Virtue and Moir close in on world title with season's best

TESSA Virtue and Scott Moir closed in on adding the world ice dance title to their Olympic crown after a sumptuous original dance at the World Figure Skating Championships in Turin.

OLE!: Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir smash their season's best to close in on the World Championship title in Turin (Getty Images)

The Canadian couple took the lead in the Olympic competition with their original dance in Vancouver but went even better than a month ago, scoring a season's best 70.27 in Italy.

Olympic silver medallists Meryl Davis and Charlie White piled the pressure on the Canadians with a season's best 69.29 themselves but the Canadians responded in style.

Virtue and Moir have developed a new-found confidence after their phenomenal victory in Vancouver and the sense of arrogance with which they performed their Spanish flamenco-inspired original dance was fitting.

But the Canadians admitted they knew they had to react to Davis and White's performance.

"We always expect Meryl and Charlie to skate clean," said Virtue. "They're great skaters and great performers and always rise to the occasion.

"So we knew we had to deliver today with the original dance.

"It's harder now - there is more pressure on our shoulders and expectation from everyone. But we just focus on doing what we do at home and in training and the rest follows."

With Virtue and Moir on 114.40 ahead of the final free dance, Davis and White are now the only ones who can deny them gold as they moved on to 112.54.

But the Americans insisted there was a wealth of talent waiting in the wings in the top ten.

"There's a fantastic field in ice dance at the moment," said Davis.

"It's really flattering to be called the future of the sport but it's not something we take for granted.

"All the teams are improving quickly and pushing the boundaries and levels."

Home favourites Federica Faella and Massimo Scali currently lead the chase for the bronze medal after they scored 59.16 despite an error from Scali during a twizzle.

Marks for presentation eventually rescued the Italians' cause as they moved on to 100.01 overall.

France's Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat also made technical errors but scored 58.55 to stay in fourth on 96.30 while a season's best of 58.23 from Sinead and John Kerr saw the British pair move up to fifth overall on 95.79.