Virtue keeping dress top secret By RYAN PYETTE, QMI Agency

VANCOUVER — The Canadian ski cross team has a top-secret training camp.

Ice dancer Tessa Virtue has a top-secret dress.

The Canadian medal favourite with partner Scott Moir hasn’t come to a final decision on what she’ll wear for the pivotal free dance on Pacific Coliseum ice Monday, Feb. 22.

She ditched the skin-coloured dress she skated in at the nationals in London last month. The white, Niagara-on-the-Lake design she took for a spin in practice Tuesday at the Trout Lake facility is elegant and graceful, but she also has a mysterious dress ready for the big medal day.

“This (white) one, I love the way it feels when I skate,” she said. “I have another design that I absolutely love but I’m not sure yet. It’s not what Marina (coach Marina Zoueva) visualized when she did this (Mahler) program. A lot of people have given their input but I guess the final decision comes down to what I think.

“So I could have something. Stay tuned.”

And the cost of a frock that might lead to an Olympic gold medal? Try $1,500. And she’s gone through five already this year.

“My poor parents,” she said.

ryan.pyette@sunmedia.ca