MONTREAL, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps soared into the lead in front of an enthusiastic home crowd as the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships opened here on Wednesday with the pairs short program.

The reigning ISU Four Continents champions nailed a perfect short program to take a solid lead with a score of 77.48 points, while Japan's defending world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, who missed most of the season due to injury, ranked second on 73.53, followed by Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy at just 0.65.

China's sole representatives, Peng Cheng and Wang Lei, finished 15th with 59.50 points to qualify for the next stage narrowly. The top 20 pairs, out of a total of 24, advance to the free skating on Thursday.

"We were unable to skate our best. Our score is not ideal and what we hoped for, so we will reflect and adjust. Due to my foot injury, I was unable to train until we came to Toronto, Canada. Our goal for the free program is to get two spots for China for next year and come to the worlds with other team members," said Peng.

"We really wanted to do well and felt the pressures to perform the technical elements at a higher level. We will reflect on where we lost points," echoed Wang.

Skating to "Oxygene," Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps hit a triple twist, a side-by-side triple toeloop, and a throw triple loop and picked up a level four for the twist, lift, side-by-side spin, and footwork to post a personal best of 77.48.

"We were really happy with how the short program went and we look forward to the long tomorrow, by keeping up with the same momentum," Stellato-Dudek said.

"I need to stay calm. I tend to over-try and that never works. So we just need to stay calm and do what we do every day," she added.

Deschamps enjoyed the atmosphere on home ice. "It was special. We came here (to the arena) two weeks ago practicing, and we took so many pictures on the ice on the (Canadian) logo," he said.

Later on Wednesday, Belgium's European champion Loena Hendrickx came closer to her third consecutive world medal after topping the women's short program, while two-time and reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto sits temporarily on fourth.

Hendrickx was the solid leader with a personal best of 76.98 points, beating Isabeau Levito of the United States and South Korea's Lee Hae-in to the second and third places respectively on 73.73 and 73.55.

"I had a rough time coming here with my injury and I had to make changes to my training, but I think that I dealt with it in a smart way and was able to give it my best today. I really enjoyed it and it was amazing," Hendrickx said.

Sakamoto hit the rink as the last skater on Wednesday and scored 73.29 under pressure, while two more South Korean skaters finished among top six, You Young in the fifth on 67.37 and Kim Chae-yeon sixth on 66.91.

A total of 195 skaters/pairs representing 41 ISU member associations have entered this 113th edition of the world championships, which marks the culmination of the 2023-2024 figure skating season. Thursday will see the men's short program and the pairs free skating. Enditem

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