GOLD STANDARD
DAVIS, WHITE DIAL UP FOURTH U.S. TITLE by LYNN RUTHERFORD
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inning never gets old for Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and it never gets any easier. Early in their senior careers, Meryl Davis
and Charlie White pursued Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, the 2006 Olympic silver medalists and five-time U.S. champions. For the past four seasons, they have been the hunted ones, and it isn’t getting any easier. “When we were coming up, Tanith and
Ben really set the standard for American ice dance, and we were chasing them,” White, 24, said. “Tat really helped push us. Now we’re on top, but we’ve got the Shibutanis (Maia and Alex) right behind us and that also helps push us. So it’s different, but in some ways it’s the same.”
Te score line says Davis and White de- feated their Canton, Mich., training partners by 12 points in San Jose, comfortably winning their fourth consecutive U.S. ice dance title. Te reality is a bit different. “Not just the Shibutanis, but pretty much
everybody in Canton pushes each other,” Da- vis, 25, said. “Whether it’s Tessa [Virtue] and Scott [Moir] or the Shibutanis, or one of the other teams.” With 10 consecutive victories to their
credit, Davis and White aren’t letting up. “Teir training hasn’t slowed down,” said
Igor Shpilband, who coaches the team with Marina Zoueva. “Tey surprise me every year.” In the Latin short dance, their rhumba
was fast and sure; their samba, fast and steamy. Tey even ramped up the excitement level with a new closing highlight, with White scooping up Davis in a “through‒the‒legs” entrance to a lift. It added up to 76.89 points and a five- point lead over Shibutani and Shibutani going into the free dance. “With Latin, you can never really do too
much,” White said of their performance level. “We build on that every time we go out there. It’s never enough. We feel like we’ve grown a lot throughout the season.” Te team’s free dance to the Strauss’ op-
eretta Die Fledermaus had blazing twizzles, lightning‒fast steps and speedy rotational lifts. Tey earned 114.65 points, another record, and ended with a new high of 191.54 points. “We tried to pay attention to more [of
the] nuances involving the two of us,” White said. “Te music calls for a lot of grand move- ments, noticeable beats, all the elements on the music. We want to make sure people get
SKATING 25
the idea we are doing it for each other, and not for just the rest of the world to see. So I think we’ve tried to add a layer underneath every- thing we’ve been doing so far.” “We also really worked on each element,
strengthening the grade of execution (GOE), making sure the footwork sequences are really powerful, adding some arm movements to a couple of lifts,” Davis said. “We’re just slowly plugging away, making it the best program we can.”
Davis and White have to work hard,
because the Shibutanis sure do. Te World bronze medalists turned up in San Jose with a re-vamped short dance — new steps, new music, new costumes — and nearly stole the show with a faster, more challenging routine that oozed Latin feel and gained level fours for all five elements. Tey scored 72.61, their highest short dance total ever. “We felt we had outgrown our old short dance and discussed it with our coaches,” Maia, 17, said. “We brought in [five-time world
The team’s free dance to the Strauss’ operetta Die Fledermaus breaks records and gives Davis and White their fourth consecutive U.S. title.
Latin dance champion] Corky Ballas, with whom we worked with extensively this season. We just thought it was a good change for us to keep pushing and keep growing.” “Igor and Marina told us, ‘Tis is your chance to attack it. Don’t hold back on any- thing,’” Alex, 20, said. “We need to see what’s working and maybe what’s not working so that when we go back home we can make the nec- essary adjustments to peak at the right time.” Te siblings also shone
in their light‒hearted free dance to Glenn Miller fa- vorites including “Chat- tanooga Choo Choo” and “In the Mood.” Tey scored 106.23
PHOTO BY MATTHEW STOCKMAN/GETTY IMAGES
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