Ice dancers out of retirement, into the lead
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir sat flanked by their training partners, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron, on one side, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue on the other, both having just skated in the Olympics for the first time.
Yet it was Moir, who along with Virtue forms perhaps the greatest ice-dance team ever, who acknowledged his nerves nearly got the best of him before their short program at the Pyeongchang Games at Gangneung, South Korea.
“People assume because we’ve been doing this so long that we can hold it together and that’s not the case,” Moir said. “It’s not easy to get out there with all of the country watching at home.” Well, they sure made it look easy. Virtue and Moir floated across the ice in perfect harmony, every step of their samba and rhumba in perfect unison, to break their record for a short program with 83.67 points. Their rock-inspired rift Monday left them more than a point ahead of Papadakis and Cizeron heading into the free dance.
“We put the pressure on ourselves,” Virtue said. “It’s a big part of being tested competitors, and we push each other and we push the limits.”
Papadakis and Cizeron skated after the Canadians and were immediately thrown off by her costume, which came unhooked at the neck seconds into the music. They held things together through the wardrobe malfunction to score 81.93 points, and now will turn to their stronger free dance Tuesday.
“It was pretty distracting, kind of my worst nightmare happening at the Olympics,” Papadakis said. “I told myself I don’t have a choice. I have to keep going and that’s what we did.”
U.S. champs Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue were third, twohundredths of a point ahead of their compatriots, Maia and Alex Shibutani. The third American couple, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, was seventh and in medal contention despite an injury that she aggravated during warm-ups.
“This is a testament to how strong ice dancing is,” Hubbell said. “We didn’t expect it to be any different. You have to be at your best to be close with this many great skaters.”
Maybe even the greatest. Virtue and Moir won Olympic gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games, then won silver four years later in Sochi, Russia. They stepped away from competition for two years, the grind of more than 15 years spent working together having taken its toll, but returned for another run. They are seeking an unprecedented fifth Olympic figure-skating medal.
Performing to Latin-infused music by the Rolling Stones, Eagles and Santana, Virtue and Moir were in lockstep from the moment they stepped on the ice. They received level-four marks across the board, highlighted by their midline step sequence to open the program, and nailed their rhumba sequence.
The crowd, relatively sparse compared with other figure-skating sessions, roared as the three-time world champions skated off the ice to await their scores. The fans roared again when their record numbers were read, and the longest-tenured ice-dance team in Canadian history smiled and hugged.
“To go out and connect and perform like that,” Moir said, “that’s why we came back.” U.S. women go for gold: Dani Cameranesi scored two goals and added an assist, and the United States will play for the gold medal that has eluded them for nearly two decades after shutting out Finland 5-0 in Gangneung.
The Americans are back in the goldmedal game for a third straight Olympics, and they will play the winner of the other semifinal between Canada and the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” on Thursday, looking to win their first gold since 1998 when women’s hockey debuted in the Olympics.
Gigi Marvin started the scoring with a goal. Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Hilary Knight had a goal apiece as they turned a 5-on-3 into two goals 34 seconds apart in the second. Maddie Rooney made 14 saves for the shutout.
The Finns, ranked third last year, will try to take home the bronze medal for the first time since 2010.