Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir perform during Friday's original dance segment in Saskatoon. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)Defending champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir increased their lead Friday in the ice dance competition at the Canadian figure skating championships in Saskatoon, outclassing their opponents in the original dance portion.
Virtue, from London, Ont., and Moir, from Ilderton, Ont., earned a score of 63.76 with their Charleston routine, bringing their total to 103.09 through two of three segments.
The team also won Wednesday's compulsory dance, with a score of 39.33.
"Today before we skated we decided we were just going to skate for us and we weren't going to worry too much about levels necessarily," said Virtue, who recently underwent surgery on her shins. "We just really wanted to create the whole package of the performance, so I guess when we get back we'll look at the tape and really narrow in on those elements.
"Of course speed and power is always there, but spins and lifts, too. It's just getting those a little bit stronger and getting some more mileage on them."
Vanessa Crone of Aurora, Ont., and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., remained in second place with 55.56 in the original dance, the second-highest score. They have 91.18 in total.
The Toronto-based team of Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje moved up to third from fifth by scoring 52.92 on Friday, bringing their total to 84.81.
The free dance is scheduled for Saturday (CBCSports.ca, Bold, 8 p.m. ET). Virtue and Moir will unveil an innovative new long program set to music from Pink Floyd's iconic rock album Dark Side of the Moon.
First event of the season
Virtue and Moir are appearing in their first event of the season. They sat out the entire Grand Prix slate as Virtue recovered from surgery in October to correct a condition called chronic exertional compartment syndrome, an overuse injury that caused pain in her shins.
The team last competed 10 months ago at the world championships in Gothenburgh, Sweden, where they captured silver.
"I'm feeling so much stronger and it's hard to believe three months ago, everyone laughed when I tried to walk," said Virtue, 19, who is still working her way back toward a full practice workload. "When I think of it that way, I'm really proud of the progress I've made and we're on our way and I think heading into worlds we'll be training full steam ahead and there will be no issues."
Patrick Chan of Toronto and Joannie Rochette of Ile-Dupas, Que., will begin defence of their men's and women's singles titles on Friday. Chan knocked off veteran Jeffrey Buttle to win the men's crown last year, while Rochette is in the hunt for her fifth consecutive senior gold at nationals.
Reigning world championship bronze medallists Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison will be the favourites to win the pairs competition, which also begins Friday. Defending Canadian champions Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay were forced to withdraw, as Langlois isn't fully recovered from surgery she had after suffering a serious ankle injury suffered last summer.
