Olympic bronze medalist Kaetlyn Osmond captures her first world title as Wakaba Higuchi and Satoko Miyahara finish second and third for Japan in a dramatic women's free program.

Higuchi was eighth after Wednesday's short program, but came from behind to earn a total of 210.90 points. She finished 12.33 points behind Osmond, who became the first Canadian female figure skater to top the podium at the world championships in 45 years .

Olympic champion Alina Zagitova of Russia entered the day in second-place but finished fifth after falling three times in her free program. Her compatriot and defending champion Evgenia Medvedeva had withdrawn prior to the meet with an ankle injury.

The 17-year-old Higuchi nailed seven triple jumps during her program at Mediolanum Forum, including two triple lutz-triple toeloop combinations. She had failed to book a spot for February's Pyeongchang Winter Games after finishing fourth at last year's nationals.

"I was motivated to deliver everything I had until the very end. It was the best program I had this season," Higuchi said. "I had a difficult time changing my mindset after the nationals, but now that I think back, I was able to do well here because of that experience."

Miyahara, who was fourth at last month's Pyeongchang Olympics, claimed a total of 210.08 points despite a fall after under-rotating a triple salchow. The bronze was her second world championship medal after taking silver in 2015.

"I wasn't really doing well from the beginning," Miyahara said. "I was really gunning to finish this competition with a good routine, so I think I pushed myself too much."

With their results, Higuchi and Miyahara earned Japan three berths in next year's world championships to be held in Saitama near Tokyo.