Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, of Canada, skate during the ice dance short dance program at Skate Canada International in Lethbridge, Alta., on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. Weaver and Poje are the leaders at the Skate Canada International, winning the short dance with an elegant waltz program they put together only two weeks ago.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje went from Elvis to Strauss in a matter of hours, and the about-face clearly paid off for the Canadian ice dancers.
Weaver and Poje are the leaders at the Skate Canada International, winning the short dance with an elegant waltz program they put together only two weeks ago.
"It's extreme to have a new program, and it's extreme to go from Elvis Presley to Strauss," Weaver said. "We were sad a little bit to say bye to Elvis, but we know it will come back in another year, in another form."
The world bronze medalists from Waterloo, Ont. – he dressed in a tuxedo, she in a soft pink dress – scored 68.00 points for their waltz, giving them a two-point lead over U.S. siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani.
Russia's Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev are third with 64.30 points.
Weaver and Poje won the Finlandia Trophy earlier this month, but based on feedback about their short program to an Elvis Presley medley, they decided to scrap it and start again.
"The day we got back, we had a meeting in the morning, picked out music that afternoon, and were on the ice until midnight that day making up a new program," Poje said. "It was a very quick turnaround, but something that we needed to do."
American Ashley Wagner leads the women's event after scoring 70.73 in the short program. Yuka Nagai is second with 63.35, while Japanese teammate Kanako Murakami is third (59.79.
Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond is fourth after a rough outing in her first major competition in more than a year. The 19-year-old from Marystown, Nfld., who missed all of last season after breaking her leg, slipped on her flying camel spin, landing in full splits. She then fell on her double Axel.
"It's a really awkward to fall that way, falling in complete middle splits isn't the most amusing thing to do," Osmond said. "I think it was more of a shock than anything, the way I fell, and then I couldn't fully get myself back on top of my feet before the Axel."
"But it's just a stepping stone. I feel amazing. It was so exciting even with the program I did, yes I had two falls, but they're two things that I never miss, so I knew that today was just probably the overexcitement of being back on the ice, being back in Canada competing."
Canada's three-time world champion Patrick Chan was to launch his competitive comeback later Friday, in his first major competition since the Sochi Olympics.
And Canadian pairs team Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford competed in their first major event at home since winning the world championship last spring.