Canada's Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, the 1999 Skate America winners, were second, followed by Russia's Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, and Americans Tiffany Scott and Philip Dulebohn.

"Our goal is to keep improving," Dulebohn said Thursday night. "We don't always have control of placements and results."

U.S. champions Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman were fifth. Ina slipped after the throw triple salchow.

Italy's Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio led the dance event after the compulsory competition, which accounts for 20 percent of the overall score.

Canada's Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz, skating in their first major competition in six months after Bourne injured a knee last spring, were second.