Lake Placid / United States

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Two-time World Champions Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford of Canada took the lead as Bridgestone Skate America opened with the Pairs Short Program. China’s Xiaoyu Yu/Hao Zhang came second followed closely by World silver medalists Aliona Savchenko/Bruno Massot of Germany. The top three teams are separated by a little over three points.

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Duhamel/Radford turned in a clean program to 'With Or Without You' by U2, hitting a side by side triple Lutz, triple twist and throw triple Lutz.

However, the twist and the pair combination spin was rated a level two. The Canadian Champions earned 75.37 points.

“For me, there are aspects of this Short Program that I’m really proud of and aspects that I am frustrated with," Radford said.

"I am really proud of how we felt the program and stayed in the moment. I am frustrated with our levels. We lost levels on elements that we usually don’t lose points on. We don’t want to make those mistakes heading into the rest of the season."

Duhamel added: “Our ultimate goal this season is to reach 80 points in the short program and we’ll keep working our way up until we get those 80 points.”

Yu/Zhang’s performance to 'Swan Lake' featured a side by side triple toe, triple twist and a big throw triple loop. The Audi Cup of China silver medalists collected a level four for four elements and scored 73.67 points.

“Compared to Cup of China, I felt we had less energy," Zhang said. "I was a bit tired in practice the first few days and had problems with the solo jump, but today in competition it was fine."

Savchenko/Massot opened their flamenco routine with an impressive triple twist and throw triple flip, but Massot fell on the triple Salchow and the pair combination spin garnered only a level two.

The European silver medalists picked up 72.55 points for their efforts.

“It wasn’t our best, but we had a hard time (preparing for this competition) and we’ll do our best when we need to be at the best,” Savchenko told the post-event press conference.

Natalia Zabiiako/Alexander Enbert (RUS) are ranked fourth on 70.19 points. Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim (USA) placed fifth (64.27 points) ahead of teammates Haven Denney/Brandon Frazier (63.04 points).

Bridgestone Skate America is the sixth and last event in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series and provides the last opportunity for skaters to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, Japan, in December.

The top six skaters/couples in each discipline qualify for the Final. The global prize money for the Grand Prix is US $272,000.

Full entry lists and results of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2017/18 are available here. Follow the discussion on social media by using #GPFigure #FigureSkating.