Japan, USA lead the ladies.

 Miki Ando took a 3 point lead in the ladies short programme in Taipei (Jumps 3Lz-2Lo, 2A and 3Lo). The rejuvinated Mao Asada is close behind. Despite under-rotating her triple axel, she also landed a 3Lo and 3F2Lo. They are followed by a trio of americans, led by Rachael Flatt. Perhaps Mirai Nagasu will do better in the free skate without the pressure of being in first.

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Miki ANDO	JPN	66.58	1
2	Mao ASADA	JPN	63.41	2
3	Rachael FLATT	USA	62.23	3
4	Mirai NAGASU	USA	59.78	4
5	Alissa CZISNY	USA	58.94	5
6	Akiko SUZUKI	JPN	57.64	6
7	Cynthia PHANEUF	CAN	55.65	7
8	Min-Jeong KWAK	KOR	50.47	8
9	Amelie LACOSTE	CAN	50.06	9
10	Cheltzie LEE	AUS	48.72	10
11	Myriane SAMSON	CAN	46.33	11
12	Yea-Ji YUN	KOR	39.37	12
13	Bingwa GENG	CHN	39.20	13
14	Melinda WANG	TPE	36.51	14
15	Victoria MUNIZ	PUR	35.45	15
16	Qiuying ZHU	CHN	35.08	16
17	Chae-Hwa KIM	KOR	33.76	17
18	Mimi Tanasorn CHINDASOOK	THA	33.73	18
19	Lejeanne MARAIS	RSA	31.99	19
20	Jaimee NOBBS	AUS	31.94	20
21	Crystal KIANG	TPE	31.89	21
22	Mericien VENZON	PHI	30.64	22
23	Melanie SWANG	THA	29.50	23
24	Chaochih LIU	TPE	28.52	24
25	Tiffany Packard YU	HKG	FNR	25
26	Brittany LAU	SIN	FNR	26
27	Taryn JURGENSEN	THA	FNR	27
28	Reyna HAMUI	MEX	FNR	28
29	Mary Ro REYES	MEX	FNR	29

Virtue & Moir withdraw mid-way through free dance.

Olympic Champions Virtue & Moir were looking to be back as strong as ever having won the short dance, but the bubble burst as the pair were forced to stop midway through their free dance. According to icenetworks Sarah and Drew, Tessa Virtue appeared to be injured. I wish them a speedy recovery.

That means the gold and silver went to their training mates Davis & White and the Shibutani siblings.

Watch the video of Virtue &Moir's curtailed samba free dance here. This from Universal Sports:

Virtue had strained her quad in training before Four Continents, and the demands of their free dance aggravated the tightness, said Mike Slipchuk, Skate Canada's high performance director. They withdrew about 30 seconds into the program.
"It's nothing major. Nothing linked to the surgery she just had," Slipchuk said. "In no way are they looking at this changing their plans going into worlds."
 

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SD	FD
1	Meryl DAVIS / Charlie WHITE	USA	172.03	2	1
2	Maia SHIBUTANI / Alex SHIBUTANI	USA	155.38	4	2
3	Vanessa CRONE / Paul POIRIER	CAN	151.83	5	3
4	Kaitlyn WEAVER / Andrew POJE	CAN	151.14	3	4
5	Madison CHOCK / Greg ZUERLEIN	USA	142.44	6	5
6	Xintong HUANG / Xun ZHENG	CHN	130.29	7	6
7	Xiaoyang YU / Chen WANG	CHN	125.75	8	7
8	Xueting GUAN / Meng WANG	CHN	106.26	9	8
9	Danielle OBRIEN / Gregory MERRIMAN	AUS	104.69	10	9
10	Corenne BRUHNS / Benjamin WESTENBERGER	MEX	88.55	11	10
11	Maria BOROUNOV / Evgeni BOROUNOV	AUS	72.23	12	11
WD	Tessa VIRTUE / Scott MOIR	CAN		1

Pang & Tong won the pairs free skate with ease, followed by Canadians Duhamel & Radford and Lawrence & Sweigers

.

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Qing PANG / Jian TONG	CHN	199.45	1	1
2	Meagan DUHAMEL / Eric RADFORD	CAN	181.79	3	2
3	Paige LAWRENCE / Rudi SWIEGERS	CAN	171.73	2	4
4	Caitlin YANKOWSKAS / John COUGHLIN	USA	166.97	4	5
5	Kirsten MOORE-TOWERS / Dylan MOSCOVITCH	CAN	166.22	5	3
6	Amanda EVORA / Mark LADWIG	USA	157.30	6	6
7	Narumi TAKAHASHI / Mervin TRAN	JPN	152.63	8	7
8	Mary Beth MARLEY / Rockne BRUBAKER	USA	144.46	10	8
9	Yue ZHANG / Lei WANG	CHN	138.93	7	10
10	Huibo DONG / Yiming WU	CHN	135.10	9	9

In the men's event Japan's Daisuke Takahashi took a commanding lead with brilliant execution despite not attempting a quad.

FPl.	Name	Nation	Points	SP	FS
1	Daisuke TAKAHASHI	JPN	83.49	1
2	Jeremy ABBOTT	USA	76.73	2
3	Yuzuru HANYU	JPN	76.43	3
4	Adam RIPPON	USA	72.71	4
5	Armin MAHBANOOZADEH	USA	66.40	5
6	Takahiko KOZUKA	JPN	66.25	6
7	Shawn SAWYER	CAN	65.71	7
8	Kevin REYNOLDS	CAN	65.47	8
9	Jinlin GUAN	CHN	64.68	9
10	Jialiang WU	CHN	63.30	10
11	Abzal RAKIMGALIEV	KAZ	60.95	11
12	Nan SONG	CHN	60.47	12
13	Misha GE	UZB	58.60	13
14	Joey RUSSELL	CAN	57.67	14
15	Min-Seok KIM	KOR	53.67	15
16	Mark WEBSTER	AUS	48.26	16
17	Brendan KERRY	AUS	45.45	17
18	Jordan JU	TPE	44.37	18
19	Wun-Chang SHIH	TPE	40.36	19
20	Stephen Li-Chung KUO	TPE	37.82	20