VANCOUVER, British Columbia — South Korea's Yu-Na Kim won the ladies short program Wednesday night at the Four Continents competition that is serving as a test event of the Vancouver Olympics venue.

Kim, who trains with former Canadian men's star Brian Orser, scored a 72.24, collecting high marks for her triple flip-triple toe loop combo, and her triple Lutz.

"My programs are getting better in practice, so I really wanted to do the same in the competition today and I did it and did a high score, so I'm very happy," Kim said.

Five-time Canadian champion Joannie Rochette, who won the silver last year, again finished second in the short program with 66.90 points, and fellow Canadian Cynthia Phaneuf was third at 60.98.

Rochette, who placed fifth at last year's world championships, skated an almost flawless program to George Gershwin's "Summertime," scoring 66.90 points.

"In this program I try to be light and free and skate with more freedom. It's not a program where the choreography is very methodical, I just need to be more open to the crowd so my goal this season is to skate more loosely," Rochette said.

The 23-year-old earned high marks for her triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination, opting to substitute that for a triple-triple combination that has given her trouble.

"It felt great to lay down a clean program after changing the elements just one week ago, it's great to be able to do this before worlds," Rochette said.

Phaneuf, skating to "Nocturne" performed by Aaron Rosand, had what she called her first clean program in four years.

"I'm very proud of myself, this is a big relief," Phaneuf said. "I was feeling so good out there, finally it was a clean program."

Caroline Zhang of the United States was fifth with a score of 58.16, and fellow Americans Alissa Czisny and Rachael Flatt finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

Defending world champion Mao Asada of Japan was sixth, losing major marks for doubling a planned triple Lutz.

China's Pang Qing and Tong Jian won the pairs short program.

Pang and Tong scored 65.60 points to edge Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, who had 64.36. Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao of China were third with 63.20.

The leaders skated to "The Midnight Blues" by Gary Moore and earned high marks for their triple twist and throw triple loop, but lost marks when Pang doubled an intended triple toe loop in side-by-side jumps to begin their program.

Pang and Tong won the 2006 world title and are the defending champions at Four Continents, which they have won three times.

All three American teams struggled. Rena Inoue and John Baldwin, who have won two U.S. titles, did the best with 56.78 points. Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker, the U.S. champs in 2008 and '09, were seventh at 54.16, followed Caydee Denney and Jeremy Barrett in last place at 53.60.

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir climbed back to the top in their return to the international stage by winning the compulsory dance program earlier in the day.

Virtue and Moir scored 36.40 points. The world championship silver medalists found themselves in first place just eight weeks after Virtue resumed training following surgery to both her legs.

"I think it's just sort of an up and down thing," Virtue said about the lingering pain in her legs. "We have to take each day as it comes and deal with it. It's nothing that anyone is worried about, I wouldn't be here if it was a major problem."

U.S. champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who train with Virtue and Moir in Canton, Mich., were second with 35.23 points.

Virtue and Moir, who won the Four Continents last year in South Korea, were making their international season debut after returning to competition two weeks ago at the Canadian championships. The two skipped the Grand Prix season in the fall and early winter.

Americans Emily Samuelson and Evan Bates were fourth, while Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre were sixth.