This weekend marks the first competitive visit to Russia for 2013 Skate Canada silver medalists Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje since 2011, when the couple twice traveled to Moscow to tackle two events — a delayed World Championships, closing out one season, and Rostelecom Cup, the final Grand Prix stop of 2011-12. Moscow proved rather kind to the pair, who had missed a chance at the 2010 World Championships for lack of spots and finished 17th in a previous 2008 appearance. At 2011 Worlds, however, the team made their biggest international statement to date, finishing fifth overall with a fourth-place ISU personal best free dance score of 95.25, a significant leap forward after season-long marks in the 80s for their Moulin Rouge medley.
Rostelecom Cup, the team’s third competition of the subsequent season — in a Grand Prix series in which top Worlds finishers had the option to compete three events — also marked a new personal best total of 161.18 that included another new free dance best of 96.73 on their popular and dramatic “Je Suis Malade.” The team would push beyond that over the remaining course of the season, with an eventual fourth-place 2012 Worlds finish, but the Moscow outing served as one more step in the march ahead that was Weaver & Poje’s 2011.
And while neither performance was personal record-setting, the short dances from both Worlds and Rostelecom Cup are well worth a revisit.