Ice dancer Scott Moir enjoys a little challenge.

He found one on the way to the Grand Prix Final when his flight to Tokyo was postponed a day, but he'll find many more on the route to the Olympics.

He and partner Tessa Virtue finished second in the ice dancing event on Friday in their last international figure skating event before the Olympic Games. But the Canadian champions remain undaunted in the quest for gold in Vancouver in February.

Moir, of Ilderton, Ont., actually called himself lucky that the long flight to Tokyo was postponed on Monday. It didn't give him a chance to suffer jet lag.

"I kind of enjoyed it, to tell you the truth,'' he said from Tokyo after American training mates Meryl Davis and Charlie White, the U.S. champions, defeated them for the gold medal by only 1.22 points after the free dance on Friday. "With this being a shorter competition, we came in and I don't feel the jet lag.''

The competition was made shorter when Virtue and Moir's plane didn't leave until Tuesday. It arrived Wednesday, and they managed to get a little time for practice.

"On Thursday, we wake up and you've got to make an [original dance] happen,'' Moir said. "It was a little bit challenging, but I actually enjoyed myself.''

"Whatever circumstances come our way, we're just trying to rise above and perform under any circumstance,'' said Virtue of London, Ont.

Virtue, of London, Ont., admitted that their original dance the previous day was shaky. They finished a close second to Davis and White - beaten by 1.70 points - in the original dance but won the free dance on Friday.

On Friday, Virtue and Moir scored higher than their American counterparts in the technical part of the free dance, but Davis and White outpointed them in every category of the presentation mark.

Davis and White defeated the Canadian champions in both categories in the original dance.

Virtue says their original dance has been their weakest link so far this season. Virtue stumbled twice while doing it at Skate Canada in Kitchener, Ont., two weeks ago.

They received only a level three of difficulty (level four is the hardest) for their twizzles in the original dance, and Virtue said they'll look for some feedback to find out why. Still, she said the original dance was a step up from what they did on the Grand Prix Series.

"It's definitely not where we want it to be, but we have a good chunk of time now to get home and get training it,'' she said. "At this point, we believe in the program. It's just about getting mileage on it, and it was definitely a good building step here.''

Virtue said they started out a little shaky in the free dance on Friday, but as they progressed, they gained more confidence. For the first time this season, they got a level four for their diagonal step sequence. And they maxed out their levels of difficulty on all elements but one - their circular footwork sequence.

However finishing second wasn't their plan. "We come into every competition expecting to win,'' Moir said. "We're not really disheartened by this. We know it would be a good competition with Charlie and Meryl. We train beside them every day and it's not a surprise. Are we going to go home and work on some stuff and try to iron out a few technical things? Yeah, because we want to put ourselves in the position to win.

"I think I'd be lying if I said I was pleased at coming second, but we're pretty happy with out skates. You just have to take care of what you can take care of.''

Virtue said the Olympics is in the back of their minds, but they are focusing on each event as it comes. "There is the feeling that we only get to compete these programs only once more in front of an audience before Vancouver,'' she said. Before she and Moir started their free dance, they said to each other that they love the Adagietto from a Gustav Mahler symphony and to enjoy it.

"We really have to stay focused and it's a good challenge for us to keep out heads in the game,'' she said.

Canadian silver medalists Vanessa Crone of Aurora, Ont., and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., who were second alternates to this event, but got to compete when two teams withdrew, finished sixth of six, gaining valuable experience in their first senior Grand Prix Final.

Missing from the event were three top teams from Russia, United States and France, but Virtue said it didn't affect them, although it "would have been fun" to have gone up against them before the Olympics.

In the women's short program, world silver medalist Joannie Rochette of Ile-Dupas, Que., finished fourth of six after stepping out of her triple Lutz- double toe loop combination. World champion Kim Yu-Na singled a triple flip, and finished second to 2007 world champion Miki Ando of Japan.

Kim also failed to complete the rotation on the second jump in her triple Lutz - triple toe loop combination. "I had a huge fall on the Lutz prior to the performance,'' Kim said. "I got a little nervous. But I thought the triple-triple was okay.''

Ando is leading with 66.20 points, only .56 points ahead of Kim in second. Rochette has 60.94 points, well off her best mark of 70.00 that she got at Skate Canada two weeks ago. Rochette is only .66 points behind young Elena Leonova of Russia, who covered her face in shock when she saw her marks go up.

Daisuke Takahasi of Japan is leading the men's event with 89.95 points after the short program on Friday, only .13 ahead of second-placed Evan Lysacek of the United States, the reigning U.S. champion.

Nobunari Oda of Japan is in third place with 87.65 points.

Only Tomas Verner of Czech Republic attempted a quad - and he did a magnificent quad toe loop - triple toe loop combination- but he singled two other triples and had minor slips in footwork to finish sixth.