night.
“I haven’t competed at Four Continents since 2020,” she said, “so coming back here and it being in my home country is really exciting for me. My focus is to skate more relaxed and with more freedom in my long program. I am so grateful to be here and perform. The hard part of this journey was getting back to this level. The past year was difficult. I didn’t start getting back into training until August. So to come here and put out a program like that, I am really proud of myself.”
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Dave Skretta, The Associated Press
