CREDIT: MELANIE ANDERSON
Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's Ice Dance Short Program

“It was an amazing feeling. We knew it would be exciting and it gave us goosebumps.”

That's what Tessa Virtue said after performing her Ice Dance Short Program with Scott Moir in front of a home crowd in London on March 14.

For Virtue and Moir, skating in front of thousands of fans at the world championships was a thrill.

“That was a really fun skate for Tessa and I — the feeling of skating in our hometown, there's nothing like it. I felt the energy right from the warmup right through the very end of the program,” Moir said.

Virtue and Moir's dance to “The Waltz Goes On” featured two level-four Polka sequences and a level-four rotational lift, but Virtue struggled on the twizzle. The two-time world champions and Olympic champions didn't quite get the marks they were looking for, receiving 73.87 points.

“Obviously we're not pleased with how we stand going into the free, marks-wise. We really went out there and delivered; it was a strong program. Technically, we left some marks on the board. I think in the twizzles we cover a lot of ice, and if you do the tiniest little mistake you have to fight for it,” Moir explained.

Moir added that the twizzle wasn't their only problem, “That's just the easiest thing to point to,” he said. “I mean, I lost a level in the side by side, and those things happen.”

The pair finished behind rival U.S. team Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who set a new personal best of 77.12 points. The reigning World silver medalists picked up a level four for the twizzles, the circular footwork, the lift and the second Polka sequence.

“We find ourselves in a little bit of a hole, but it's not over yet,” said Moir.

Virtue and Moir are looking forward to March 16, when they'll perform their “Carmen” program Free Dance.

“We're so excited about our ‘Carmen' program. It's hard to believe it's one of the last chances we get to perform. We're going to bring it and hopefully bring the house down,” said Virtue.

Moir said he's hoping to build off their Short Program performance, “We've gotta do what we did today again — we've gotta get out there and have that same connection that we had together. I thought, it was a very smooth skate, we had a lot of power, we're looking to put that into the Free Dance.”

Watch Virtue and Moir battle for the win on March 16 at 2:30 p.m.