Canadian Jeffrey Buttle had a strong effort in the free skate to capture a silver medal Friday at the Four Continents event in Goyang, South Korea.

Buttle, of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., began the day in third place but scored 150.17 points during the men's final, skating to a total of 234.02 to finish second.

Canada's Jeffrey Buttle performs his free skate Friday at the Four Continents competition in Goyan, South Korea.
(Lee Jin-man/Associated Press)

"I'm happy, for sure," said Buttle. "I think [the performance] was an improvement over [the] Canadian [championships] but not without its mistakes. I still feel I have something to push me in my training leading to worlds."

The world championships are in Sweden from March 17-23.

Japan's Daisuke Takahashi claimed gold with 264.41 while American Evan Lysacek finished third with 233.11 after opening the day in front of Buttle.

"The way Daisuke skated today there was no way I could even come
close to him," said Buttle.

Edmonton's Vaughn Chipeur placed seventh at 196.57 and Shawn Sawyer, of Edmundston, N.B., was ninth at 187.18.

Buttle's silver comes on the heels of a gold-medal performance by Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir earlier Friday in the ice dance competition.

The Canadians, who finished third at last season's event, led from the beginning to secure the gold with a personal best performance in the free skate.

With files from the Canadian Press