(March 27, 2010) – It was an exciting night in Torino as Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir captured the world title. This is only the second world gold in ice dance for Canada; in 2003 Shae-Lynn Bourne and Victor Kraatz also won the title. Virtue and Moir scored 110.03 in the free dance for a total score of 224.43.
Scott Moir was thrilled with their world championship winning free skate. “It was the complete package, and we’re so excited at the way we laid it down.” His partner Tessa Virtue agreed. “It’s a completely different feeling from (winning) the Olympics, but equally as exciting.”
Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the USA won the silver. They scored 110.49 in the free for an overall score of 223.03. Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali won bronze with 197.85 points and 97.84 points in the free dance.
Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier put the world on notice as they laid down a spectacular free dance. They score 91.22 points for an overall total of 180.30, finishing in seventh place.
“After the Olympics we really worked on our presentation, and we wanted to raise our levels on a few things. We tried to stand out and really prove that we belonged here,” said Vanessa Crone. Her partner, Paul Poirier agreed. “We learned a lot from the Olympic Games and just in the three weeks since then our hard work has really paid off with a season’s best (score) in all three portions of the competition.”
The combined placements of the two teams will gain Canada three entries in Ice Dance for next year’s championships.
Earlier in the day the ladies competition began with the short program. Mirai Nagasu from the USA is sitting in first place after a powerful short program. She scored 70.40, a new personal best. Olympic silver medalist Mao Asada from Japan followed close behind with 68.08 points. Finland’s Laura Lepisto is sitting in third place with 64.30 points.
Canadian silver medalist Cynthia Phaneuf skated a personal best short program to land in eighth with 59.50 points.
Phaneuf commented on her goals for this competition, “this was the last time that I will skate this short program, and it was a very good performance today. I am very happy with it. My goal is to finish in the top 10 here, so I want to do my long program tomorrow at 100 per cent.”
Fellow Canadian Myriane Samson skated for the first time Friday at the senior world championships. She placed 29th with 44.20 points. Only the top 24 skaters move on to skate a free program.
“This was a big experience for me, and I have learned so much from it. I will know for next time what to expect. I was really focused here in practice, and I don't quite know what happened in the short,” explained Samson.
The ladies will conclude on Saturday with their free skate.
For more information on the event and full results please click here!
Photos by: Gérard Châtaigneau