Virtue and Moir lead at worlds; Coomes and Buckland place 12th

By Sportsbeat staff

TESSA Virtue insisted she had never felt better ahead of the ISU World Figure Skating Championships - and so it proved she and ice dance partner Scott Moir dominated the short dance.

ON TOP: Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir lead the ice dance at the World Championships in Nice

The Olympic champions completed a full competition just once last season and that the worlds in Moscow where they surrendered their title to Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White.

Virtue has long suffered with lower leg problems and that could have been seen as a factor as to why they lost their 2010 world title last year - however they appear hell-bent on winning it back.

They produced the best score of the short dance in Nice, 72.31, to push their American rivals and reigning champions Davis and White, who were awarded 70.98, into second.

Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat are well positioned themselves after recording a score of 69.13 with another Canadian pair, Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, slightly off in fourth with 66.47.

Virtue and Moir will be hoping for more of the same when they return to the ice for the free dance on Thursday while Brits Penny Coomes and Nick Buckland are on course for their best-ever finish.

They may be well off Olympic champions Virtue and Moir but placing 12th with 54.35 after the short dance will give them confidence they can improve on last year's overall ranking of 16th.

© Sportsbeat 2012