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There is something about Japan that brings out the best in Canadian champion Jeffrey Buttle.

The 24-year-old from Sudbury, Ont., earned a rare standing ovation from a capacity crowd known for its restraint after he finished second in the men's short program at the world figure skating championships on Wednesday.

Buttle blasted his previous personal best mark, chalking up 79.90 points, second only to Brian Joubert's 83.64 points, also a best for the French champion, who is a two-time world silver medalist. Joubert isn't interested in the silver this time, but neither is Buttle.

Buttle said Japan has been good to him. He competed at his first world championship in Japan. He scored his first international win in Japan. And he landed his first quad in Japan. "I always enjoy coming back,'' he said.

Skating in front of his home crowd, Daisuke Takahashi of Japan was third with 74.51 points.

Canadian silver medalist Christopher Mabee of Tillsonburg, Ont., competing at his first world championship, made it a memorable one with a stunning performance that earned him seventh place and 71.33 points, the best short program marks of his career.

Two-time world champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, who competed internationally only once this season, crumpled on the marbly ice surface at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, falling on his triple Axel and scaling down a quad-double combination to a simple triple toe loop — double toe loop. Lambiel, one of the most artistic of skaters, fell to sixth place, and would have fallen further if not held up by presentation marks that were higher than Buttle's.

Joubert was one of only two skaters among a handful that intended to land quads yesterday, and he opened up with the daunting quad-triple toe loop, landing it with ease.

"I was very nervous,'' Joubert admitted. "I saw Stephane Lambiel just before me and that he did mistakes. He did nto have a good short program and it gave me more confidence. He helped me a lot.''

He added that he hopes he will win, but acknowledged that Buttle is very strong.

"It's going to be difficult,'' Joubert said. "I know what I have to do. I'll have to focus on my jumps.''

Former Canadian champion Emanuel Sandhu of Richmond Hill, Ont., decided to ditch his quad-triple combination after seeing Lambiel fall on his.

Sandhu landed a triple flip — triple toe loop combination instead but fell on his triple Axel, pitching him to 11th place among 42 skaters.

Coach Joanne McLeod said it was an odd night. "There were a lot of mistakes that guys did that they don't usually do,'' she said.

McLeod told Sandhu not to focus on his placing, but on the points. There are still only about five points separating Sandhu from the third-place finisher. "That's one triple jump,'' she said. Without the fall, Sandhu could have been second, she said.

She might have been talking about Nobunari Oda of Japan, who finished fourth at his debut at the world championships last year. Oda, perhaps distracted by a few fans before he started his program, shocked the crowd by failing to do his triple Axel, opening up in the air to do nothing, and then turning out of a triple flip. He's only 14th.

U.S. champion Evan Lysacek stumbled out of his quad-triple combination, but he was also attempting it in the short program for the first time, taking a huge risk. He's in fifth place behind fellow American Johnny Weir.

"I knew it was a risk,'' said Lysacek, who won his U.S. title in January with a stunning performance. "This season to me was about going to nationals and wining. Coming to this competition, I want to improve something about my skating. Playing it safe by doing the same old triple Lutz — triple toe is not the way to take that next step towards becoming an Olympics champion. It was a step I had to take.''

Lysacek admitted that he felt scared all day.

"I couldn't eat. I was just sitting in my room and thinking quad, quad, quad. [Coach Frank Carroll] knew I was so in another world, because I didn't walk through any triple Axels. I didn't walk through any flips…Maybe it wasn't the best approach, but it was a big hurdle.''

"The decision was easy, because I knew it was something I had to do at some point and why not do it here when we still have three seasons before the Olympics.''

Buttle hardly put a foot wrong, but had to struggle to land a triple Lutz. "I had a little boble in one of the spreadeagles [going into the Lutz], and sort of lost focus for a millisecond,'' Buttle said. "But I just made sure that I fought for the landing despite how it went up.''

Overall, it was a solid Buttle performance. With the jumps in his back pocket, he said he was able to sell it a little more.

"I felt fairly at ease, but I wasn't sure what my nerves were going to do to me,'' he said.

"Once I got out there, I felt really good. [Coach Rafael Arutunian] just told me to make sure that I fought, and to be brave out there.''

Buttle says he has the right kind of momentum going into Thursday's long program. He's skating better every day in Japan.

"I did not really tip-toe around the fact that I had an injury over the season,'' Buttle said, referring to a stress fracture in his back that caused him to miss the Grand Prix season. "I did not pretend that I had taken three months off. I chose to just look at it in a different sens — that I was just lucky to be here…I looked at it optimistically rather than look at my injury as a hindrance.''

He said he did not know how Mabee, his friend, had skated until he looked up at the scoreboard after the finished and saw that he was first, while Mabee was second.

"I thought it was pretty sweet,'' Buttle said. "It was kind of like Halifax.''

Buttle and Mabee finished first and second at the Canadian championships in Halifax in January.

As for Mabee, he was beaming before he got onto the ice and after he got off it.

"I felt awesome,'' he said. "I had fun. I had a blast. This is what I've been doing in practice, and it's the most important competition of the year.''

Coming into the competition, Mabee tried to tell himself that this week wasn't about results, but rather gaining experience to help him move forward to the 2010 Olympics. "I think this is an excellent step in the right direction,'' he said.

He said it didn't hit him that he was actually at the world championships — his lifelong dream — until he was chatting on the computer with friends back home in Canada. "That's when I started to realize: 'You know what? I'm at the world championships. I'm a complete underdog. I really have no idea what to expect. So let's just go in there and give them a show.''

He said he felt relaxed all week. He said the high marks did not surprise him. "I knew if I put out a good performance, I'd be getting marks like that. I'm just really happy. It's what I imagined it would be for that performance.''

His component marks were the highest of any international competition he's contested.

It was a much sadder day for Lambiel, who won his past world title in Calgary a year ago, and whose only international victory this season came at Skate Canada in Victoria, B.C. last November.

"It was hard for me to believe that my triple Axel was not here today,'' Lambiel said. During the warmup, he did a nice triple Axel and a quad-triple combination.

"In the program, I had a nice takeoff for my triple Axel,'' he said. "In the air I felt very good. I don't know what happened, because just when I landed my triple Axel, I couldn't understand in what position I was …On the ice, I had five seconds to realize it was not done. It was hard after that to do the combination. Maybe I hesitated a little too much for the competition.''

Lambiel pulled out of the European championships in Poland, saying he could not find motivation, but he said after performing his new long program to a total of 80,000 people during a European tour, he felt the desire to come back.

"I just want to enjoy this compettion,'' he said. "I came here without pressure just for myself. In sport, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

"You just have to accept this situation. I'm going to fight tomorrow as much as I can and we will see what will happen.''