REGINA, Canada — Shoma Uno and Patrick Chan are the men's top seeds at Skate Canada International while Ashley Wagner and Kaetlyn Osmond lead the women at the Grand Prix figure skating event that begins Friday.

In the second of six stops on the global circuit, headliners look to demonstrate their podium potential with the 100-day countdown to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea nearing. Japan's Uno, this year's world runner-up, is capable of delivering quadruple jump-laden performances on cue. His points-rich technical firepower could give him the edge over the superior artistry and choreographic finesse of Canadian Chan, a three-time world champion.

In pursuit of his seventh Skate Canada crown, Chan has decided to stay in his quad jump comfort zone and deleted two quad salchows from his choreography at the launch of his third Olympic campaign.

"I want to put myself in a situation where I can perform the best, give the best piece for the audience to really enjoy and not have any interruption," the 2014 Olympic silver medalist explained.

"I decided I would stick to my old guns, my old tricks and do what I can do at the very best and see where the chips lie after that."

Chan says his plan for now is to attempt a total of three quads — all toe-loops — in his short and long programs. Uno's routines include four different quads — toe-loop, salchow, loop and flip — and seven in all.

Like Uno, Canadian Osmond turned heads last season with a world silver medal and seeks to build on that breakthrough.

Meanwhile, American Wagner and Russian Anna Pogorilaya have redemption in mind. Subpar performances saw them finish seventh and 13th, respectively, at the 2017 worlds after earning silver and bronze a year earlier.

Rebounding with podium finishes at Skate Canada would offer Wagner and Pogorilya well-timed confidence boosts ahead of the Pyeongchang Olympics. Japanese upstart Marin Honda, 16, could surprise the veterans in her senior Grand Prix debut. The 2016 world junior champ won gold last month in her first test in senior competition.

"Going into Skate Canada, I know it's a tough field but everything this year's going to be tough, so I just have to be on top of myself," Osmond said.

Reigning world ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are heavily favored to take their seventh Skate Canada title. Canada's 2010 Winter Olympic champions, who took silver at Sochi in 2014, went undefeated last season, when they returned to competition after a two-year hiatus.

In pairs, duos from Canada, Germany and France will battle for Skate Canada gold. The first round of competition for all four disciplines is Friday with final free programs Saturday.

The Grand Prix series — with events in Russia, Canada, China, Japan, France and the United States — culminates with the top six performers in each discipline competing at the Grand Prix Final in December at Nagoya, Japan. — AFP