Virtue and Moir Come from Behind to Win Dance Championship

1.  Overall 182.84; 1.FD 111.24 (54.07+57.17) Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir; 2.SD

Skating second to last, Virtue wore a deep red, strapless dress, a copy of one of the spectacular designs Audrey Hepburn wore in the classic movie Funny Face, while Moir was in an adaption of a Fred Astaire outfit. They gave a pleasantly light-hearted presentation inspired by the love story of this movie, with breath-taking “highlights” developed over a long season, which started when they won the Finlandia Trophy back last October.

Both the judges and Technical panel were blown away. They received all Level 4s except for one Level 3 on their circular steps, and their Grades of Execution were all +2s and +3s. To split hairs, their least rewarded move was their combination spin which “only” got nine +2s, and their best was their final move, the spectacular long lift which has improved even from the Grand Prix Final.

At that event, it was discovered a rule change had not been properly implemented and Virtue and Moir had been under-rewarded for this move. Here, it was certainly given its due credit and that gave the Canadians an extremely impressive segment score. They won by 3.44 over their rinkmates, Davis & White.  

About their performance, Moir said, “I think it was a great performance, both performances, especially today. We felt really strong and it was kind of a test for us up here with the altitude. We were definitely feeling it today. Regardless of that, we just came together and got a strong score and it was just a great feeling. For sure, we had some strong elements and we definitely had to work on our spins to get ready for the World Championships. Early in the season we thought our goal was really to go out there and win and I don’t think that has changed. Our goal is just to do really strong skates. We felt like we worked well together. Our goal this week was to skate for ourselves. It was a great skate and we’re looking forward to six weeks back home and building toward the World Championships.

“Meryl hit the nail on the head, when she said there’s no doubt that we benefit from training with our rivals. You can’t slack off when you go the rink every day and see your biggest competition working hard every day. We have a great atmosphere and have been able to make it work.”

Always the jokester, Moir added, “My goal for this competition is to let Tessa answer a question.” She answered, “Like Scott said, I think we really skate to win. We skate for ourselves, we really love these programs. We performed everything that we have been practicing, so we are obviously pleased with that. We have six more weeks until Worlds so we’re looking forward to getting home.”

2.  Overall 179.40; 2.FD 107.25 (50.01+57.24) Meryl Davis & Charlie White; 1.SD

Obviously, they were disappointed that their lovely presentation to Die Fledermaus  didn’t bring them gold, and that they were saddled with Level 3 for their circular steps, their spin, the twizzles and mid-line steps. Meryl Davis said, “I think we’re pretty proud of ourselves finishing this competition. Nothing came easily but we really fought for it. We’re really proud of what we put out there. Our score really isn’t what we were looking for. Silver isn’t the color we were aiming for this year, but that’s OK. We have a lot to go home and work on and we are looking forward to it.”

White said, “Not everything is going to go your way. Today I think some of the calls didn’t go our way. I could not be prouder of the way we fought through both programs. Obviously you can tell by the way I’m breathing it’s not easy. We really worked through it. We wanted to work on expression and we did that. I felt like our elements were pretty good.”

His partner added, “We’ll take a look at our technical score and see where we went wrong, but I think we’re on the right track for Nice (Worlds). Charlie and I are really proud with how we skated on both days. We fought through each of the programs and we were pleased when we got off the ice. We were not pleased with the results and the technical scores, but we have a lot to work on when we get home. We are looking forward to going home and working hard. Charlie and I feel like the push Tessa and Scott give us is great. We really value the training situation with the four of us. All of us really push each other in a friendly way. We have a lot of fun every day in our training and our coaches have made it a very fun balance.”

About his asthma at this altitude, White said, “I was tired. But it’s not something you really think about when you’re going through it. There’s always the next step to push you, and you’ve got your partner to rely on. I don’t feel like it affected the performance. Yeah, I’m gassed when I’m bowing. We do a lot of drilling, to try to get the Levels. There’s no magic trick. We’ll go home and practice and concentrate on all the levels. It makes all the difference.”

Davis said, “I don’t think losing is the biggest fuel we have had, Charlie and I have been skating for 15 years and we have had a lot of fuel that has brought us to where we are today. It will fuel us as we head into Worlds, but I don’t think this is the biggest fuel we have had thus far.”

