Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir compete in the senior ice dance short dance during the National Skating Championships in Ottawa on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir announced their return to the Canadian figure skating championships with a hip-swivelling, funky short program that had the crowd whistling from the opening few Prince lyrics.
By the time they struck their final pose, the TD Place Arena crowd was on its feet, showing how sorely the duo was missed.
Virtue and Moir, who have made a stunning return after a two-year hiatus, are the leaders after Friday's short dance at the Canadian figure skating championships. Virtue, dressing in a backless cat suit with a purple Prince-inspired neck ruffle, and Moir, dressed all in black, scored 84.36 points for their program to a medley by the late pop star.
Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., were second with 78.92, and take a narrow lead over Piper Gilles of Toronto and Paul Poirier of Unionville, Ont., into Saturday's free dance. Gilles bounced back after spending Thursday in bed with the flu. She and Poirier scored 78.15.
Virtue and Moir stepped away from competition after their second-place finish at the Sochi Olympics, and return this season in their quest to reclaim the Olympic crown they won in 2010 in Vancouver.
They vowed to keep pushing the ice dance envelope, and their short dance certainly does that. The pace from the opening notes is like a 100-metre sprint, before the tone turns sultry during the middle portion to Prince's 5 Women.
Moir said the pressure is surprisingly heavy in Ottawa, despite their nearly two decades of competing together.
"It's funny, after our first Olympics, I felt like we'd never feel pressure again, because we'd done everything. Boy was I ever wrong," he said. "I think at this stage of our career, especially some of the younger athletes would look at us and be 'They know what they're doing, they have it covered.' But I feel more pressure at this nationals than I can ever remember in any of the 15 prior ones.
Virtue added: "Mentally we're still approaching everything like we're the underdogs because we feel like we are. We have to chase, we have to feel that in training and practice, we can't get too comfortable."