Canadians Gilles, Poirier 2nd after short program at Skate Canada
Gabrielle Daleman 5th at Grand Prix event in Kelowna, B.C.
Canada's Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier sit second after the short dance at Skate Canada.
Toronto's Gilles and Poirier, from Unionville, Ont., scored 82.58 points and narrowly trail Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue (83.21 points) heading into Saturday's free dance in Kelowna, B.C..
"It was a fairly solid skate for this time of the season," said Poirier. "It was a testament to the work we've put in to increase the speed and increase the confidence we skate with. Last year at Skate Canada we started off with a costly error so this year wanted to do better."
WATCH | Canada's Gilles and Poirier twizzle into second:
Americans Kaitlin Hawayek and Jean-Luc Baker are third at the second Grand Prix event of the season.
Hubbell and Donohue are coming off a win last week at Skate America in Las Vegas. They won bronze at last season's world championships and silver in 2018.
Gilles and Poirier were seventh at last season's worlds.
Reigning world junior champs Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of Saint-Hubert, Que., are seventh after the rhythm dance and Haley Sales of Kelowna, B.C., and Nicolas Wamsteeker of Langley, B.C., are 10th.
In pairs, Moore-Towers and Marinaro achieved a personal best of 75.50 and trail Russian pair Aleksandra Boikova and Dmitrii Kozlovskii with 76.45. In third, Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov, also of Russia, sit at 73.57.
WATCH | Canada's Moore-Towers, Marinaro soar in pairs:
Earlier this season, Moore-Towers and Marinaro won gold at a Grand Prix tune up event, the Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany.
'We definitely took a step up from our competition in Germany,'' said Marinaro. ''Still we left a couple of points on the table and despite the personal best we're looking past that. We need more than that.''
Lubov Ilyushechkina of Toronto and Charlie Bilodeau of Trois-Pistoles, Que., are fifth at 68.62 and Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., are eighth.
In the men's competition, two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan scored 109.60. American Camden Pulkinen is in second at 89.05, with Canada's Nam Nguyen just behind with 84.08.
WATCH | Yuzuru Hanyu leaps ahead by 20 points:
Nicolas Nadeau of Blainville, Que., is eighth and Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., is 11th
WATCH | Nam Nguyen puts himself in podium position:
In the women's short program, 2018 Olympic silver medallist Evgenia Medvedeva had a rough performance.
The two-time world champion from Russia, who is coached by Canadian Brian Orser, didn't land a double axel cleanly and fell on her final jump to stand sixth in the 12-woman field.
Rika Kihira of Japan leads the way with 81.35 points. Young You of Korea (78.22) is second and 15-year-old Russian Alexandra Trusova (74.40) is third.
WATCH | Rika Kihira lands stunning triple axel:
Young You became the 11th woman to land a triple axel in international competition after achieving a clean landing in her short program.
Gabrielle Daleman of Newmarket, Ont., is fifth, Montreal's Alicia Pineault is 11th and Veronik Mallet of Sept-Iles, Que., is 12th.
''The crowd was extra supportive and it gave me that extra boost of confidence I needed,'' said Daleman. ''It's such a fun program because it is so packed with turns, difficult entries and exits and that's exactly what I want out of it.''
Free skates in all four disciplines are Saturday.
With files from Louis Daignault