The 2013 ISU World Figure Skating Championships continued in London, ON, Canada, with the Ladies Free Skating and the Free Dance.
Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) dance off with gold
Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) danced off with the gold medal. Canada's Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir earned the silver medal and Ekaterina Bobrova/Dmitri Soloviev of Russia captured the bronze medal.
Davis/White's performance to Notre Dame de Paris was highlighted by intricate footwork and difficult lifts. The 2012 World silver medalists earned a level four for the lifts, twizzles and the spin and a level three for the two step sequences to pick up 112.44 points and totalled 189.56 points to take their second world title since 2011. First of all, we are really proud of our skate, a lot of fun out there. We have to celebrate these moments, there is not an infinite amount of them. And you have to do your job but we had a special moment. We accomplished all of our goals in this competition. We are looking forward to the challenge of next year and making the most of it, we would like to win the Olympic gold medal so you know it's just back to work now and that's fun and exciting and something to look forward to really pleased, White said.
Virtue/Moir completed innovative lifts and strong footwork in their passionate Carmen program to post a seasons best of 111.17 points. At 185.04 points overall, they remained in second place. We are very happy with our skates this week. We were strong, we had the right approaches and we feel these are performances to build on for next year, Moir commented. We are competitive, we like to win, it's tough to take. We held nothing back in both performances. We had strong, innovative material, this will help us for next year, he noted.
Dancing to Man With A Harmonica and Tosca, Bobrova/Soloviev produced level-four lifts and twizzles, but the two step sequences merited a level two only. With 99.14 points, the European Champions were ranked fourth in the Free Dance, but overall held on to third place to take their first World medal at 169.19 points. It is an incredible, indescribable feeling. Europeans and Worlds are completely different competitions, it is a different level, there are different competitors. We have worked very hard for this and we want to thank everybody who supported us and believed in us that we can achieve high placements at World Championships, Soloviev shared.
Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) were ranked third with their Carmen Free Dance and moved up from fifth to fourth overall (168.04 points). Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje (CAN) placed fifth at 166.20 points while 2012 World bronze medalists Nathalie Pechalat/Fabian Bourzat (FRA) dropped from fourth to sixth at 165.60 points.
Yuna Kim (KOR) strikes gold
Yuna Kim of Korea struck gold as the competition at the ISU World Championships 2013 wrapped up. Italy's Carolina Kostner took the silver medal while Mao Asada of Japan rose from sixth to claim the bronze.
Performing to Les Miserables, Kim reeled off a triple Lutz-triple toe combination, triple flip, three more triple jumps as well as three level-four spins and level-four footwork. The Olympic Champion scored 148.34 points and racked up 218.31 points overall to win her second World title and her sixth medal in as many appearances at the ISU World Championships. I was nervous in the six minutes warm up, but since I skated sixth and last in the group I had time to calm myself down. I am happy that I was able to skate a clean short and long program, Kim told the post-event press conference.
Kostner hit a triple Lutz, triple flip-triple toe and two more triples as well as difficult spins and steps in her Bolero routine, but fell on an under rotated triple Salchow at the very end. The 2012 World Champion had to overcome a nose bleed that started just before her performance. Kostner collected 131.03 points, a seasons best, and accumulated 197.89 points to take home her fifth World medal. Coming here I didn't know what to expect. No I can go home with a medal and it is great feeling. Last year I reached a dream that I almost had given up. This year I was able to live it a bit. It was my 11th World Championship in a row and already this was a special feeling, the 26-year-old said.
Asada went for a triple Axel right out of the gate in her Swan Lake program but two-footed. The two-time World Champion rallied back to land five triples including a double Axel-triple toe combination and got a level four for one spin and the footwork. The reigning Four Continents Champion scored a seasons best of 134.37 points and was ranked second in the Free Skating. Overall she scored 196.47 points. Asada took her fourth World medal. Going into the free skating, I wanted to execute all my jumps, but I couldn't. I hated the fact that I didn't do the triple Axel and the triple-triple combination, but I was able to switch my mindset and nailed it in the second half of the program. I am happy with my season, the 2010 Olympic silver medalist commented.
Kanako Murakami (JPN) slipped from third to fourth at 189.73 points. Ashley Wagner (USA) placed fifth ahead of teammate Gracie Gold who moved up from ninth to sixth (184.25 points).
The 12 medals went to nine different countries. Host country Canada was the most successful ISU member at the World Championships with three medals (one gold, one silver, one bronze) ahead of Russia with two medals (one gold and one bronze). Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Spain and USA took one medal each. Kazakhstan and Spain got their first World Championship medal in history.
The ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2013 conclude Sunday with the Exhibition Gala. For more information, and full results please see: www.isu.org and http://www.worlds2013.ca/index.html