KITCHENER, Ont. - US and Grand Prix Final champion Jeremy Abbott, the overnight men's leader, held on to win gold on Saturday at Skate Canada International.

Despite finishing second to Japan's Daisuke Takahashi in the final free skate, Abbott's almost three-point lead from the opening short programme kept him on top.

His final score totalled 232.99 to Takahashi's 231.31. Takahashi is on the rebound after missing all of last season following knee surgery.

The bronze medal went to Frenchman Alban Preaubert who climbed from fourth but, points-wise, remained well back of the front-runners with 212.28.

Top seed Patrick Chan, the world silver medallist who is coming off a leg injury, struggled throughout his performance, falling three times on triple jump attempts. He ended the meet with 198.77 points and had to settle for sixth place in front of home fans.

Denis Ten, of Kazakhstan, third after the short programme, had a bumpy ride in his long programme performance and plummeted to ninth in the free skate and seventh overall.

Abbott and Takahashi, who finished fifth and fourth respectively at the Grand Prix in Japan two weeks ago, both qualified for the Grand Prix Final thanks to the points they earned for their results here. That event goes on in two weeks in Tokyo.