Satoko Miyahara performs during the short dance in Taipei ©Getty Images

Teenager Satoko Miyahara of Japan leads the women's competition at the International Skating Union (ISU) Four Continents Figure Skating Championships following the conclusion of the short dance at the Taipei Arena in Taiwan's capital city 

The 17-year-old landed a triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination in her routine, alongside a triple flip and double axel as the event opened.

She picked up a level four for her spins and footwork and the reigning world silver medallist collected a personal best score of 72.48 points.

"One of my goals was to get more than 70 points in the short program in an official ISU competition, so I made sure that I didn’t get lower levels in spins and footwork," said Miyahara, who skated to Firedance.

"I paid attention to many details like how to use my arms in the step sequence.

"I went to watch some flamenco performances.

"The Grand Prix final was held in Spain so I went to see the real flamenco and I tried to learn the true expression of flamenco."

Another Japanese skater, Kanako Murakami, is second with 68.51 points ahead of the free dance with American Mirai Nagasu third on 66.06.

Brother and sister team Maia and Alex Shibutani top the ice dance standings
Brother and sister team Maia and Alex Shibutani top the ice dance standings ©Getty Images

In the pairs event, China's Wenjing Sui and Cong Ha lead the way after the short progamme following a personal best score of 78.51.

They performed a Spanish themed routine that was highlighted by a throw triple flip, triple twist and side by side triple toeloop.

"Today we showed a good level of our skating, however I think we still can do much better than this and hopefully we’ll improve for the next competition," said Han.

"We always just want to show our very best and surpass ourselves and we want to make progress.

"This is more important to us than the score."

Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford of Canada are second on 71.90 points, with the defending champions having to deal with Duhamel falling ill before the competition.

US pair Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim are third on 67.61.

Short dance honours in the ice dancing went to Americans Maia and Alex Shibutani, with the brother and sister combination setting a personal best of 72.86 after their performance to Waltz and March from Coppelia.

"We’ve done Four Continents many times, so we’re familiar with the pacing in between the National Championships and this competition," said Alex.

"We’re very excited with the direction our skating is going, every competition we’ve skated at the performances have gotten better and better, so this was a nice building block going into Worlds."

The Four Continents Championships exclude European skaters and is due to continue tomorrow.