MONTPELLIER, France 鈥� Canadian ice dancers Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier were fifth at the world figure skating championships in what may have been their final competitive appearance.
Skating to "The Long and Winding Road," sa国际传媒's defending world bronze medallists scored 202.70 points, and breathed a sigh of relief a month after a major mishap at the Beijing Olympics.
"It was especially satisfying to end the season with a skate on our terms," Poirier said. "The Olympic free dance didn鈥檛 go the way we wanted for us. It was important to do the last performance of the season the way we know we can do it."
Toronto's Gilles and Poirier, from Unionville, Ont., badly botched a lift in their free dance at last month's Beijing Olympics, that left Gilles in tears and saw them finish seventh.
The two said they haven't decided whether they'll retire after the world championships.
Olympic champions Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France delivered for their home fans a memorable performance at Sud de France Arena.
Papadakis and Cizeron, who train in Montreal with Canadian coaches Marie-France Dubreuil and Patrice Lauzon, shattered the world record with their rhythm dance, then did the same in the free dance Saturday, giving them a total of 229.82 points. Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue were second with 222.39 points in the final competition of their career together, while American teammates Madison Chock and Evan Bates finished third.
Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Nikolaj Sorensen of Montreal were ninth, while Marjorie Lajoie of Boucherville, Que., and Zachary Lagha of St-Hubert, Que., finished 11th.
Olympic bronze medalist Shoma Uno concluded a dominant world championships by winning the gold medal Saturday, while Vincent Zhou of the U.S. catapulted from sixth after his short program to earn the bronze.
Uno finished with 312.48 points to easily outdistance Yuma Kagiyama, who finished second to his Japanese teammate in both the short program and free skate. Kagiyama had 297.60 points while Zhou finished with 277.38.
鈥淚 haven鈥檛 won too often so I鈥檓 very happy about that,鈥� Uno said. 鈥淚 was watching all the performances of the previous groups so I knew very well where I was. All my emotions went into a smile at the end of my program.鈥�
It was an emotional and redemptive performance Saturday for the 21-year-old Zhou, who helped the Americans win team silver at the Beijing Games 鈥� a medal that could be elevated to gold pending a Russian doping investigation.
Zhou was preparing for the men's competition when he tested positive for COVID-19, knocking him out of the rest of his Olympics. He was forced to spend nearly two weeks in quarantine before he was finally allowed out in time to perform in the closing exhibition gala, then was deemed a 鈥渃lose contact鈥� and barred from the closing ceremony.
鈥淚'm still very upset over the loss of that opportunity at the Olympics,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut I'm very grateful that I still had the chance to compete here at worlds. And again, I'm very proud of myself for putting out two strong performances.鈥�
His performance Saturday ended a rollercoaster of a season on a high.聽
Before all of Zhou's trouble in Beijing, the Brown University student soared to victories in the lower-level Cranberry Cup and Nebelhorn Trophy before finishing second in his Grand Prix assignment at the NHK Trophy. Then, Zhou topped Uno and his American teammate Nathan Chen, the Olympic champion, at Skate America.
鈥淚 don't want to sound like a broken record, but as I've said a lot of times, I was mentally in a very bad place,鈥� Zhou said. "I couldn't do anything. But I got myself on the plane, I got myself together, I took it one practice at a time and now I've put out two strong performances, and I'm so proud of myself.鈥�
Chen, the three-time world champion, was unable to defend his title this week. He was putting in the final practice before heading to France, when an injury popped up last week that forced him to withdraw.
That opened the door for Uno to finally stand on the top step of the podium.
Long overshadowed by Japanese star Yuzuru Hanyu, the 24-year-old Uno finished second at the 2017 and 2018 world championships and was fourth last year. But he was a level above everyone else in France, following a personal-best score in his short program with another personal-best for his 鈥淏olero鈥� program in the free skate.
Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., climbed six places after the short program to finish 12th with a total score of 245.36.聽
"Compared to my performance at the Olympics this was night and day," Sadovsky said. "I鈥檓 really proud of how I handled the pressure here. I know there鈥檒l be better moments to come."
Fellow Canadian Keegan Messing, was14th place with 235.03 points.
Vanessa James and Eric Radford won bronze in pairs for sa国际传媒's lone medal at the world championships.聽
-- With files from The Associated Press.聽
The Associated Press
