LONDON, Ontario (Reuters) - Americans Meryl Davis and Charlie White capped a perfect season by reclaiming the ice dance title from Canadians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir at the figure skating world championships on Saturday.

First place finishers Meryl Davis and Charlie White of the U.S. hold their medals after the ice dance free dance at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in London, Ontario, March 16, 2013. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

It marked the fourth consecutive year the two couples have swapped the gold medal, Virtue and Moir winning the title in 2010 and 2012 and White and Davis taking home the prize in 2011 and again on Saturday.

While the crown will change hands, it will not go far with the good friends and training partners sharing a coach and practise rink in Detroit.

After an uneven short program that left them in second place, Virtue and Moir stepped onto the home ice needing to produce something magical from their innovative free dance that judges had been slow to embrace.

Their sultry routine to the "Carmen Suite" easily won over the partisan Canadian crowd and a season best score from the judges but their overall mark of 185.04 was not enough to put the Olympic champions back on top the podium.

Davis and White, who have not turned a blade wrong the entire season, delivered another polished performance, earning a world record mark of 189.56 for their work.

Russia's Elaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev took the bronze.

(Editing by Gene Cherry)

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