#Sochi2014 SD Recap: The fight for gold, silver and bronze

Since 2010, Meryl Davis & Charlie White of the United States and Canadians Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir have been locked in a head-to-head battle over the top spot. Each has won two world titles, with Virtue & Moir claiming world gold in 2010 and 2012 and Davis & White winning in 2011 and 2013. The past four years have seen both teams increase their technical abilities and push themselves artistically—all while skating at the same rink, training with the same coaches. While it’s not common for the top two teams in the world to train together, both teams have used the situation to fuel their improvements and friendly rivalry.

Heading into Sochi, it was difficult to determine which team held an edge over the other. While Davis & White have put out solid performances all season, building momentum and increasing their score each time, Virtue & Moir have struggled at times and were beaten by the Americans by a small margin at the Grand Prix Final, but are also known to peak near the end of the season. In the team event, Virtue & Moir struggled with twizzles again, and heading into today’s short dance, they must have known that they would need to be perfect to have a shot.

Once again, it was Davis & White who came out on top, but not without a serious challenge from the Canadians. Although a 2.56-point gap in marks appeared between the two teams, the two teams seemed much closer, according to their performances.

In their short dance to music from “My Fair Lady,” Davis & White received level 4 for each element, including both Finnstep sequences, something that only three teams accomplished. The program highlighted their great speed and expression and their performance appeared focused and contained. They hit their elements and skated with the consistency that the skating world has come to expect from them, and they scored a new record of 78.89 points.

Virtue & Moir skated to “Dream a Little Dream,” “Muskrat Ramble,” and “Heaven,” which also played to their own strengths. They looked smooth and confident through their elements, particularly in the midline step sequence, but they ended up with a score of 76.33. They lost a level on the first Finnstep sequence, which cost them a point in the base value. They also received lower GOEs on every element compared to Davis & White, which accumulates to most of the point difference. The difference in PCS was less than half a point, with the edge going to the Americans.

Skate order is not supposed to make as much of a difference with this judging system, but sometimes old habits die hard. It seems possible that Virtue & Moir were affected by their fourth-group draw, while Davis & White were able to bring the house down in the final spot.

Russia’s Elena Ilinykh & Nikita Katsalapov finished in third place after an energetic and technically-sound performance to “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” “Sixteen Tons,” and “Sing, Sing, Sing”. Ilinykh & Katsalapov were the second of three teams to receive level 4 for both Finnstep sequences. They also received level 4 for both their twizzles and their rotational lift. They earned 73.04 points for their short dance, beating their personal best score by 3.5 points.

In fourth place, sitting just .26 behind the top Russians, are Nathalie Pechalat & Fabian Bourzat, who also set a new personal best of 72.78 points. The French are natural performers, but they just changed the first piece of music in their short dance from “Big Spender” to “Roxie.” Their program showed a bit of newness in the team event, but this outing’s performance quality was much improved.. They received level 4 on all of their elements, except their step sequence. They beat Ilinykh & Katsalapov on the TES, but lost on PCS. Pechalat & Bourzat have previously stated that Sochi will mark the end of their competitive career.

The four-time Russian national champions and 2013 World bronze medalists, Ekaterina Bobrova & Dmitry Soloviev, are in fifth. Though this performance seemed improved from the team event, it actually scored lower, and they are just over three points out of the bronze medal race. Their technical base value was two points lower than Ilinykh & Katsalapov and Pechalat & Bourzat, due to lower levels on their twizzles and a level 3 on the second Finnstep sequence.

Italians Anna Cappellini & Luca LaNotte finished sixth, while Canada’s Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje are seventh heading into the free dance. Both teams are close enough to still fight for the bronze medal, although they would likely need help from the teams ahead of them.

The ice dancers stayed upright throughout the event, with only two teams receiving one-point deductions for extended lifts. While some teams are focused on medals, others were fighting to set themselves up for the next quadrennial or to qualify for the free dance.

The event concludes with the free dance tomorrow. Either Davis & White will win the first ice dancing gold for the United States, or Virtue & Moir will become only the second team to win two Olympic gold medals in ice dance, joining Pasha Grishuk & Evgeny Platov of Russia, who won in 1994 and 1998.