SOCHI, December 8 (R-Sport) - Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States won their fourth-successive Grand Prix Finals ice dance title in Sochi on Saturday.
The Americans edged out the Olympic champion pair of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, forcing the Canadians into their third runner-up finish at the finals.
Davis and White skated a turbulent and passionate free dance to the music of Notre Dame de Paris, scoring a season-best of 183.39 points, 3.56 ahead of the Canadians, one of two pairs to dance to Shchedrin's Carmen Suite.
"It was one of those skates that we really had to fight through," Davis said. "It's times like that when you feel you've grown the most."
The presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the stands made the event especially memorable, she added. "Afterwards you think 'Putin was there.' It's cool."
White admitted the team's success had sparked dreams of Olympic glory at the same venue in 2014.
"You can't help but turn your mind to the Olympics. I mean, it's pretty much everywhere," he said.
"Our goal is to come back and win Olympic gold, but this is just a stepping stone."
Moir admitted the Canadian pair had felt the pressure at the finals.
"You get nervous all the time, especially when you come into such a concentrated event as Grand Prix Finals early in the season," he said.
"It's good that it's a fight, it's December. Hopefully the easier ones will come later in the year. Probably not, though."
France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabien Bourzat finished on the finals podium for the fourth time with third place.
Their 1960s-inspired free dance to a Rolling Stones medley earned the French duo a season-best score of 101.48 and a total score of 170.18.
"We skated pretty clean tonight," Bourzat said. "We feel pretty good about what we did tonight, it's a season best."
Further back, the sole Italians in the competition set a new season best free dance score of 99.35 as they moved up a place to fourth with a total of 165.65.
Russians rounded out the finalists.
Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev were fifth on 158.09 after failing to impress with a routine reminiscent of puppetry, while Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov finished a 156.36-point total after two disappointing dances.
