Photo Finish at 2014 World Championships

by Melanie Hoyt | Photos by Robin Ritoss

After four consecutive years of one-two finishes at the World Championships by Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir (world titles in ’10 and ’12)  and Meryl Davis & Charlie White (world titles in ’11 and ’13), a major dance standings shake-up was inevitable in their absence. And after surprises in the short dance and only four points separating the top five teams, the free dance was sure to be a nail-biter. What no one predicted, though, was that six hundredths of a point would separate gold from bronze.

What happened in Saitama, Japan, last night was a photo finish, a buzzer-beater, and a Hail Mary, giving the figure skating world its own taste of “March Madness.” And in ice dance, traditionally the sport’s most predictable—and also its most subjective—discipline. It is a free dance event that the skating world will not soon forget.

Perhaps no one was more surprised than Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte, the newly-crowned 2014 world champions. With one team still to skate, Cappellini put her face in her hands and wept after their marks came up.

“We have no words, we are shocked,” Cappellini said. “We are honored to have skated so well. It was such a long season we were at the end of our energy and we turned to each other for strength.”

The likable Italian champions were only fourth in the free dance, where they earned a personal best score of 105.73. Their total score of 175.43, also a personal best, was just enough to keep them ahead of the rest of the field. They have never before stood on the podium at the World Championships, which was also how France’s Isabelle Delobel & Olivier Schoenfelder won gold in 2008.

Cappellini & Lanotte, coming off a sixth-place finish at the Olympic Winter Games and their first European title, really wanted to make a run at the podium. They were fourth at the 2013 World Championships. Showing off improved skating skills and deep edges, the duo performed very well under incredible pressure. They have been criticized in the past for skating “small” and with shallow edges, and they have actively worked to change that impression.

“We tried working really hard and following the leads of our coach over the years,” Lanotte said. “There is no limit in improving, but I guess we are the best version of Anna and Luca that we can be. We will see what we can still improve and what the future will bring.”

Of the teams in the top four, Cappellini & Lanotte were the team with the cleanest outing across both dances, which gave them the edge in the impossibly close race for the gold medal.

“This was an amazing week for us,” Lanotte said. “We are happy to give you back this love. We tried to skate today how we wanted, we enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed the public. We lived our dream tonight.”

Just two hundredths of a point behind the leaders were Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje of Canada (pictured, left). Their silver medal was also their first medal at the World Championships. Although they were third in the free dance, they were able to maintain their second-place ranking from the short dance, earning 175.41 points overall. Their only visible error were a pair of balance checks on the twizzle sequence in the free dance; Poje slightly fumbled the second set, and Weaver matched his mistake in the third. Their level 4 twizzles received five +1 GOE marks and four +2 marks, just a notch lower than the rest of their elements.

The performance level of their “Maria de Buenos Aires” free dance, however, was sky-high, just as it has been throughout the season. It is obvious that they enjoy skating this program, which exudes strength and confidence.

“We’ve learned that it doesn’t pay off to hold back,” Weaver said. “Skating last was difficult, but we were prepared for it. We took one step at a time, one moment at a time, and that was how we were able to make it to the end the way we did.”

The tiny margin that kept Weaver & Poje from becoming world champions could have felt maddening, but the team appeared to keep a positive spin on the situation.

“It was pretty emotional to see the margin when we looked up, it was .02, but it was also very close behind us,” Weaver explained. “So we knew that it was going to come down to every detail, and we are so grateful to be able to share the podium with these two amazing skaters, so we are very happy where we are.”

Weaver & Poje have been very consistent at the World Championships over the past three seasons, placing fifth twice and fourth once, and this silver medal should set them up well for the next quadrennial.

France’s Nathalie Péchalat & Fabian Bourzat came to Japan with their sights on a world title to close their competitive career. They skated their free dance impeccably, arguably the best they have skated all season, but they did not score quite high enough to overcome mistakes made in the short dance. In the short, a balance problem on the twizzles and small mistakes on the Finnstep pattern cost them several points, and they entered the free dance in third place.

“We are not a hundred percent happy with this performance,” Péchalat said after the short dance. “We skated much better at the Olympics. We had two little mistakes and hopefully we’ll skate stronger tomorrow.”

They did put down the performance that they wanted in the free dance, but skating first in the final group likely did not help them. The three medalists had nearly identical program components scores, from 55.11 to 55.16, higher than they all scored in Sochi. However, the difference was that this time, Péchalat & Bourzat were marked slightly below the other two teams on components, whereas at both the Olympic Games and the Grand Prix Final this season, they have been about one to two points ahead.

