Ice Dancing Could Extend Kunka's Lead

7:45 PM PST - Figure Skating
Russian couples have dominated ice dancing ever since it was introduced at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria. This year, North Americans have the top two scores entering tonight's Free Dance - threatening to ruin Dave Spence's first overall Russian figure skating pick and keep the Paragons in the bottom of the standings. The top couple at the end of the Free Dance will win the 25 point gold for their fantasy team. As in all figure skating events, it's necessary to enter the medal event in the top five to have a real chance at a medal.

Amid complaints of biased juding, Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Weir (Ellis Kunka/Cornballers) lead the competition with 111.15 points. Ice dancing is really the only figure skating event left that depends mainly on the judges' opinion, and even the crowd reaction. So the Canadians will be hard to beat at home. A 25 point gold would be a major coup for the team that already leads Fantasy Winter Olympics.
Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White (Tim Lavoie/Fightin' Ovechkins) are second with 108.55 points. The Ovechkins are in third and really need the gold to make up some ground on the Cornballers. Another American couple, Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto, are in fourth and threaten to give Lavoie two medals should the Russians falter.

Speaking of the Russians, Dave Spence's first round pick of Russia Figure Skating has to be the worst ever opening pick of a Fantasy Olympics. That pick is a major reason why Paragons are in seventh. In their manager's defense, this is the only ever Fantasy Olympics. Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin were favored for gold going into the Games but are in third now with 106.6 points.

Italians Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali (undrafted), in fifth, are the only other couple with a realistic chance to medal. France (Adam Claus/Ice Lugers) has the sixth and seventh spots now but would need some major mistakes to move into the top three.