SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Satoko Miyahara of Japan led the short program at the Four Continents figure skating by 2.17 points from Gracie Gold of the United States on Friday.
Miyahara opened with a triple lutz-triple toe combination and landed all of her other jumps to receive 64.84 points for her routine to Mozart's Magic Flute.
''I could have executed the triple-triple a little better but I scored higher than I thought I would so I'm happy,'' the 16-year-old Miyahara said. ''I finished second last year so am hoping to move up a place this time.''
Gold singled a planned double axel and finished with 62.67, while Rika Hongo of Japan was third with 61.28.
American champion Ashley Wagner was originally scheduled to compete but decided to sit out the event at Makdong Ice Rink.
Miyahara, who won the 2014 Japan championships, is looking to follow the international success of retired skaters Mao Asada and Shizuka Arakawa.
The free skate is on Sunday.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Canada won the ice dance, rising from third after the short dance with an impressive free dance.
They totaled 177.46 points to edge short-program leaders Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S., who scored 176.18. Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani, also of the U.S., were third with 170.79.
