Virtue, Moir dance to lead at Skate Canada
REGINA Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir channelled their inner Mick Jagger, while Canadian teammate Kaetlyn Osmond picked up right where she left off.
Virtue and Moir posted a worldrecord score in the short program and are poised to capture their seventh Skate Canada International title to kick off their final competitive season, while Osmond reeled off three huge triple jumps Friday for a seven-point lead in women’s singles. Meanwhile, three-time world champ Patrick Chan trails Japan’s Shoma Uno by nine points after the men’s short program.
Virtue and Moir, Canada’s Olympic gold and silver medallists in ice dance, posted 82.68 points, topping their previous world best of 82.43 they set in winning the world championships last spring.
“We don’t have a choice. We want to win this competition, we knew we had to post a score like that in order to be on top,” Moir said.
Kaitlyn Weaver of Toronto and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., were second with 77.47, while Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue were third (76.08).
Virtue, the 28-year-old from London, Ont., and the 30-yearold Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., have made a stunning return to competition after a two-year hiatus, going undefeated thus far in their comeback.
“It’s our last (Skate Canada), and we’re really taking it in,” Moir said. “It’s funny, in 2014 (Sochi Olympic season), we really tried not to be too sentimental. This year we’re really just soaking it all in as much as we can.”
Osmond, meanwhile, is riding a remarkable comeback of her own. She takes a personal-best 76.06 points into Saturday’s long program. Anna Pogorilaya is second with 69.05, while Russian teammate Maria Sotskova scored 66.10 for third.
The 21-year-old from Marystown, N.L., is coming off a breakout season that saw her capture silver at the world championships, Canada’s top finish in women’s singles since Joannie Rochette’s secondplace finish in 2009.
Chan hasn’t found as much success in his return to competition. The 26-year-old from Toronto landed his lone quad Friday night, then touched a hand down on his triple Axel, en route to 94.43 points.
Uno, last year’s world silver medallist, landed two quads and finished with 103.62 points.
Jason Brown of the U.S. was in third with 90.71 points.
Chan took a year off after his silver medal in Sochi and has struggled to catch up with what has become a quad-centric event. He had two quads in the short program and three in the long program last season.