Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir capped an undefeated and record-breaking comeback season, winning their third world ice dance title and first since 2012 on Saturday.
Even with Moir tripping during their free dance, they totaled 198.62 points, the highest score of all time. They topped the two-time defending world champions, training partners Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France, by 2.58 points.
"[Virtue] held my butt up today,” Moir said afterward.
Americans Maia Shibutani and Alex Shibutani took bronze, 13.44 points behind Virtue and Moir, the 2010 Olympic gold medalists and 2014 Olympic silver medalists.
The Shibutani siblings, silver medalists a year ago, moved up from fourth after the short dance. They snagged the lone U.S. medal in any event at worlds.
Americans Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue were in position for their first world medal going into the free dance, but Donohue fell during their twizzles. They dropped from third to ninth.
As for Virtue and Moir, they were saved by a 5.54-point lead from Friday’s short dance. Immediately before they took the ice Saturday, Papadakis and Cizeron posted the highest free dance score of all time, leaving crowd members in tears.
“It’s not a lot of fun to come out after Gabby and Guillaume,” Moir said.
After two years away from competition, Virtue and Moir completed an undefeated season in which they recorded the four highest total scores of all time in their last four international events. That made Moir’s trip during a step sequence so shocking, causing an audible crowd gasp as he put one hand down on the ice to keep from falling down completely.
The other U.S. couple, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, finished seventh after taking silver in 2015 and bronze in 2016.
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Ice Dance Results
Gold: Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (CAN) -- 198.62
Silver: Gabriella Papadakis/Guillaume Cizeron (FRA) -- 196.04
Bronze: Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) -- 185.18
7. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) -- 182.04
9. Madison Hubbell/Zachary Donohue (USA) -- 177.70