Back-to-back European champion Javier Fernandez finished first in the men's short programme at Skate Canada in a field that was minus Olympic silver medallist Patrick Chan.
Spain's Fernandez on Friday opened his programme, set to the rock and roll music of Ram Jam's "Black Betty", with a quadruple Salchow to finish with 86.36 points.
"Today, it was the first time I performed this programme in a competition, and I think it was good as a beginning," said Fernandez, who earned the only standing ovation from the crowd at the Prospera Place arena.
In the ladies singles at the $720,000 event, Russia's Anna Pogorilaya is the leader heading into Saturday's free skate after a solid short programme on Friday. American Ashley Wagner is second while Alena Leonova of Russia is third.
Fernandez, who trains in Toronto under former Canadian Olympian Brian Orser, finished with a 3.79 point lead over second place Takahito Mura of Japan.
Mura scored 82.57 points while Russian veteran Konstantin Menshov sits third with 81.70.
Canada's Chan, who won a silver medal at the Sochi Winter Games in February, has decided to take the year off.
Fernandez, who took advantage of new rules to use lyrics in his programme, downgraded an intended triple Axel to a double but executed a superb Lutz-triple toe combination.
"There was no triple Axel and I had a small problem with one spin," said Fernandez, who finished fourth in Sochi. "There is still room for improvement, but Brian and I are quite happy.
"Part of my programme uses lyrics, but you have to be smart with it. A good amount of lyrics is always good, but I think not the whole programme."
Mura skated to Bizet's Carmen. He opened with a strong quad toe, followed by an excellent triple Axel. The first jump of his combination was a solid triple Lutz, but he stepped out of the second jump, a triple toe loop.
"My first quad was good, but I have a bit of regret for my combination," Mura said. "I am looking forward to the free programme tomorrow."
- Smaller ice surface -
Russia's Menshov is the oldest man in the field at 31. He was also the only skater to perform two quad jumps.
Menshov said it was difficult to adjust to the smaller ice surface in North America.
"I am very happy that I did the two quads, but maybe I was not focused enough on the Axel afterward," he said. "Also, the ice surface is a bit smaller than at home, and, therefore, I had to adapt my steps a bit."
Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford (72.70) lead the pairs event by more than six points after the short programme on Friday. China's Sui Wen-jing and Han Cong (65.22) are second while Evgenia Tarasova and Vlad Morozov of Russia are in third (64.14).
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Canada have a nine point lead as they dominated the short programme in ice dance. Russia's Ksenia Monko and Kirill Khaliavin are in second.
Winners in the four disciplines -- men's singles, women's, pairs and ice dance -- earn $180,000 per event.
The six-leg ISU series moves on from Kelowna to Shanghai for the Cup of China with further stops at the Cup of Russia, the Trophee Bompard in France and the NHK Trophy.
All skaters must compete in two events with the top six in each of the four disciplines qualifying for the Grand Prix final in Barcelona from December 11-14.
Source: AFP