These events could be interpreted as a demonstration of the effects of competition pressure. D/W again demonstrated that they are the most consistent competitors in putting out skates that could win any world championship. They seem to do it nearly every time. V/M, for whatever reasons that are known, always seem to have seasons where they are developing a program and peaking with a full-potential program later in the seasons for the "big" competitions.
The scores D/W received were huge and better than what V/M had previously received. They had little experience skating that perfect Carmen program in competition this season. It is still in development. I am sure that after that D/W skate, it caused nerves and anxiety in V/M. She could have had a "panic attack" or enough anxiety to cause her to breath incorrectly during the skating, causing hyperventiltion or shortness of breath.
It looks to me that she simply, as described above, choked.
Now let's discuss.