After coming so close twice before, Brian Joubert finally struck gold Thursday at the world figure skating championships in Tokyo.

The 22-year-old Frenchman, who won silver in 2004 and 2006 in this competition, won the gold medal with a solid performance in the free skate portion of the competition.

Jeffrey Buttle shows disappointment following Thursday's free skate.
(Vincent Thian/Associated Press)

"I'm relieved and very excited," he said. "It's been a great season."

Japan's Daisuke Takahashi posted the top free-skating marks, but was far enough behind Joubert after Wednesday's short program that he had to settle for silver.

Defending champion Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland climbed to third to take the bronze after sitting in sixth place following the short program.

Canadian champion Jeff Buttle of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., second after the short program, fell twice in his free program and wound up sixth, the same position he held at the end of last year's competition in Calgary.

Buttle was the last skater to hit the ice after Takahashi landed eight triple jumps and did a quad, much to the delight of the Japanese crowd.

"Obviously, it has an effect," Buttle said of following Takahashi. "You can't ignore that kind of volume and that kind of response.

"But I anticipated it. I prepared myself for that. I knew if he skated well that the audience would erupt. So I was almost prepared for that kind of reaction. I wasn't surprised by it, but I was surprised by how I skated."

Chris Mabee of Tillsonburg, Ont., sixth after the short, finished 13th in his first world championship.

"It wasn't exactly what I had planned," said Mabee, who fell once and made several other technical errors. "But, for first worlds, I'm going to take it for what it is and learn from it."

Emanuel Sandhu of Richmond Hill, Ont., finished 16th after placing fifth a year ago.

The results mean Canada's entry quota will drop to two from three for next year's competition.

Dubreuil, Lauzon in virtual tie with Bulgarians

Defending world champions Albena Denkova and Maxim Staviski of Bulgaria edged slightly ahead of Canadian champions Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon in the original dance Thursday.

The two couples are in a virtual tie for first place in the ice dancing competition ahead of Friday's finale, the free dance.

"The free dance will determine everything," said Lauzon.

Denkova and Staviski had a 1.56 lead in the original dance Thursday after Dubreuil and Lauzon had a victory margin of 1.54 points in the compulsory dance Tuesday, leaving the Bulgarians with an overall total of 99.52 to the Canadians' 99.50.

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto of the United States are third with 99.02 points.

Canadian silver medallists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, ninth after the compulsory, are seventh overall with 88.56.

Canadian bronze medallists Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje were sitting 22nd with 68.34.

With files from the Canadian Press