Davis, White give USA first Olympic ice dance gold

Two-time world champions Meryl Davis and Charlie White claimed a first Olympic figure skating ice dancing gold for the United States with new world record scores on Monday. Vancouver silver medallists Davis, 27, and White, 26, led all the way to take the title by 4.53 points on reigning Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada. Russia's Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov won bronze after the free dance final at the Iceberg Skating Palace. The Americans, who train with the Canadian dancers in Detroit, completed their medal set after their silver in Vancouver and team bronze in Sochi. They scored 116.63 points for their free skate to "Scheherazade" -- over two points higher than the previous record they achieved in the team event just over a week ago. After already setting a new record in the short dance on Sunday they scored an overall total record of 195.52, beating their previous best from the Grand Prix final by over four points. The Canadians scored 114.66 points for their skate to "Petit Adagio, Waltz in Concerto No. 2" for an overall total of 190.99. "That was a great skate, another great skate for us," said Moir. "There was a lot of pressure tonight. We felt it more this afternoon probably than yesterday. We just wanted to go out and have a great skate for us and have our moment and we felt like we did that." Ilinykh and Katasalapov had already won gold in the new team event in which the Canadians finished silver medallists and the Americans took bronze. They scored 110.44 for their performance to "Swan Lake" for 183.48 overall. Since it made its Olympic debut at the 1976 Innsbruck Games it is just the fourth time that a non-Russian or former Soviet team have won ice dancing. Ice dancing is a different discipline and less athletic than pairs skating. It resembles ballroom dancing -- the dancers have to stay close together and there is less lifting and more intricate, rhythmic footwork. Source: AFP