M students Meryl Davis and Charlie White (a member of this-here-blog) win their second World Championship in ice dancing, beating out the Canadian team who narrowly beat them out for the last Olympic championship.
It was a stunning victory, both in margin and that in came in the Canadians' hometown, where they are, as the public address announcer said, "local skating icons." But it wasn't even close. With 189.56 points, Davis and White beat Virtue and Moir by about 4 1/2 points. That score also topped the world record they'd set at last season's Grand Prix Final by a point.
The other two U.S. teams in the competition also finished in the top ten, and also contain M students [and/or alumni by now?], guaranteeing that the U.S. will send the maximum number of three teams to the next Olympics. Evan Bates and his partner Madison Chock were seventh, and Alex Shibutani and his sister Maia were eight. (Question to the MGoIceMen: Is Maia old enough to be a Michigan student yet? Congrats to you all.)
Link to AP article in Sports Illustrated, which raves in more detail about the winning performers though bizarrely illustrating the article with a picture of the second-place Canadian team. [Okay, not so bizarrely. They're making their rivalry much of the story.]
I can barely walk on ice, so a WC for dancing on it is pretty impressive.
Go Blue!
L.S.A. '88