Canada's Gilles, Poirier sit 3rd in ice dance as American duo grabs lead at worlds

Ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States took the lead in the rhythm dance at the figure skating world championships on Friday in Saitama, Japan.

Chock and Bates, three-time Four Continents champions, set a new personal best score of 91.94 points.

WATCH | Chock, Bates skate to career-best score:

"We skated as best we possibly could today. It was so much fun," Bates said. "We're thrilled with the score. It's always nice when you come off the ice feeling like you've skated well and then you see a score that reflects the feeling that you had inside."

Reigning European Champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy were second with 88.21 while Grand Prix Final Champions Gilles, of Toronto, and Poirier, of Unionville, Ont., were third with 87.34 points.

"We were a little nervous in some places," said Gilles. ''We came into this event not to focus on the scores but make sure we put two solid performances down and not give anything away."

Also in the medal hunt are Canadian champions Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Soerensen of Montreal, who are fifth at 85.59.

"We would like to step on the podium for the first time at worlds and I think we have a really good chance with the results we've had this year," said Soerensen. "But once we finish the program and have done the kind of performance we did today, that we were both happy with, then the job and the goal is accomplished and the rest is out of our control."

Live coverage of the entire event is available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem, continuing Friday at 11:21 p.m. ET with the ice dance free dance, followed by the men's final.

WATCH | Gilles, Poirier 3rd after rhythm dance:

Meanwhile, Kaori Sakamoto fended off a challenge from South Korea's Lee Hae-in to become the first Japanese woman to defend her world title.

Sakamoto, who led after the short program, made only one mistake in Friday's free skate when she singled a triple flip. She landed the rest of her jumps cleanly to finish with a total of 224.61 points.

Skating to music from "Phantom of The Opera," Lee finished first in the free skate with a spectacular performance that featured six triple jumps but came up just short in the overall standings with a total of 220.94 points.

WATCH | Sakamoto soars to victory: