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Hanyu, who finished runner-up in his three
previous Skate Canada appearances, brought the house down in
Kelowna with a program that earned him 109.60 points.
The result topped Hanyu's previous season high of 98.38 points
and, given the absence of a serious rival in the field, left him
comfortably ahead of American Camden Pulkinen (89.05) and
Canada's Nam Nguyen (84.08).
Kihira (81.35) outdueled South Korean You Young (78.22) to win
the ladies short program as both teenagers landed triple axels
while world junior champion Alexandra Trusova of Russia took
third (74.40).
Kihira, 17, began her program with a solid triple axel followed
with a triple flip-triple toe combination, a triple loop and
level-four spins and footwork.
"The quality of my triple axel and my triple loop was good, like
in practice, but in some parts of the program I was nervous and
I didn't do my spins so well," the International Skating Union
grand final champion told reporters.
You, 15, landed a triple axel, triple lutz-triple toe and triple
flip en route to a new personal best score.
Two-time Olympic silver medallist Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia
was sixth after falling on a triple lutz and stumbling on a
double axel.
Russians Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii were in front
after the opening day of the pairs short program with 76.45
points while Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro
were second at 75.50.
Two-time world medallists Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of
the United States took the ice dance lead, scoring 83.21 points
to 82.58 for Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier in the
rhythm dance competition.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina and Frank
Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Cynthia Osterman/Amlan Chakraborty)
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