They came into the free dance in first place after their sultry rhythm dance to “Careless Whisper” by George Michael, earning 69.12 points. The French teams were hot on their heels, though, with Marie Dupayage and Thomas Nabais earning 68.72 points and Natacha Lagouge and Arnaud Caffa scoring slightly behind them with 68.21 points.

All three teams skated to a variation of a modern theme in the free dance, bringing abstract elegance, grace, and complexity to the 1980 Herb Brooks arena. The skaters held their final dance-off surrounded by appreciative fans from around the globe, including 2022 Olympic gold medalist Nathan Chen, who presided over the awards ceremonies as goodwill ambassador for these Games.

Despite strong performances, McNamara, and Spiridonov were narrowly bested by Dupayage and Nabais, who clinched gold for France by less than a point. French teammates Natacha Lagouge and Arnaud Caffa captured bronze.

“I think we skated really clean and were powerful. We felt connected. It was a step forward from our last competition. And of course, it felt nice to be competing at Lake Placid again this season,” said Spiridonov.

Fellow Team USA competitors Angela Ling and Caleb Wein and Raffaella Koncius and Alexey Shchepetov, finished sixth and seventh respectively.

From Lake Placid, all three US ice dance teams will be competing at the 2023 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships on January 23-29 in San Jose, California.

These figure skating events boasted National level figure skaters from nearly 20 countries, with a few Olympians, Grand Prix champions, and a World champion thrown in for good measure.

All of the above were present in the women’s event, which was anticipated to be a close competition between reigning World Champion and 2022 Olympic bronze medalist Kaori Sakamoto of Japan and reigning World University Games champion Mai Mihara. Both have qualified for the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships, and Mihara just came off a win at the 2022-2023 Grand Prix Final, where Sakamoto placed third.

Wren Warne-Jacobsen, Finley Hawk, and Ting Cui represented the US and their respective colleges. Of the three, Warne-Jacobsen placed best, landing in fifteenth place. Hawk placed twenty-third overall. Unfortunately, Ting Cui withdrew from the free skate.

Known for her soaring jumps and strong skating style, Sakamoto led the women’s field after a strong short program Saturday, Jan. 14, where she scored nearly three points higher than training mate and friend Mihara and five above Kim.

But Mihara successfully defended her title in a dramatic free skate Sunday, January 15th. One could feel the energy and electricity in the air as the final group, boasting the top six skaters, took the ice for their warmup. One after another put in captivating performances, including Poland’s Ekaterina Kurakova, whose poignant performance to music from the movie Up held the crowd spellbound (and earned her fifth place). They were all building up to Mihara and Sakamoto, who were the last two skaters. Mihara’s effortless free skate included several triple jumps and high-scoring spins. Sakamoto appeared nervous, and a few mistakes in her program to Sia’s Elastic Heart allowed Mihara to catch up. She scored approximately six points less than Mihara in the free skate, allowing Mihara to claim the gold medal while Sakamoto settled for silver.

“I was a little bit nervous, but I am really happy to be able to skate here at [my] second World University Games,” said Mihara.

2022 NHK Trophy Champion Yelim Kim of South Korea stayed consistent, placing third in both the short and free skate to clinch the bronze.

Mirroring the women’s podium, Japanese skaters claimed the top two spots in the men’s competition also.

Japan’s Sota Yamamoto earned the highest total score of the competition with 274.86 points, finishing easily in first place. The Grand Prix Final silver medalist was the favorite to win and landed several difficult jumps including two quadruple toe loops to capture gold. He scored over 30 points higher than his friend and teammate, Tatsuya Tsuboi, who opened his free skate with a difficult quad salchow-triple toe-loop combination. The bronze went to Italy’s Nikolay Mimola, whose strong skating skills in a beautifully executed program helped him secure 3rd place despite not attempting a quad.

Dinh Tran was the highest-scoring skater for Team USA in the men’s event, scoring 198.59 to place ninth overall. Teammates Goku Endo and Nathaniel Chapple placed twelfth and twenty-third, respectively. Like many of their US teammates, Tran and Endo will be off to the National Championships after Lake Placid.

All athletes seemed to bask in the special feeling that Lake Placid brings, but perhaps Lorraine McNamara said it best.

“Being back in Lake Placid has been an absolute joy, and being a part of the World University Games here has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We wouldn’t have wanted it any place else, especially since we hold this place very near and dear to our hearts. The atmosphere here is truly magical and we are already look forward to the next time we get to skate here.”