Canadians Fournier Beaudry, Soerensen lead ice dance at NHK Trophy in Japan

SAPPORO, Japan — Canada's Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen are the leaders after the short dance at figure skating's NHK Trophy Grand Prix event.

Skating to Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine's "Conga," Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen scored 85.66 to take a narrow lead over Americans Madison Chalk and Evans Bates (85.00) into Saturday's free dance.

Fournier Beaudry and Soerensen, who were ninth at the Beijing Olympics, won silver at the recent French Grand Prix. Skaters are assigned two Grand Prix events each, with the top six in each of the four events competing in the Grand Prix Final next month in Turin, Italy.

Canadians Brooke McIntosh and Benjamin Mimar were third after the pairs short program with a score of 62.31. Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan have a huge lead of 78.25, while Americans Emily Chan and Spencer Howe are second (64.62).

Canadians Conrad Orzen and Stephen Gogolev were eighth and ninth in the men's short program. Sota Yamamoto of Japan is the leader.

There were no Canadian entries in women's singles.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2022.