TALLINN: US ice dancers Caroline Green and Michael Parsons won gold in the Four Continents Figure Skatings Championships on Friday, denying Japanese figure skating legend Daisuke Takahashi who gave his country a first silver medal in the discipline with partner Kana Muramoto.
The Americans, competing in their first ISU competition as a team, led all the way to claim gold with 200.59 points overall after the free dance final in Tallinn.
Takahashi, the first Japanese man to win an Olympic figure skating medal and a world championship in 2010, before switching to ice dancing two years ago with Muramoto, settled for silver with 181.91 points.
"I think missing the Olympic team put a little chip on our shoulder," said Parsons.
"To have two of our best skates here this season did a lot for our confidence."
The Japanese also missed out on the Olympics after finishing second at nationals.
"We've been second place all though this season, like the silver collectors," said 35-year-old Takahashi.
"We were trying to make the Olympic team but unfortunately it didn't happen.
"This is only my second season. After I turned to ice dancing Covid started so we had hardly any chance to compete outside Japan.
"Some things didn't go so well but I think overall it gave us some confidence and now we're preparing and hoping to better at worlds."
He added: "Ice dancing is not the major sport or popular in Japan yet. I think this good result will bring more attention to the sport."
On Friday, Green and Parsons scored best for their innovative dance to Violin Concerto No. 1 "Eso Concerto" and "Clouds, The Mind on the (Re)Wind" by Ezio Bosso, setting a new personal best with 119.97 points.
Muramoto and Takahashi's balletic performance to "La Bayedere" performed by the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra and Kevin Galie earned them 109.48 points.
Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko took bronze.
"Having (Takahashi) on the podium with us is a huge honour," said Ponomarenko.
"Watching the 2010 Games was the first time I really watched figure skating and fell in love with it."
Parsons added: "He (Takahashi) is a legend, what else is there to say."
Earlier South Korean champion Cha Jun-hwan hit a new personal best score in the men's short programme to take the lead going into Sunday's free skating final.
Performing to "Fate of the Clockmaker" and "Cloak and Dagger", both by Eternal Eclipse, the 20-year-old from Seoul nailed his jumps including a quadruple Salchow to score 98.96 points.
Coached by Canadian two-time Olympic medallist Brian Orser, Cha leads Japanese duo Kazuki Tomono (97.10) and Kao Miura (88.37).
Tomono, a bronze medallist in the Grand Prix Rostelecom Cup, set a new personal best for his performance to the music from the film "Cinema Paradiso".
Miura, 16, competing in his first ISU Championship, held his nerve in his performance to "Winter" from Verdi's "Four Seasons," improving his previous personal best by 12 points.
"I was really nervous. My legs were shaking like a newborn deer Bambi. Despite all the tension, I was able to put everything out there," said the Japanese Junior champion.
Most of the top skaters from Asia and North America have opted to skip the competition, which takes place just two weeks before the Beijing Olympics, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
China have not sent a team to Estonia.
On Saturday, Japan's Mai Mihara leads going into the women's free skating final with American's Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov on front in the pairs.