Japan's Rio Nakata leads heading into free program at Skate Canada International

There is our next skater, the two-time world junior champion, 18-year-old Ryo Nakata. How will he transition from junior into senior? He has all the technical skills, power, speed, you name it, he has it. His personal best short program, 96.48. He's choreographed by Shailen Bourne. This is his big senior Grand Prix debut here in Kelowna. He will skate to a live Vision of a world in harmony. I saw the light. You know, Kevin, I've seen this a little bit from Rio because he has so much power, and he is learning to control that power and speed and excitement in his jumping passes, but he sometimes takes the spin for granted and slips off an edge. I've seen it happen a couple times, but this is a learning curve, if you will. He's still going to have a great score. I mean, that's a fantastic program. Absolutely, and super, super strong jumping passes, huge grade of execution for all three of those. He'll miss the flying set, four or five points on the table. What a great start, what a senior debut. Welcome to the senior ranks. And there's his father. It looks like his brother. He looks so young. Let's take a look here, Kevin. The energy going into this opening jumping pass is flying across the ice. Quad Sal, triple toe, more than three points extra. The quality marks on that opening jumping pass. Here's a look at the quad toe, equally as good. He has air time to spare. It just kind of hangs there as he comes out. And you can see, didn't catch the edge. His body is outside the circle. Hold on. Still got one more jumping pass. Here we go. Triple Axel. Okay, nice and clean. Back into the groove. And I think that's the story we'll see from him. He's just so talented and so much energy. It's about controlling that in the moment when it counts. An exciting skater, that is for sure. You can see not only the great technique in the jumps, but his passion for performance and his energy and drama as he puts his hand on his head going, what happened, oh my gosh. A flying C-spin, really? That's where I'm losing my points? His father and son in the kiss and cry. Now, he is at 96.48. He's not going to get that score here. And that's a huge score for a junior moving into seniors. We'll see what he has earned on this day. Absolutely. He scored a 96 at the Kinoshita Cup earlier this season. I don't think he'll quite reach that without the flying sit, but this will be a high-flying score. Ryo Nakata, his short program score is a 92.64. That's still a really strong score for a complete missed spin element that puts him in first place. It goes to Chorya. This young man, forget about him as a junior. He is a seasoned senior already. He will pressure some of the other senior men.