Kitchener, Ontario -- Canadian champions Jessica Dubé and Bryce Davison just missed a spot at the Grand Prix Final in two weeks by finishing third in the pairs final at Skate Canada on Saturday afternoon.

The Canadians actually tied with Chinese team Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao in points for the final sixth spot, but the Chinese won a tiebreaker because they scored more total points in two Grand Prix events than Dubé and Davison. (The Zhangs did not compete at Skate Canada.)

Dube and Davison missed the final by only 6.78 points.

But while two-time world champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany inspired the Canadian crowd with a new routine to Out of Africa and won with 206.71 points, a world record. It outpointed the long-standing mark of 206.54 set by Chinese pair Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo in December of 2004.

The Germans put themselves back into the Olympic race after bombing at an earlier Grand Prix. While they were at home making up a new free skate, Shen and Zhao won two Grand Prix events with high scores. They will meet up at the Grand Prix Final in Tokyo in two weeks.

Three Chinese teams qualified for the final. There are also two Russian teams.

The Germans earned a standing ovation for their softly romantic theme. They weren't totally flawless. They got marks for only a single Axel instead of a planned double Axel.

After finishing only third at a Grand Prix in Paris, they ditched their long program routine to You'll Never Walk Alone, which they did to specially arranged music.

As unfortunate a vehicle as their old free skate was, their new one is a winner. And they must have been outstanding in somebody's eyes. One judge on the panel gave the Germans an unprecedented perfect 10 for performance. It's a world first. The same judge also gave them extremely rare marks of 9.75 out of 10 for choreography and interpretation.

There was one German judge on the panel: Elke Treitz. The high and low marks are thrown out in the final tally.

After a disappointing season last year, finishing only seventh at the world championships, Dube and Davison went back to their strengths: skating to a romantic tune like The Way We Were. However, they made just too many mistakes, and their final spin didn't receive a score.

Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia finished second with a Love Story routine and 185.71 points, well behind the Germans.

Dubé and Davison had 166.93 total for the bronze medal.

Former Canadian champions Anabelle Langlois of Grand-Mere, Que., and Cody Hay of Dawson Creek, B.C., finished fourth with 159.95, competing for the first time since the 2008 world championships in Sweden. Langlois missed all last season with an ankle fracture. They received higher technical marks than Dubé and Davison, but the current Canadian champions eclipsed them on the presentation marks.

Davison stumbled out of the first double Axel in a jump sequence and then singled the second double Axel. Dubé staggered out of a triple Salchow, a jump she often struggles with. Dubé put a hand down on a throw triple loop.

The third Canadian team, Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont. and Dylan Moscovitch, of Toronto, formed only over the summer, got a standing ovation for a top performance in their first Grand Prix. They finished sixth of eight teams with 146.91 points.

Moore-Towers is in only her second season as a pair skater. Last year she skated pairs at the junior level.

Of the perfect 10, Savchenko said: "It's a very nice feeling, but it is not us who judge. We just try to interpret the program as well as we can so we don't get ones.''

Coach Ingo Steuer said he was very proud. "We made history in the new system,'' he said. "I'm happy about this. Still I can see we can do more. We don't want only one. We want more 10s.''

Steuer said he could see that something was wrong with the old program. His team had no problems with it when they practiced. But they competed twice with it, and made many mistakes.

On the plane back from Paris, Steuer made the decision to change the free program, he said. "We had nothing to lose,'' he said.
At first, he said neither athlete wanted to skate to Out of Africa. Finally, Szolkowy agreed. Then Savchenko came on board.

Steuer said they've never lost in Canada. "It's always a great feeling to skate here,'' he said. "We want to keep going to Vancouver.''

Dubé and Davison remain as the first alternates for the pair event in Tokyo. Davison said he felt anger and surprise when they finished the program. "We weren't tired,'' he said. "It felt really good up until the pair spin and then everything imploded just a little bit.''

Mukhortova and Trankov had to stop during their program when Trankov's pant strap came loose. He said he tried to ignore it, but could not when the referee signaled them to stop. They carried on from the same spot when the problem was fixed.

Langlois and Hay are only at the beginning of showing off a long program that she said ‘has the opportunity to take your breath away.'' It's not there yet.

Coach Lee Barkell said the two can still improve their levels of difficulty. "There are still a lot of points left on the table. And obviulsy it can be more clean. From now to nationals, we'll work on speed, so the program does come off the way it's supposed to.

"For this time of year, it's good, but it's still not all out there, by any means.''