Patrick Chan within striking distance of gold after short program at Skate Canada

It was far from the return Patrick Chan had envisioned, but still good enough to leave Canada's three-time world champion within striking distance of gold.

And more than a year-and-a-half after he walked off the competitive ice, Chan sent a reminder that — even when he makes mistakes — he's among the world's best.

The 24-year-old from Toronto is second after the men's short program at Skate Canada International, his first major competition since the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Skating to Michael Buble's version of "Mack the Knife," he opened with a huge quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination, but then fell on his triple Axel and doubled a planned triple Lutz.

"It's so great to be back and I love that the audience is as excited as I am," Chan said. "[But] frustrating. This program is 'Mackie's back in town.' So I feel like I'm back in town. And here I am. But hopefully not like that. Better next time."

Fortunately for Chan, on a night he was far from perfect, nobody else was either. In what was virtually a three-way tie for the lead, Daisuke Murakami of Japan scored 80.88 points for first, while American Adam Rippon is third with 80.36.

And while the event was billed as a rematch between Chan and Olympic gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu, the Japanese skater finished well down in sixth place.

Nam Nguyen of Toronto was fourth in the men's short program.

Chan, dressed in a casual slacks/sweater combination, broke into a wide smile when the Enmax Centre crowd roared at his introduction. He admitted to being relieved when it was over — the first one finally out of the way.

"Every day I know that I get better and better," Chan said. "There's always progress every day, whether it's a practice day or a competition day, I always learn."

He lamented the difficulty of his program, but admitted it's what he needs if he wants to win a fourth world championship in March in Boston.

"Ask Kathy [Johnston, his coach]. We've had full-blown arguments on practice, just being like 'What's the point of doing all this hard stuff when I can't even stay on time?' I feel rushed the entire time," he said. "That's walking that fine line of greatness, and I think in the end it will be worth it, this frustration and these challenges, and hiccups.

"If I can get through these it will be tremendous by the time I get to nationals and worlds hopefully."

The three men's leaders joked in the post-skate press conference about their less-than-perfect skates.

"I think you know you've done a really bad quad attempt when you land forward, you look at the judges, you say you're sorry. . . and then you fall backwards," Rippon said, prompting laughter.

Wagner tops ladies' short 

America's Ashley Wagner leads the women's event after scoring 70.73 in the short program. Yuka Nagai is second with 63.35, while Japanese teammate Kanako Murakami is third 59.79.

Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond had a rough outing in her first major competition in more than a year. The 19-year-old from Marystown, N.L., who missed all of last season after breaking her leg, slipped on her flying camel spin, landing in full splits. She then fell on her double Axel.

"It's a really awkward to fall that way, falling in complete middle splits isn't the most amusing thing to do," Osmond said. "I think it was more of a shock than anything, the way I fell, and then I couldn't fully get myself back on top of my feet before the Axel."

"But it's just a stepping stone. I feel amazing. It was so exciting even with the program I did, yes I had two falls, but they're two things that I never miss, so I knew that today was just probably the over-excitement of being back on the ice, being back in Canada competing."