THE CANADIAN PRESS
GOYANG, South Korea — Ice dancing duo Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir along with Jeff Buttle each positioned themselves for success at the world championships next month with a big Friday for Canada at the Four Continents figure skating event.
Coming up with their finest performances of the season, Virtue and Moir captured gold while Buttle rallied his way to men’s silver with a Canadian-record score. They all found positives in the way they skated and identified areas for improvement ahead of the March 17-23 championships in Sweden.
"I think that was really what we were going for this week, (the) performance aspect of the skating," said Moir. "We definitely made some errors in the (original dance), it was a little bit sloppy on my part, still some places where we definitely can improve, but performance-wise I’d say it was the best outing of the year."
Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., led the field from the start and recorded a personal best of 104.08 in the free dance to score an aggregate total of 207.32. Moir pointed to a level-three spin and faulty final lift as a couple of things to clean up in the coming weeks.
"We weren’t really focused on the marks but it is always nice to break the 100-point barrier in the free dance and 200 overall," said Moir. "But we left a couple of points on the table which we hope to improve on before worlds."
The Canadian champions, who finished third in this event last year, based the storyline for their free dance on the 1964 musical film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg." Perfect step sequences meant they beat out Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White.
"It’s very young love, first love, then I’m sent off to the military and then she gets pregnant and goes off with a rich guy," Moir said of the routine’s theme. "That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. Pretty cold, but take it as you will."
Only their rivals felt the chill Friday.
Davis and White challenged strongly and were second for the third straight day. This time the duo scored 100.16 to finish with a total of 199.45. Fellow Americans Kimberly Navarro and Brent Bommentre took the bronze medal with 89.62 on the day for a total of 180.65.
Virtue and Moir also earned bragging rights over Davis and White, their training partners in Ann Arbour, Mich.
"It was exciting for us today," said Moir. "I love competing with them."
Buttle, meanwhile, started putting his disappointing second-place finish at the Canadian championships last month behind him by breaking his own record with an overall score of 234.02.
The 2006 Olympic bronze medallist from Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., started the day in third but an original and imaginative program to "Ararat" earned him 150.17 points in the free skate. That second-place effort catapulted him past American Evan Lysacek to silver.
"I’m happy, for sure," said Buttle. "I think (the performance) was an improvement over Canadians but not without its mistakes. I still feel I have something to push me in my training leading to worlds."
The result is also an important step in rebuilding Buttle’s confidence. Aside from losing out to Toronto teenager Patrick Chan at the nationals, he also finished sixth at last year’s world championships after being second in 2005.
Now Buttle feels better about things.
"Obviously after the Canadians I was a little bit disappointed that I wasn’t the champion but I pushed through the training and as a result I improved the cure," he said. "I definitely regained some confidence I might have lost at Canadians."
Japan’s Daisuke Takahashi broke the competition’s total points record by a massive eight points with an almost flawless performance. He scored 175.84 points in the free skate to take his total score to 264.41. Lysacek settled for third at 233.11 after opening the day ahead of Buttle.
"The way Daisuke skated today there was no way I could even come close to him," said Buttle.
Vaughn Chipeur of Edmonton ended up seventh at 196.57 while Shawn Sawyer of Edmundston, N.B., was ninth at 187.18.
The women’s free skate is Saturday with Canadian champion Joannie Rochette of Ile Dupas, Que., sitting third with 60.04 points behind world silver medallist Mao Asada of Japan at 60.94 and world champion Miki Ando of Japan at 60.07.
Canadian silver medallist Mira Leung of Vancouver is seventh with 53.01 and Cynthia Phaneuf of Contrecoeur, Que., is eighth among 32 skaters with 50.63.
The meet is for athletes from non-European countries.