Péchalat, in particular, was visibly disappointed during the medal ceremony, but the two really did end a marvelous career on a high note.

“It was the last time we are skating in a competition,” Bourzat said at the press conference. “Before we went on the ice, our coach told us to skate from our heart. I think that that was what we did tonight; we finally managed to get emotional, we didn’t think about anything else but what we have to do. It was a good place to do it here in Japan and in front of this audience.”

Winners of the free dance, Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov of Russia placed fourth overall, earning 174.38 points. They were .99 away from the podium, largely due to a costly twizzle mistake in the short dance. The two nearly collided after the first twizzle in their sequence, causing Katsalapov to abort his attempt at the second set. They received no credit for the element. A well-done level 4 twizzle sequence can be worth over seven points.

“I was confident, we skated with a lot of energy,” Katsalapov said afterwards. “Even the twizzle, we started it well.”

The recent Olympic bronze medalists came into this championship as gold medal favorites, but a bombshell dropped several days ago when a Russian news agency reported that Ilinykh & Katsalapov were scheduled to split after this event. The report is still unconfirmed, as they have declined to comment on the situation.

They went in the free dance determined to fight, but began with more uncertainty. The timing seemed off on their first two lifts, causing them to waver noticeably. The judges did not penalize them for those mistakes, though, awarding +2 and +3 GOE. A lost level on their rotational lift did hurt them slightly, but probably only by about half a point. After the shaky moments on the opening lifts, they appeared to attack the program with more resolve, finishing their “Swan Lake” free dance with intensity.

“We feel good,” Ilinykh said afterwards. “It was really a good performance, I think the best one. It was technically better. For the last program of this season we are glad. We are happy to be done and to skate this program. We are very happy.”

Also very happy were Madison Chock & Evan Bates (pictured, right), the highest-ranked American team at the event. They handled the pressure of this new situation very well, skating well in both segments. With a final score of 167.59, they earned personal bests in both competition segments. Their performance did not seem quite as strong as it did in Sochi, but they ended a long season very well, despite being in the position of being USA #1 for the first time.

“We don’t feel any extra pressure,” Bates said. “We kind of just focus on ourselves. And up to this point we still consider ourselves to be a team that is pushing upwards and we want to be contending here.”

Their American teammates and former training partners, Maia Shibutani & Alex Shibutani, finished sixth, scoring 158.57.

Victoria Sinitsina & Ruslan Zhiganshin of Russia were seventh with 155.35 points, nine places and almost 15 points higher than they were in Sochi. Sinitsina is rumored to be skating with Katsalapov next season.

Fun with Numbers
It is worth noting that while the program components totals of the top three teams were similar, Cappellini & Lanotte and Weaver & Poje each received a couple of 10.00 marks from individual judges, while Péchalat & Bourzat did not. Cappellini & Lanotte’s 10s were on performance and came from two different judges, yet another judge gave them 8.75 in the same category. Weaver & Poje’s 10s were from the same judge, and were for performance and interpretation/timing; they received as low as 8.50 in those categories from another judge. The judges seemed to agree a little more readily on Péchalat & Bourzat’s components and they were more conservative across the board, which could have been due to skate order. With a margin of only .06, if even just one or two of the marks were different, the standings could have been turned around.

Canada, Russia, and the United States all earned three spots for the 2015 World Championships, despite each team missing one of their usual top entries. Russia’s Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitri Soloviev withdrew the morning of the short dance after Soloviev sustained a groin injury. All three of Canada’s entries made the top ten; Piper Gilles & Paul Poirier were eighth, while Alexandra Paul & Mitchell Islam were tenth.

Germany lost a spot after two close calls, and will be back to one team next year. Tanja Kolbe & Stefano Caruso missed qualifying for the free dance by less than a point, requiring Nelli Zhiganshina & Alexander Gazsi to place at least 10th, instead of 12th, to keep two spots. Zhiganshina & Gazsi missed the top 10 by less than a point after a twizzle mistake in the free dance.

Tiny margins existed throughout the standings before the final group ever took the ice. Paul & Islam (10th) and Zhiganshina & Gazsi (11th) were separated by .39, Charlène Guignard & Marco Fabbri (14th) overtook Isabella Tobias & Deividas Stagniunas (15th) by just .05, and Sara Hurtado & Adria Diaz (16th) held off Alexandra Aldridge & Daniel Eaton (17th) by a tenth of a point.