The China Mail - World champion Liu leads at skating's Cup of China

An emotional Liu shed tears after reprising the routine that won her the world championships in March, scoring 74.61.

The 20-year-old took a two-year break from the sport in 2022 but has surged back since returning last season and is likely to be one of the favourites for gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics, hosted by Italy in February.

"This programme is really meaningful to me," said Liu.

"I've not cried as much after a short (programme) ever. It was very emotional".

Liu leads Japan's Rinka Watanabe, who scored 74.01, ahead of Saturday's free skate.

Defending champion Amber Glenn looked poised to edge ahead of Liu but put a hand down during her routine, performed to Madonna's "Like a Prayer", and sits third.

In the men's event, Shun Sato nailed two quadruple jumps to surge to the top of the standings with 94.13, ahead of Italy's Daniel Grassl.

Sato, last year's champion in Chongqing, delivered a confident, near-flawless display to leave his rivals trailing.

"I am happy to come back here again. I delivered a very good performance here last year and I won my first Grand Prix event, so I have a lot of good memories from here", Sato said.

Kazakhstan's world silver medallist Mikhail Shaidorov was judged to have underrotated on one of his quadruple jumps but remains in contention in third with 88.33.

"I am satisfied with my skate, even though I was a bit nervous. There were some small mistakes, but I didn't really feel them myself," the 21-year-old said.

Perhaps the biggest cheers of the night were reserved for reigning Olympic pairs champions, Sui Wenjing and Han Cong, competing for the first time since they won gold on home turf in 2022.

The Chinese pair showed some rustiness -- Sui fell hard on her first jump -- but also class to recover and score a respectable 72.45.

They trail the defending Cup of China champions, Italian pair Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii, and Georgians Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava who stormed into the lead with a 77.77.

In the ice dance, three-time world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates looked a class apart from their rivals during a powerful display to Lenny Kravitz's "American Woman".

They hold a four-point lead over fellow Americans Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, with French pair Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud a further three points behind.

E.Choi--ThChM