3.  Overall 163.26; 3.FD 99.03 (47.42+51.61) Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje; 3.SD

There is drama and great emotion in Weaver & Poje’s free dance, which is set to a French love song, I am Love Sick. Weaver explained, “The story creates the emotions that we put out during the program. We have a story about a thwarted romance that we think about every single time we skate this program and it never fails because it brings out real emotion and I think that is what people connect to because it’s real it’s not put on, it’s not fake, it’s something that is inside of everybody.”

Her partner said, “I thought today’s performance was strong. We went back after our national championships and worked on little things that we were looking to build upon from the last performance and I think we achieved that. We definitely have a ways to go but we have a couple of weeks until the World Championships and so now we’re really excited. Andrew and I are very happy. We finished the program with energy and expression. We wanted to feel the emotion of the music. We knew that it would carry us through, and it did. We’re happy we’re gaining this momentum and it’s going to help us going into the World Championships.”

4.  Overall 158.29; 4.FD 94.91 (47.06+48.85-1) Maia & Alex Shibutani; 4.SD

The Shibutanis presented a routine set to Glenn Miller music, but, as Maia explained, “Alex has been fighting viral infection all week so it was definitely challenging today. I’m proud of the way we fought through the performance and I’m proud of Alex for skating the way he did when he’s not feeling his best.” He certainly looked very strained at times during the routine and appeared to be on the point of collapse at the end of the routine when he sank to his knees.

5.  Overall 129.20; 5.FD 79.27 (40.72+39.55-1) Madison Hubbell & Zachary Donohue; 5.SD

It was not a great day for this new team who skated to I Put a Spell on You by Joe Crocker, with Hubbell in a very sexy red lacey, long sleeved creation. Donohue quickly admitted, “We learned what not to do. Even though we didn’t have the best skate, if anything, we improved our partnership this week, being there for each other, especially her for me. That’s a positive to take from this.” He fell on an early transitional move.  

She added, “We’ve been riding a high the whole season. To work as hard as we could for nationals to get this opportunity, and then the emotion of getting third and getting named to the team - it was hard to work through the last week and come here still prepared. I think our bodies are a little burned out. We’ve definitely learned from this experience. This is the first time we’ve had two rough skates and worked through it together. We will go home and take some rest then look at the positive and negative things we can take away from this competition.”

6.  Overall 117.97; 7.FD 69.63 (33.07+37.38-1) Alexandra Paul & Mitchell Islam; 7.SD

Paul readily admitted their showing, set to Tonight by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, wasn’t the skate they had been hoping for. She said, “We have been training really well and we were so excited to be able to come to Colorado Springs, so it’s pretty disappointing.“ About her partner’s fall on the twizzles, she said, “It’s a fluke that never happens. It’s nothing that you can really pinpoint. It just wasn’t our strongest skate. We were comfortable going into it but things just happen I guess. We have a show next week and then we’ll probably take some time off. I don’t know if we’re going to be training or not for Worlds as alternates. We haven’t really talked to our coaches so that’s a possibility. But, after that we’ll be taking a break and regrouping for next season.“

7.  Overall 115.05; 6.FD 69.45(36.50+33.13) Xiaoyang Yu & Chen Wang; 6.SD

The Chinese skated to Howles Moving Castle by Joe Hisaishi.

8.  Overall 107.61; 8.FD 67.68 (38.07+30.61-1) Anna Nagornyuk & Victor Kovalenko; 8.SP

The couple, who represent Uzbekistan, skated to Henry Mancini’s version of the Theme for Peter Gunn.

9.  Overall 105.91; 9.FD 65.81 (34.93+30.88) Danielle O’Brien & Gregory Merriman; 9.SP

The Australians skated to In the Mood and Moonlight Serenade.

10.  Overall 91.57; 10.FD 55.64 (32.66+22.98) Corene Bruhns & Ryan Van Netten; 10.SP

The Mexicans, who were first to skate, skating to Harlem Nocturne by Earl Hagen and My Drag by Squirrel Nut Zippers, received five Level 4s, which bodes well for their future development since it was more than the current world champions were awarded in this competition. However, their Grades of Execution, seven of which were negatives, were far different, more on the “development” level.     

11.  Overall 78.66; 11.FD 53.13 (30.43+22.70) Cortney Mansour & Daryn Zhunussov; 11.SP

Though they were last, this couple, who represent Kazahkstan, were awarded three Level 4s.