Weaver and Poje win bronze at worlds
Ice dance pair end on ‘high,’ after gold-medal victory by Canada’s Osmond in women’s singles
Canadian ice dancers Kaitlyn Weaver and Andre Poje, of Waterloo, captured bronze at the World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday, making up for their Olympic disappointment in Pyeongchang.
“I don’t have words for this moment right now,” Weaver said. “The program went by so fast and before we knew it we were standing on the podium.”
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, of France, runners-up to Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in Pyeongchang, won the gold with 207.20 points. Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue claimed the silver with
196.64.
Skating their popular program to “Je Suis Malade,” Weaver and Poje collected their third career world championship medal with a personal best 192.35.
“We will remember this moment,’’ said Poje. “We really wanted to have that last one go and have a smile on our face at the end of it.”
Their podium performance comes a day after Canada’s Olympic bronze medallist Kaetlyn Osmond won gold in women’s singles.
Weaver, from Toronto, and Poje, from Kitchener, were seventh at the Olympics.
Virtue and Moir didn’t compete at the world championships, and are expected to announce their retirement.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, of Toronto, were sixth on Saturday, while Carolane Soucisse, of Chateauguay, Que., and Shane Firus, of North Vancouver, B.C., finished 14th.
“To finish on a high note is so rewarding,” Gilles said. “This was a roller-coaster season for us, but we’ve really been pushing ourselves to improve.”
In men’s competition, Nathan Chen, of the U.S., took the gold medal, while Shoma Uno of Japan was second, and Mikhail Kolyada of Russia finished third.
Keegan Messing, of Sherwood Park, Alta., was eighth in his world championship debut, four spots better than his result at the Olympics.
“To go out there and miss a couple of elements I’ve been nailing all week is a little hurtful,” said Messing, who’d been sixth after the short program. “Still I tried to keep my head up and give a good performance. I hope the crowd still loved it.”