Switzerland's Lucinda Ruh put on her best spins in the technical program Friday night at the World Professional Figure Skating Championship and was rewarded with the only standing ovation in the women's competition - as well as the only perfect marks.

Ruh, who next month hopes to set a world record for fastest spin on skates, received two 10s for artistic impression in a lovely routine to classical piano music.

However, jumps did her in. She failed to land a clean triple jump and had to settle for third going into Saturday night's artistic program.

The crowd didn't seem to mind. The cheers were so strong that Yuka Sato, skating after Ruh, found it hard to concentrate.

"To go out there after Lucinda's standing ovation was not very easy," Sato said. "There were flowers everywhere on the ice. It just gave me goose bumps, but I think I handled it pretty well."

She did. Sato, the 1995 champion and the favorite after Tara Lipinski withdrew Thursday, skated a clean, balanced program with three triple jumps, graceful spins and solid footwork. She earned all 9.8s and 9.9s and holds the lead ahead of Nicole Bobek, Ruh, Surya Bonaly and Oksana Baiul.

Philippe Candeloro led the men's competition after another crowd-pleaser: his version of Frank Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year."

Candeloro portrayed the four ages in the song to perfection, and more than once he sat on the boards with arms folded to match the mood of the lyrics. The program was also very athletic and included all six major triple jumps: the axel, loop, lutz, toe loop, flip and salchow. The Frenchman earned marks of 9.8 and 9.9 for technical merit, and mostly 9.8s for artistic impression to lead the four-man field.

"I had some pressure," said Candeloro, perhaps the most adored male skater never to win a major championship either as an amateur or pro. "It's a very important competition for me. This is the World Pro, and if I have a chance to win, I want to take my chance to try to win something in my life.

"If you see my results, I never win - but people love me like I win a lot of gold medals. So if I can give to my public a gold medal from here, it would be perfect for me and my life. That's why I feel pressure.

"And it's going to be worse tomorrow, because I'm first."

Candeloro debuted the Sinatra routine at Ice Wars this year and is promising a brand new, dynamic Wild West routine for Saturday's artistic program.

"It's less jumps, more artistic, more fun," Candeloro said.

Rudy Galindo was second, amid some controversy. His "Fosse" routine received a 9.4 for artistic impression from judge Janet Lynn, who in 1973 was the first women's pro champion. It was the lowest score given any skater all evening, although Lynn generally gave lower scores than most of the other judges.

Asked about the 9.4, Galindo said: "It's very personal." He referred further questions to his sister-choreographer, Laura Galindo-Black, but she also declined to explain why Lynn would have a personal gripe with Galindo.

Lynn was not available for comment.

The 9.4 did not count against Galindo because the high and low scores are thrown out for each routine. But it was booed soundly by the MCI Center audience.

Ilia Kulik was third, followed by defending champion Alexei Urmanov.

In the pairs, defending champions Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko took the lead after they were the only ones to skate a clean program.

Jenni Meno and Todd Sand placed second after she fell on a double axel. 1998 champions Oksana Kazakova and Artur Dmitriev again attempted a first-ever throw quadruple toe loop, but she failed to land the jump and they placed third.

Mandy Woetzel and Ingo Steuer of Germany were fourth.

Defending champions Elizabeth Punsalan and Jerod Swallow took the lead in the dance competition with a routine that featured two tempo changes more in keeping with dance tradition.

Anjelika Krylova and Oleg Ovsyannikov were second, followed by 1998 champions Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov.