I don't think it was a "political boost" that won the Italians the silver, it was their technical score. As discussed in the Worlds FD thread, G/F beat G/P by almost exactly 2 points. G/F's tech base value across the competition was 3 points higher (they had a 1.88 higher BV in the RD alone) while G/P got higher GOE in both programs and higher PCS in FD. To me, that says the judges were willing to go with G/P, but the Italians higher levels were uncatchable.I don't think the Italians deserved to be on the podium in silver position over Piper/Paul. Ice dance and pairs teams who won Euros (both from Italy) clearly got a political boost at Worlds. Meanwhile, Piper/ Paul lost momentum due to Piper's surgery and recovery preventing them from competing at 4CCs.