Davis and White win US ice dance crown

OMAHA, Nebraska (AFP) –

Meryl Davis and Charlie White, pictured after winning the Dance competition during the 2013 Prudential US Figure Skating Championships at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 26, 2013.

Former world champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White won their fifth straight US ice dance title with a sparkling performance of their “Notre Dame de Paris” free dance.

“It’s very special for us. I think in achieving this we’ve gotten ourselves into some pretty prestigious company, so we’re pretty pleased,” Davis said on Saturday after they became the fifth couple to win five straight national ice dance titles.

Davis and White scored 197.44 points after a free dance that earned 118.42.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, who skated an elegant free dance to music from “Doctor Zhivago”, were a distant second with a total of 175.91 points and the brother-sister team of Maia and Alex Shibutani were third with 174.21 points.

White and Davis said they hope to hone their free dance even more before the world championships in London, Ontario, in March.

They will try to regain the world title from Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who won last year in Nice.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, pictured after competing in the Free Dance, during the 2013 Prudential US Figure Skating Championships at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 26, 2013. Chock and Bates, who skated an elegant free dance to music from “Doctor Zhivago”, finished a distant second with a total of 175.91 points.

Ashley Wagner fell twice in her free skate but still emerged with a second straight ladies’ title, becoming the first woman since Michelle Kwan in 2004-05 to win back-to-back national championships.

Wagner had led after a solid short programme. Despite finishing second in the free skate to sensational 17-year-old Gracie Gold Wagner, she held on to win with a total of 188.84 points.

Gold, who was a disappointing ninth in the short programme, bounced back with a free skate that earned 132.49 points to claim silver with a total of 186.57.

Agnes Zawadzki, second after the short programme, was a disappointing seventh in the free skate and took third overall with 179.63 points.

Earlier Saturday, Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir survived a flawed free skate to win the pairs title.

Shnapir fluffed the entry to their side-by-side flying camel spins and stopped, waiting while Castelli finished the move.

“I didn’t realize how long that spin was,” Shnapir said. “Watching from the side, I was like, how long is this going to go on?”

But their hefty lead after Thursday’s short programme carried them through to victory with a total of 180.61 points. Alexa Scimeca and Christopher Knierim were second on 172.75, and Felicia Zhang and Nathan Bartholomay were third on 172.02.