Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) dance to the gold medal at Four Continents Championships
Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) danced to the gold medal. Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) claimed the bronze medal and Vanessa Crone/Paul Poirier of Canada clinched the bronze. Olympic and World Champions Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) withdrew during the performance citing injury.
Davis/White put out a strong performance of their Tango program and earned a level four for all elements except the two step sequences that were a level three. The current World and Olympic silver medalists improved their seasons best slightly with 103.02 points and racked up a total score of 172.03 points.
“Charlie and I were happy with our skate. Yesterday’s performance wasn’t exactly what it was we were looking for so today we came in knowing we wanted to leave it all on the ice, and we will like that’s what we did. We are excited going into Worlds after this competition”, Davis said. “I think what we are most proud of are the improvements we’ve made with our connection and our connection to the audience. It’s difficult doing such a packed program and keep the emotions there as well. We are still really looking to the Worlds, that’s what we’ve been building toward. That’s the one that counts the most in our books”, added White.
Shibutani/Shibutani's smooth dance to “Smile” and “Let's Face the Music and Dance” was highlighted by intricate footwork and lifts. The young brother and sister team earned a level four for all elements but for the diagonal step sequence (level three) to pick up a seasons best of 93.34 points. Shibutani/Shibutani moved up from fourth to take the silver medal with 155.38 points. “We were excited to compete this week. This is our first year as seniors and our first major championship so we were very excited with our performances. We had a lot of fun out there and think this will really help us going into Worlds”, Maia Shibutani offered. “We are both satisfied with the progression of our programs this year. From the beginning, we have loved our music and we’ve loved our choreography. It’s been a fun process for us and a huge building experience”, her brother explained.
Dancing to “Eleanor Rigby”, Crone/Poirier turned in a strong performance, only their serpentine step sequence garnered a level two. The Canadians scored 90.17 points and moved up from fifth to third at 151.83 points. “We had two very solid performances. They weren't perfect, and I think we definitely can step up before the World Championships, but we are still very excited and happy with our first medal at the Four Continents”, Poirier commented.
Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (CAN) slipped from third to fourth after missing their spin (151.14 points). Madison Chock/Greg Zuerlein (USA) came fifth (142.44 points).
Virtue/Moir interrupted their performance after the third element, a rotational lift, and withdrew from the event. “In her (Virtue's) recovery, getting back into training, at times she still experiences some discomfort and so she's been feeling just a little bit of discomfort in her quad area (quadriceps) and still came and competed the short dance. But in the free dance, she was really was just feeling a lot more stiffness there and at that point just felt she was not going to be able to continue all of the program”, said Skate Canada High Performance Director Michael Slipchuk.
