French ice dancers lead as worlds open
French ice dancers Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron took a comfortable lead in the short dance opener at the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday.
The reigning world champions recorded a personal best score of 76.29 points and took a big step towards defending their title with a sophisticated routine featuring waltz and march rhythms.
Simply costumed in outfits Cizeron designed -- she in an unadorned red dress and he all in black -- the couple stood apart from the glitz and glitter of their competitors.
Siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani of the United States performed a charming waltz set to Coppelia and also posted their best-ever short dance score of 74.70, bringing the partisan crowd to its feet.
Ranked fifth at the worlds last year, the Shibutanis have gathered momentum at every competition this season.
Their compatriots, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, last year's world silver medalists, were third with 72.46.
In the weeks leading up to the worlds, Papadakis said they focused on the short dance, tweaking the details, interpretation and technique because it has always been the weaker of their two programs.
Papadakis sustained a concussion last August that forced the couple out of the fall Grand Prix events. Until these championships, they had not faced the North American couples in competition.
Two Canadian couples -- Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje and Piper Gillies and Paul Poirier -- skated into fourth (71.83) and fifth (70.70) positions.
For Weaver and Poje, twice world medalists, it was not the start they sought to win the title, but a medal is still well within their reach.
The final free dance round is Thursday.