2-time defending champ Schizas leads after short program at Canadian figure skating championships

Two-time defending women's champion Madeline Schizas led after Friday's short program at the Canadian figure skating championships in Calgary, scoring 63.63 ahead of Kaiya Ruiter's 58.25 and Sara-Maude Dupuis in third at 57.87.

"I thought the performance was good," Schizas said. "I felt like I really gave my all in the performance side. The tech elements were not all there."

Schizas would be the first woman to claim three consecutive wins since Joannie Rochette capped a run of six in 2010. Watching Rochette skate her short program at the 2010 Olympic Games en route to a bronze medal inspired a seven-year-old Schizas.

WATCH l  Schizas tops women's short program:

Two-time world ice dance bronze medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier posted a top score of 86.78 in the rhythm dance.

The duo returned to the Canadian championship after withdrawing from the 2023 edition as Gilles underwent cancer surgery to remove an ovary.

Marie-Jade Lauriault and Romain Le Gac ranked second with 78 points just ahead of Alicia Fabbri and Paul Ayer with 77.75.

WATCH l Gilles, Poirier sit 1st after rhythm dance:

Defending pairs champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps led by less than a point after a rough short program in which Stellato-Dudek face planted while landing their throw.

"We've done probably close to like 100 throws in the past three weeks working on them a lot," Stellato-Dudek said.

Lia Perieira and Trennt Michaud skated a clean routine to trail by .82 heading into Saturday's free skate.

Kelly Ann Laurin and Loucas Ethier ranked third just over four points off the lead.

"We're really proud of ourselves," Perieira said. "We changed our music after (Grand Prix) final and we have new outfits, so it felt like kind