Moore-Towers and Moscovitch win silver at Skate America; Russians 1st and 3rd

DETROIT – Canada’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch set a personal best score en route to the silver medal in pairs on Sunday at Skate America, the first stop on the ISU Grand Prix figure skating circuit.

World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187.35. It was the same top-three order after Saturday’s short program.

“This is the kind of start we definitely wanted in an Olympic year,” said Moscovitch, from Toronto. “It’s a confirmation that we are doing the right thing with our programs. And we know there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

Moore-Towers and Moscovitch’s previous best overall score was 199.50 set in a fourth place finish at the world championships last season.

“It’s really been a combination of factors that’s helped us achieve these scores this early in the season,” said Moore-Towers from St. Catharines, Ont. “Our programs are a lot more consistent and we are a lot better at telling a story when we perform.”

Margaret Purdy of Strathroy, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., were eighth.