SOCHI, Russia -- Patrick Chan has some ground to make up in defence of his Grand Prix Final figure skating title. The 21-year-old from Toronto, the two-time defending champion in the event, trails Daisuke Takahashi of Japan after Fridays short program. Canadas Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir also sit second behind American rivals Meryl Davis and Charlie White after the short dance. In pairs, Meagan Duhamel Lively, Ont., and Eric Radford of Balmertown, Ont., are fourth and Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Dylan Moscovitch of Toronto sit fifth. Chan opened with a huge quad toe loop, but opted out of the triple on what was supposed to be a quad-triple combination. "I had to kind of think on my feet. The last triple jump did not have enough speed going into it and was a bit too far down the ice. But I stayed on my feet and I happy with my performance," Chan said. "I think this is where I want to be. Three points is not a lot in mens singles. . . It is really easy to make up." Chan said the highlight of his program was a "beautiful triple Axel. . . Its the only time Ive done such a big triple Axel in my program in my life." Japans Mao Asada led a close womens event, just ahead of American Ashley Wagner and Akiko Suzuki of Japan. Takahashi, the only one of the six finalists not to win a gold in the six regular Grand Prix competitions, reeled off an opening quad toe loop, a triple Lutz-triple toe combination and a triple Axel. "For me, its the first time I did a quad in the short program for this season," Takahashi said. "I really enjoyed to skate today." Takahashi, skating to what he called "my image of rock n roll," prevailed on technique, outdoing Chan by 4 1/2 points. But Chan gained back some of that on a superior program content score, accompanied by a Rachmaninoff elegy. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan was third. In ice dance, the compulsory part of this seasons short program is the Yankee polka, which White said played to the couples strengths because "we like to take advantage of quick feet in skating." Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., who are two points behind the leaders going into Saturdays free dance, had expressed displeasure with the Yankee polka when it was announced. But they made peace with the steps in a program -- "The Waltz Goes On" written by actor Anthony Hopkins -- that begins on a dark note, then progresses to lighter spirits. "I think pretty clearly in the beginning of the piece there are certainly minor tones in the music that we wanted to take upon for my character," Virtue said. "We have played a lot of different storylines, but there is certainly something very upsetting and emotionally disturbed about my character and Scott has been trying to cheer me up, and as the program progresses, through the polka, it starts to heal through the love of dance and it kind of becomes a love story." Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat of France were third. Asada opened her program to variations on "I Got Rhythm" with a strong double Axel, followed soon by a fast triple flip-double loop. The program was designed to "invigorate everybody who sees it, including me," Asada said. "Im always skating it with a smile on my face." Wagner opened with a big triple flip, followed in combination with a double toeloop. Like Asada, she didnt try a triple-triple combination, saying her execution of it has been sporadic. "I prefer to go out on the ice and perform a program Im 100 per cent confident with," Wagner said. "Its almost better to skate a clean, lower-risk short program." Asada was only 0.07 points ahead of Wagner on technical elements and 0.45 on program components. Other skaters wanted to do triple-triples, but only third-place Akiko Suzuki fully succeeded, remaining in contention for gold less than two points behind Asada. In pairs, Russia is in the top two spots with Tatiana Volosozhar and Maim Trankov in the lead at 73.46 followed by Vera Bazarova and Yuri Larionov in second at 70.14. Qing Pang and Jian Tong of China are third at 64.74. Duhamel and Radford are at 64.20 while Moore-Towers and Moscovitch are at 60.95. "In terms of our presentation and interpretation of the music everything was a lot better than at our events earlier this season," Duhamel said. "We feel confident about the free in general. We know a strong skate could push us up in the standings." The competition is a test event for the Iceberg Arena, which will host figure skating and short-track speedskating at the 2014 Olympics. cheap jerseys china . 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The Spurs, of course, became just the fourth team in NBA history to win 20 straight games and are a perfect 10-0 in this postseason after taking the first two games of this set in the Alamo City.ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Notre Dame is opting out of its series with Michigan, meaning the last scheduled game between college footballs winningest programs will take place in 2014. A letter from Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick to Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon cancelling games in 2015-2017 was obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request. Brandon told the AP he was handed the letter on the field in South Bend, Ind., about an hour before Saturday nights game. "I put the letter in my pocket and didnt bother to read it right away because I was focused on the game we were about to play," Brandon said. "I read it on the way home Sunday morning." The Fighting Irish recently decided to move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in every sport except football, though the football team will play five games a year against league opponents. "While this move is a necessary precaution as we begin the process of meeting our new scheduling commitment to the ACC," Swarbrick wrote in his letter to Brandon, "please know that Notre Dame very much values its relationship with Michigan and we look forward to working with you to ensure that our great football rivalry can continue." Brandon said he hopes to work with Swarbrick on another contract to extend the series. "The ball is in their court because theyve triggered the three-game notice," he said. "Well play them next year at Michigan Stadium for the last time in a while -- it appears -- and well make our last scheduled trip to South Bend in 2014. There will likely be nothing on the bboard for five years after that.dddddddddddd Beyond that, I dont know what will happen." The Irish beat the Wolverines 13-6 over the weekend in the latest game of a storied series that dates to 1887. Theyve played every year since 2002 and regularly since 1978 after not meeting from 1944-77 or 1910-41. Michigan and Notre Dame were scheduled to take a hiatus during the 2018-19 seasons. Swarbricks letter is dated a day before the schools met on the field and cites last years contract. "Because I am providing you with this notice prior to the commencement of this years football game on September, 22, 2012," Swarbrick wrote, "there is no liability to Notre Dame for cancelling those games." No. 10 Notre Dame (4-0) is in the top 10 for the first time since 2006. Michigan (2-2) started the season No. 8 and has dropped out of the poll after losses to No. 1 Alabama and then the Irish. Both teams have a bye this week. The Wolverines have an NCAA-best .735 winning percentage in football and the Irish (.732) are second. Michigan leads all-time series 23-16-1. "Michigan has always enjoyed and respected our national rivalry with Notre Dame," Brandon said. "We understand there have been periods of times that weve had a hiatus to take a couple years off to play other teams and that was something we expected along the way. "Its unfortunate that it would appear were going to go a substantial amount of time between games. But that is a decision Notre Dame has made. Our job is to find opponents that are exciting for our student-athletes as well as our fans to replace Notre Dame." ' ' '