Figure Skating - Ice Dance

I have to say that Charlie and Meryl were spectacular tonight.   So were Scott and Tessa.  In fact there were a number of fantastic performances.  Bronze medalists, Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov, of Russia also wowed with their Black Swan performance, and I thought Natalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat were also entertaining with their Little Prince routine (though I have long been fond of Natalie).

Meryl and Charlie stopped by the studio... I got lucky!

In fact, the only one of the top 8 that didn't work for me was the other Russian dancers, Ekaterina Bobrova and Dimitri Soloviev, whose program left me baffled (and they didn't skate it all that well either).  On the other hand Kaitlyn and Andrew had a great free skate (5th best on the night, and thought they deserved better) but were unable to move up from the 7th spot.

Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje...

 

Alex and Mitch also looked great.  I hope they enjoyed their Olympic experience, and that we'll see them, and Weaver/Poje back in 2018.  I have a feeling however, that this is the end for Tessa and Scott.  Scott was seen bending down to kiss the Olympics rings on the ice after the event...

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir...

I think we can put any talk of conspiracy to rest.  Skating is subjective, and the judges clearly preferred Davis/White.  Both teams got all their calls in the Free Dance, but the GOE and PCS scores favoured Davis/White unanimously (that's why the difference in scores was as big as it was, even in the Free Dance).  Still confused on the Level 3 in the FinnStep yesterday though...

It would have been a different story if Davis/White had made clear mistakes and still won, but they didn't, so let's let them have this moment.  They have been the dominate team for the past two years.

And hats off to Marina Zoueva, coach of both top teams, and to Virtue//Moir and Davis/White for pushing each other and Ice Dance to such great levels.  We might never see a rivalry and performances like this again.  This is my favorite event of the Olympics.

The USA had three teams in the top 10, Canada 2, and Russia 2.  All round, it was a great event, much better than the Men's event.  Hopefully the Ladies' event is as entertaining.