Virtue, Moir denied gold by French rivals at Grand Prix Final

CBC Sports | Posted: December 9, 2017 10:18 AM | Last Updated: December 9, 2017

Canadian pairs skaters Duhamel, Radford, as well as ladies skater Osmond take home bronze

Image | FSKATE-JPN

Caption: Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir compete during the ice dance free dance at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating final in Nagoya, Japan, on Saturday. (Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images)

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Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir finished second at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final in Nagoya, Japan, on Saturday.

Despite a season's best free dance, the duo were unable to unseat the leaders after the short dance, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France.

WATCH LIVE | Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final

The French skaters held a slim 0.54 point lead, but also posted a season's best free dance to finish first with a total score of 202.16.

Virtue and Moir were next with 199.86, while American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani were third with 188.00.

Media Video | (not specified) : Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir claim silver at ISU Grand Prix Final

Caption: The pair skated to a season best free dance score, but it wasn't enough to capture gold at the ISU Grand Prix Final from Nagoya, Japan

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"We made a couple of uncharacteristic glitches that we don't even make in training that often," Moir said. "We don't like not winning competitions but in the grand scheme of things it was still a performance we were proud of."

The three-time world champions are pleased with their progress leading to the Olympics.

Media Video | (not specified) : France's Gabriella Papadakis, Guillaume Cizeron skate to gold medal at ISU Grand Prix Final

Caption: The French duo took home the ice dance gold medal at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan

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"We're on track," Virtue said. "We've had an extremely successful season and we just have to continue taking care of the little details and making the tweaks so our programs are at their best come February."

Duhamel, Radford take bronze

In pairs action, Canadians Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford were in fifth place after the short program but rallied to a bronze-medal finish on Saturday.

Media Video | (not specified) : Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford earn bronze at ISU Grand Prix Final

Caption: The Canadian pair edged out Russian skaters Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov to earn a spot on the podium at the ISU Grand Prix Final from Nayoga, Japan

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Germany's Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot won the pairs event with a total score of 236.68, followed by China's Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (230.89) and the Canadians (210.83).

"We took a nice step here and continued to build," Radford said. "We want to take another step up at the national championships [in January] get some more levels and hit that big peak at the Olympic Games."

Osmond can't hold lead

Kaetlyn Osmond was leading the ladies competition after the short program, but the Canadian slipped to a third-place finish on Saturday.

Media Video | (not specified) : Kaetlyn Osmond skates to bronze medal at ISU Grand Prix Final

Caption: The 22-year-old was leading after the short program, but slipped to a third-place finish at the ISU Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan

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Osmond came into the day's action with a slim 0.54 point lead and was overtaken by Russians Alina Zagitova (223.30) and Maria Sotskova (216.28). The Marystown, N.L., native finished with a score of 215.16.

Media Video | (not specified) : The streak is over: Virtue and Moir beaten by French rivals at GP Final

Caption: Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's undefeated streak comes to an end, losing out to French rivals Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron.

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''The mistakes that I made were silly ones and they won't happen again," Osmond said. "I made a lot of changes to my program since my last competition and I did those well."