Figure Skating

Joannie Rochette skated to a new personal best score in her short program, scoring 70.00 and pulling into first place at Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ont. on Friday.

Rochette, from Ile Dupas, Que. showed huge improvement in her skate to La Cumparsita -- the same short program for which she achieved just 52.12 points and seventh place at Cup of China just three weeks ago.

She leads Americans Alissa Czisny (63.52) in second, and Mirai Nigasu (56.34) in third.

"I was really happy to do this after China," Rochette said, "I was a bit disappointed there and I think I needed to change something. I think it was just mentally. I went home, worked really hard and I think I found a way for me to be feeling better."

Nigasu, who skated her short program to the theme from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie, will try to hold on for her first Grand Prix medal in her skate to Carmen, Saturday.

The 16-year-old's best finish to date is fifth.

"I don't have as much experience as the other skaters do but coming into Canada, I've worked really hard with my long program and even though Carmen is a really mature piece of music, I hope to be able to step up to the challenge and skate my best," Nigasu said.

Cynthia Phaneuf of Contrecoeur, Que., . is in fifth place with 55.58 points, while Amélie Lacoste of Delson, Que. sits just behind her in sixth with 55.10.

Canadian pairs skaters Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison are in a distant third place following their short program.

Dubé, from St-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que. and Davison from Huntsville, Ont. scored 57.90 while skating to Requiem to a Dream in their second Grand Prix assignment of the season.

Dubé singled her part of a planned side-by-side triple Salchow, although Davison tripled his. This was a costly mistake since they only got credit for a single and did not satisfy the required triple element in that spot.

"I guess my timing was just a little bit too quick," said Dubé. "In the warm-up, I was just great and the same thing in practice this morning, so I don't really know what happened. I'll just do it tomorrow."

They are trying to tally enough points to reach the Grand Prix Final. They earned silver in their first assignment at Trophee Eric Bompard in Paris.

"It wasn't a horrible skate or anything like that, it was just the side-by-side Sals," said Davison. "Overall it's one major error and then the rest was pretty good."

"Normally you like to skate your best -- today was a little bit rough. Big mistake on the side by side sals and then after just a little bit on our heels but looking forward to go out tomorrow and give a little bit better and just skate with confidence."

The reigning world champions, Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of German, hold a very commanding lead as they skated to a new personal best of 71.46.

Russia's Maxim Trankov and Maria Mukhortova reside in second with 65.80.

Anabelle Langlois of Grand-Mere, Que. and Cody Hay of Barrie, Ont. reside right behind Dube and Davison in fourth place with 55.52 points. Langlois and Hay had a small costume malfunction that caused their skate laces to get stuck to one another briefly during their performance.

Kirsten Moore-Towers of St Catharines, Ont. and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto are in seventh with 51.14 points.

The pairs teams will skate their long programs on Saturday.

Competition continues Friday in Kitchener with the men's short program tonight -- Patrick Chan's returning to competition.

Canadian pairs Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the Ice Dance compulsory dance. France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat placed second ahead of Canadians Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje.