Figure Skating

Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison earned silver in their first Grand Prix event of the season, the Trophée Eric Bompard in Paris, France.

In the debut of their romantic free skate program to the theme from The Way We Were, Dubé, of St-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que., and Davison, of Huntsville, Ont., scored 116.43 points for a total of 180.97. It was good enough for silver behind Russians Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov.

"We skated quite well, just a couple of small errors on the throws but everything was really solid and we skated a very, very nice program," Davison said in a conference call, Saturday.

"The performance level was very high and we've had some good feedback already, so we're happy with the way things have gone."

Dubé and Davison said they have some work to do in the near future, with hopes to improve the consistency of their jumps, throws and twists.

"We made some mistakes so of course our score could be even higher, but (our) second mark is much better than what we were doing last year," Dubé said. "(We were) trying to get that second mark up and that's what we did here, even with some mistakes in the program. So I think we're... on the right track."

And after returning to their romantic roots from a more risky free program to Bizet's Carmen last season, Davison says he is extremely pleased with this year's programs.

"From the first note I noticed I was almost lost in the program. Not lost in a bad way, but lost in the emotion of the program and not thinking about my technical elements, which is exactly what we want," Davison said. "So, we're just really happy with both music choices and it's really encouraging for the rest of the year."

Mukhortova and Trankov earned gold on Saturday, receiving 126.05 points for their skate to the theme from Love Story with a total score of 192.93, while reigning world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany fell to third despite having led the field after the first day of competition.

Trankov admitted in a press conference after the competition that he and Mukhortova had been boosted by their recent performances.

"Our coach said 'just show what you can do' and we did," he said. "We've been skating very well for the last three weeks in St. Petersburg."

He told reporters that skating to Love Story, the theme that Canadians Jamie Salé and David Pelletier chose to earn gold at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, is meant to appeal to Canadians at the Vancouver Games.

"This Love Story music was a big dream of Maria's for the Olympics," said Trankov.

In a disastrous free program, Savchenko and Szolkowy scored just 101.44 points for their performance to You'll Never Walk Alone for a total of 174.42.

"We don't know what happened today, we made so many bad mistakes," Szolkowy said.

"One good thing was we showed our Olympic programme," he joked. 

In the men's competition, Japan's Nobunari Oda laid it all down in his free skate to a Charlie Chaplin medley to overtake Tomáš Verner of the Czech Republic, who had led going into the final day of the competition.

Verner's performance to The Godfather scored him 148.96, but it was not enough to stave off Oda, who earned 163.33.

Oda finished with a total of 242.53 while Verner earned silver with 229.96.

Oda did not attempt a quadruple jump, but cleanly landed eight triples including three in combination.

"I couldn't try for a quad, that's the only thing I didn't do good," said Oda. "I talked to Nikolai (Morozov, coach) and he said I didn't need to do one here. I think I will need to do one though. Otherwise I think I did good."

American Adam Rippon, who had surprised the crowd on Friday by landing a triple Lutz with both arms above his head in his short program, finished third (219.96).

After a bright opening, Rippon couldn't land the triple axel in a triple axel-double toe loop combination.

"I got a bit angry because I was running out of oxygen," he said.

Still, Rippon managed to earn his first senior Grand Prix medal.

"It wasn't my best, but it was strong, and to be able to medal in such a deep field with so many great and strong skaters is very rewarding," said the 19-year-old.

Vaughn Chipeur, the only Canadian competing in the men's event, finished last of 12 competitors with 155.43 points.

In the ladies' competition, World champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea continued her dominance over the field, taking gold with a commanding 210.03 points.

The score was a personal best for Kim, who scored 207.71 at the 2009 Worlds.

Kim, who trains out of Toronto, Ont., and is coached by Canadian Olympian Brian Orser, also set a personal best score of 133.95 for her free skate to Concerto in F by George Gershwin. Kim's previous personal best was 133.70, set at the 2007 Cup of Russia.

Japan's Mao Asada and Yukari Nakano finished second and third with 173.99 and 165.70 points, respectively.

Also Saturday, ice dancers Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue of Ilderton, Ont., took the gold, earning 197.71 points. French skaters Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat were second (181.64) while Great Britain's Sinead and John Kerr took bronze (177.11).

- With files from AFP