Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir claim ice dance gold at Four Continents
Canada's Patrick Chan 5th after men's short program
Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won ice dance gold at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships on Friday in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The Canadian pair posted a total score of 196.95 to claim the top prize ahead of the United States' Maia and Alex Shibutani (191.85).
Virtue and Moir scored a personal best 117.20 with their free dance to "Pilgrims on a Long Journey" by Montreal's Coeur De Pirate, and Sam Smith's "Latch."
"What an honour for Tessa and I to be Four Continents champions," Moir said. "It was obviously a goal of ours just to qualify for this event at the beginning of the year.
"Today was an interesting performance for us as we left a couple of points on the board, but it was really special for us to be in that venue. We really felt the energy and we're really happy with certain parts of our performance. We're going to be pretty excited, looking forward to the next five weeks for the world championship."
American pair Madison Chock and Evan Bates finished third with a total score 185.58.
Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje finished fifth, with a total score of 180.09. The duo posted a 108.94 in the free dance after their short dance routine placed them fifth.
Fellow Canadian skaters Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier scored 108.93 in the free dance routine, finishing sixth (170.14). Gilles and Poirier were ranked seventh after the short dance.
Chan 5th after men's short
Patrick Chan was the top-finishing Canadian in the men's short program on Friday, scoring 88.46 to sit in fifth. The Canadian fell on his opening quad toeloop and stumbled on the landing of a triple toeloop.
"I've had good days with that program and today wasn't one of them," Chan told reporters. "When you compete at such a high level the mistakes you make have more impact and you learn from them. My timing for the quad toe was off which was unexpected because I was on in practice.''
American Nathan Chen is at the top of the standings after opening with a quad lutz-triple toe loop combination and adding a quad flip and a triple axel for a total of 103.12.
Chen is followed by Japan's Shoma Uno (100.28) and Yuzuru Hanyu (97.04).
Kevin Reynolds of Coquitlam, B.C. and Nam Nguyen of Toronto are 12th and 13th, respectively.
With files from The Canadian Press