SAPPORO –

Canada's Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the title in ice dance with a record showing in the free dance at the NHK Trophy on Sunday at Makomanai Arena.

The duo was in first place after Saturday's short dance and retained the lead with a superb skate to "Pilgrims on a Long Journey." Their total score in the triumph was a world record of 195.84 points.

The victory qualified the Canadians for the Grand Prix Final next month in Marseille, France. Virtue and Moir have taken second place four times at the GP Final during their long careers but have never won it.

Virtue and Moir, the gold medalists at the Vancouver Olympics, came out of retirement this season after skipping the past two years. The highly successful duo, who are also two-time world champions, had retired after taking the silver medal at the Sochi Games.

France's Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron were second with 186.66, while Italy's Anna Capellini and Luca Lanotte took third at 180.42.

Papadakis and Cizeron also secured a spot in the GP Final with the second-place finish. They won the Trophee de France earlier this month.

"We are thrilled that we were able to compete the way we train at home," stated Moir. "At this point in the season we are not really focused on scores. This score will probably be obliterated in two weeks (at the GP Final) anyway."

Virtue made it clear that she and Moir are very pleased to be back on the ice.

"We missed competing. We missed the structure of competing. It feels great to be back," commented Virtue about their return. "We're happy we could win the NHK Trophy here in Sapporo."

The results mean that half of the six teams going to the GP Final next month will be American for the second straight year. Maia and Alex Shibutani, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue will comprise the U.S. contingent in France.

Russia's Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev, who did not compete here, are also set for the prestigious six-team event.

Japan's Emi Hirai and Marien de la Asuncion (120.35) finished ninth.

Next year's NHK Trophy will be held in Osaka.