US national champion Amber Glenn took the honours in the women's short programme at the ISU Grand Prix final in Grenoble on Thursday while German skaters Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin edged ahead in the pairs.
Glenn, 25, who won both her Grand Prix events in Angers, France and China this campaign, opened with a triple axel but then slipped and almost fell right afterwards.
She recovered her composure to score 70.04 points for her routine to Janet Jackson's "This Time" to take a slender lead over Mone Chiba who collected 69.33.
"I felt very tense after the triple axel when I almost fell on my face and it freaked me out a lot mentally," said Glenn.
"I'm not hurt. I'm OK. It just freaked me out and I held back on the next two jumps. They were not close to my best but I fought through it mentally to stay on my feet.
"It's been a rough day for a lot of us. I think it's a bit past our bedtimes with the jet lag and this is my first time at the Grand Prix Final."
Chiba is one of five Japanese skaters chasing Glenn, including third-placed Hana Yoshida and Kaori Sakamoto, the three-time reigning world champion who is unbeaten this season.
Sakamoto posted 63.98 to leave her in fourth with some ground to make up in Saturday's free programme.
Hase and Volodin are in an equally tight competition in the pairs, just 0.45 points ahead of Japan's former world champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, returning from injury, after the pairs short programme.
The German pair, who took bronze behind the Japanese at the worlds last year, scored 76.72, for their performance to Tami Wilson's "You Were Mine".
Defending champions Miura and Kihara, world champions in 2023, scored 76.27 after their programme to the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black".
World champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada withdrew before the competition due to illness.
Georgian pair Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava are third with 72.26 on the opening day of the elite six-team competition.
