Sawt Falasteen - Canadian pair lead after World Championships short programme

Montreal-based Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps earned a personal best 77.48 points for their short programme for a commanding lead of 3.95 points over defending champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan.

Their performance to Cirque du Soleil's "Oxygene" sparked a riotous ovation from fans at the Bell Centre and the score brought a scream of delight from Stellato-Dudek, who is on the brink of a first world title at the age of 40.

The 2000 world junior silver medallist skating for the United States, she retired in 2001 because of injuries but came back in pairs in 2016 and began skating for Canada in 2021.

She and Deschamps won Skate Canada gold with this season's best pairs total of 214.64 and triumphed again at the Four Continents championship in Shanghai this month, where they finished ahead of Miura and Kihara.

The Japanese duo have come back strong after missing much of the season because of injury. Their solid short programme, marred by a flawed landing on a throw triple-lutz, garnered 73.53 points.

Italians Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii were third on 72.88 going into Thursday's free skate, when the battle for podium places promised to be close.

Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin in fourth and Georgia's Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava in fifth were less than a point behind Conti and Macci.

Later Wednesday, Japan's Kaori Sakamoto was due to launch her bid for a third straight women's title in the short programme.

Having won her first Grand Prix Final title in December, Sakamoto is vying to complete an unbeaten 2023-24 campaign if she can become the first skater since American Peggy Flemming from 1966-1968 to win three straight world titles.

The 23-year-old from Kobe won Grand Prix gold at Canada and Finland this year before winning the series finale in Beijing and claiming a fourth straight Japanese national title.

She'll be challenged by charismatic European champion Loena Hendrickx of Belgium and South Korean teen Kim Chae-yeon, with 2023 US champion Isabeau Levito and reigning US champion Amber Glenn also eyeing the podium.

Y.Zaher--SF-PST