GOYANG, South Korea — Daisuke Takahashi of Japan led after the men's short program today on the first day of the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.

The 21-year-old Takahashi, who won silver at last year's world championships, skated in accompaniment to a hip-hop version of Swan Lake to register his best score this season of 88.57 points.

Evan Lysacek of the United States, the reigning American and Four Continents champion, was in second with 84.06 points.

"Today was good for me," Takahashi said. "The audience were excited and helped me a lot."

Jeffrey Buttle of Canada was third with 83.85 points, followed by Stephen Carriere of the United States and Li Chengjiang of China.

The annual event is being used as preparation for the 2008 world championships in Sweden in March.

Earlier Wednesday, the pairs short program was dominated, as expected, by the Chinese.

Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao recorded 70.45 points to relegate teammates Pang Qing and Tong Jian, the 2006 world champions, into second place with 67.70 points.

Rena Inoue and John Baldwin of the United States, the 2006 champions, placed third with 57.40.

In the ice dancing, Canadian couple Tessa Virtue and Scott Muir led after the compulsory dance segment, scoring 38.25 points.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States were second with 37.36, while teammates Kimberley Navarro and Brent Bommentre were third with 34.36.

The event is open to any non-European member nations of the International Skating Union.