Japan's Satoko Miyahara, meanwhile, leads the ladies individual event after the short programme.

Following yesterday's short dance competition, in the Mokdong ice rink, Weaver and Poje were lying in third place behind two pairings from the United States.

The world silver medallists responded with a series of well executed lifts and showed intricate footwork across the ice, which saw them rewarded with a level four for twizzles, lifts and the spin and secured a level three for their step sequences.

As a result the pairing were awarded with a total of 109.15 points from the free dance section of competition and, combined with their short dance score, it gave the Canadians a total of 177.46 points.

The points total narrowly saw the duo crowned champions, with overnight leaders Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the US scoring 176.18 points from their two dances, while compatriots Maia and Alex Shibutani held on for third, with the sister and brother partnership receiving 170.79 points from the judges.

"It wasn't easy coming from behind, but that's a position we've been in for seemingly our whole career so it was nothing new to feel like we had to fight for this free dance," Kaitlyn Weaver said.

"There is a little bit of extra gusto in there, because the desire to move up and that helped us to perform today."

Satoko Miyahara of Japan leads the women's individual competition after the short programme ©AFP/Getty Images



Meanwhile, Miyahara, the runner-up in last year's Four Continents Championships, began her quest to upgrade from silver to gold by winning the short programme.

Miyahara's routine included a triple Lutz-triple toe, a triple flip, double Axel, in addition to three level-four spins and saw the 16-year-old Japanese champion rewarded with a personal best score of 64.84 points.

"I am very happy to be in first place," said Miyahara.

"The free skating is still to come and I'd like to prepare for that.

"Although I executed my triple-triple combination well I thought I could have had a better performance."

Gracie Gold of the US currently sits in second on 62.67 points and Japan's Rika Hongo is in the bronze medal position after scoring 61.28 points.

The men's individual and pairs skating events will conclude tomorrow, with Kazakhstan's Denis Ten and Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford leading the respective competitions at the halfway stage.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
February 2015: Ten tops Four Continents leaderboard after dominating short programme performance