results of the World Championships, Grand Prix Series and Grand Prix Final as well as those of the European, Four Continents and World Junior Championships and Junior Grand Prix events. Each team featured eight skaters: two ladies, two men, one pair and one ice dance team. Te top-ranked skater(s) in each discipline earned 12 points, the second-ranked skater/team received 11 points, and so on. Tese points were added together to determine the winning team. An ISU record $1 million was awarded at the event, which is a precursor to the team competition that will be included at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. “It is different from anything I’ve ever done,”
Wagner said of the team format. “It’s a chance to have fun, relax and really support each other. Te American team knows each other well and it’s great to go out and support everyone. It’s fun to show our U.S. pride.”
Davis and White end season with stellar performance
Victory in Tokyo was extra sweet for Davis
and White, who settled for the World silver medal in Nice, France, two weeks before despite skating what they considered their best programs of the season.
Te U.S. ice dance champions turned the
tables on archrivals Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, defeating their Canadian training partners in both the short dance and free dance to notch 12 points for the U.S. team.
“I consciously wanted to win this,” White said. “At Worlds, we skated well and how we want-
ed to, but we didn’t place how we wanted to. We had an amazing opportunity here to do two pro- grams we have grown to love. It’s not Worlds, but it is close. We wanted to prove ourselves.” Showing no fatigue at their seventh competi- tion of the season, Davis and White kicked things off for Team USA with a freewheeling rendition of their Latin short dance, highlighted by a speedy closing section to Jennifer Lopez’s “On the Floor.” Tey gained three level four elements, including their lift, twizzles and a Rhumba sequence, and earned 72.18 points, some 2.25 points more than Virtue and Moir. “I think we had a really solid skate as far as the technical aspect goes,” Davis said. “We knew we wanted to have a lot of fun with the program, which we definitely did. It wasn’t necessarily the cleanest skate we’ve had, but I think that is OK.” Te Americans made their final competitive outing of their “Die Fledermaus” free dance one to remember, keeping the Japanese crowd at the edge of their seats with a captivating performance including effortless twizzles and light-as-air lifts. Teir 111.18 points included 17 perfect program component scores of 10, and they ended with 183.36 points overall for an easy victory. “We’re really excited about our performance
today,” Davis said. “Tis is a program we really fell in love with and to put it out there for the last time, we really wanted to make it special between the two of us.” “I don’t know if I’ve ever been so emotional
after a program we’ve skated before,” White said. “Obviously, it’s World Team Trophy, it’s not Worlds or the Olympics, but I feel like
Adam Rippon
we wanted to do the program justice in our last performance of the season. I’m really proud of how we skated.” Virtue and Moir had a solid outing to the so- phisticated and entertaining Funny Face, but could not match Davis and White’s program compo- nent scores and grades of execution (GOE). Tey earned 107.83 points and finished with 177.76 overall. “We felt it was a strong skate,” Moir said. “It was tough two weeks after Worlds, trying to keep the mojo going. It was kind of a battle last week, but coming here we felt fresh, we felt energized. We put out two really solid performances.” World bronze medalists Nathalie Pechalat
and Fabian Bourzat took third with their cre- ative Egyptian free, nicknamed “Te Pharaoh and His Mummy.” Te European champions earned 167.83 points overall.
Wagner sails to bronze medal; Gold fifth Ashley Wagner closed her career season by
giving her “Black Swan” free skate the sendoff it deserved. Te 2012 U.S. and Four Continents champion received a standing ovation from the enthusiastic Japanese crowd as she executed a flaw- less performance, one that ended up being the best of the ladies free skate. Wagner, fifth in the
short program, placed third after earning 122.29 points for her free skate and 179.81 points overall.
Caydee Denney and John Coughlin
SKATING 17
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