Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White lead Olympic ice dancing competition

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada embrace after finishing their routine in the ice dance short dance figure skating competition at the Iceberg Skating Palace during the 2014 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014, in Sochi, Russia. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the United States compete in the ice dance short dance Sunday at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi, Russia.

SOCHI, Russia — Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the Olympic short dance Sunday, to put them one performance away from a gold medal.

The reigning world champions earned 78.89 points and lead 2010 gold medalists Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada by 2.56. The two teams train together in the Detroit area.

Virtue and Moir rebounded from a shaky performance in the team event with a much stronger showing. But Davis and White, skating last, danced across the ice at a different speed from the rest of the field.

A Russian team was in third, but it wasn’t world bronze medalists Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev. Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov were 3.29 points behind Virtue and Moir.

The free dance is Monday.