by Claire Cloutier, special for Two for the Ice
The pairs event at Skate Canada ended on a high note Saturday, as Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres delivered a stunning free skate to seal their first Grand Prix victory. An exciting three-way battle for the other podium spots resulted in Cheng Peng & Yang Jin and Kirsten Moore-Towers & Michael Marinaro taking silver and bronze. Altogether, the deep field of pairs in Laval produced a strong free skate event, with most of the pairs earning new season’s best scores.
Top three pairs after the 2018 Skate Canada International long program. Photo by Claire Cloutier.
Throughout the free skate, James & Cipres performed their elements at a very high level, with great height on the twist and jumps, and good speed on the spin and lifts. After a good but somewhat unexceptional debut last month at Autumn Classic, their free skate was at a totally different level in Laval. James & Cipres received a full standing ovation, and the judges’ scores were equally appreciative. James & Cipres earned nearly 20 points in positive GOE for their elements—an amazing achievement—with PCS marks mostly in the mid-9s. Altogether, James & Cipres earned a new season’s best score of 147.30 to take first in the LP and overall. It was the first Grand Prix win for the team.
Afterward, James declared the program was their “best free skate ever.” She added: “We’ve been skating close to it, like this, in practice. So I think that’s why we are so confident. But to really see it like that … We just gave so much emotion. I don’t think we’ve ever skated it that well. It’s going to be hard to beat now,” she said with a laugh.
“I think we are really happy,” Cipres concurred. He said the high level of competition at this event made the victory particularly satisfying. “I have to say that I’m really proud. Because again, today, everyone left everything on the ice. I think it’s the best way, for all of us to fight like this.”
“We’re very proud of this gold medal here,” James said. “But even more so, we’re proud of the performance that we made—especially, like Morgan said, in an event full of great skaters and great performances. Skating last … obviously it wasn’t easy, hearing the crowd getting louder and louder each time. So it gives us confidence. And hopefully we’ll do the same performance—it’s going to be hard to beat—in France. But we’re going to focus on ourselves, and the little details, and trying to keep up the consistency.”
One problem that James & Cipres will seek to solve before the French Grand Prix is the final lift in their long program, which went overtime and received a deduction.
“It’s an ongoing problem, but we need to fix that,” James said. “Because it’s going to be a closer competition at Europeans and Worlds. He just has too much speed in that lift. It’s very difficult because we’re going the same way—our blades are going the same direction. Morgan doesn’t have a toe pick to stop [with], because he’s sliding, and my blades are facing the same way. So we have to just figure that out. I’m going to have to turn around, or stop, or something. We were hoping not to get the violation, but it’s been three competitions in a row, so we’re going to have to fix that.”
Still, it was a relatively minor issue in an otherwise outstanding free skate. With their scores at Skate Canada, James & Cipres now sit atop the season’s best list in SP, LP, and overall score. The French have said that their goal this season is to win Worlds. They just took a big step toward that goal in Laval.
Second after the short program, Peng & Jin of China held on for the silver medal but were disappointed with their free skate. They had problems on both side-by-side jumping passes to open the program. First, both skaters popped the triple Salchows into doubles. Then Peng put a hand down on her triple toe loop and singled the double toe loop in the jump combo. The rest of the program was actually very good. They had a strong level 4 triple twist, excellent throw jumps, and fast and smooth lifts. Artistically, I feel like they’re still easing into this Patricia Kaas “La Vie en Rose” LP. The mood of the music is intense and a bit dark, and Peng & Jin need a bit more expression and passion to effectively pull it off. Their PCS scores were very respectable, mostly in the mid-8s. But they did not have any score above the 8-range. Still, solid PCS scores and strong GOE for most of their technical elements kept them high enough to win silver, despite placing fourth in the LP.
Afterward, Jin commented, “I see the GOE [scores] are pretty good. We love both programs, the short program and the free program. We know the program [needs] more emotion, more connection.”
Hometown favorites Moore-Towers & Marinaro put out a solid performance of their Pink Floyd free skate to take third in the LP and overall. They had great support from the crowd, which seemed to lift their energy and performance level, and the program was fun to watch. They hit nice side-by-side triple toe loops and two good throw jumps in the program, with nice pop and snappy landings on their throws. Marinaro struggled on the landing of the last jump in their combo, resulting in a downgrade. However, they still managed to earn 3.64 points on the combo. The quality of their lifts was not as strong as Peng & Jin’s, but they showed more expression within their program. Moore-Towers, in particular, was so animated; even throwing a smile at the judges as she entered her difficult jump combo—the girl knows how to sell! As in the short program, the Canadian and Chinese teams were very, very close in the free skate. But Moore-Towers & Marinaro pulled ahead in this segment, due in large part to more successful side-by-side jumps and slightly higher PCS scores. The two teams will meet again soon at NHK Trophy.
“We’re very happy about our skate today,” Moore-Towers said afterwards. “I think it’s a personal victory to go out in a group such as this one, of very capable, impressive pairs teams, and to put out a performance we can be proud of. It’s always a little bit tough when the results are so, so close. But we respect all the teams here, and we admire them, and learn from them every day that we skate together, and we’re happy for them.”
Moore-Towers & Marinaro admitted to feeling some tension and nerves going into the long program. “We had a bit of pressure on our shoulders to be Canada’s leading pairs team, and we wanted to live up to that expectation,” said Moore-Towers. “I felt like we really needed to carry our weight, in order to end up on the podium. Which is so cool, at a Skate Canada competition. It’s a different caliber of competition than we’ve seen so far this year.”
The Canadians were disappointed to lose out on the silver medal by such a small margin (just 0.15 points). “We know we made some small mistakes,” said Moore-Towers.
“Missing the level in the death spiral in the final 10 seconds of the [long] program is a really big bummer,” said Marinaro. “So, definitely a learning experience.”
But the Canadians felt they accomplished their main goals at the event. “Our goals are mainly to improve on our performances each time,” Moore-Towers said. “We started with a rough competition at Autumn Classic, we got a little bit better in Finlandia, and a little bit better here.”
The team talked about the development of their Pink Floyd long program, and the challenge of choosing which Pink Floyd songs to use in the program.
“It was difficult. This was the biggest say that we’ve had in our music,” Moore-Towers explained. “Usually we let [choreographer] Julie [Marcotte] do her thing. She’s so good at what she does, that we trust her fully. But this year, she wasn’t sure about Pink Floyd, and we felt pretty strongly about it. We liked these three songs, and we also liked the track ‘Wish You Were Here.’ But we were unable to make it fit with this compilation. For a while, we still weren’t sure. We’d hear the opening notes of ‘Wish You Were Here,’ and thought, ‘Man, that’s good, and should we have chosen it.’ I think we made the right decision. But there are so many good tracks, it’s hard to go wrong.”
Aleksandra Boikova & Dmitrii Kozlovskii had a breakout performance in the long program to place second in the LP and fourth overall. The Russians looked very confident and consistent on their side-by-side jumps in practice in Laval, and that carried over to the free skate, which opened with two solid side-by-side jumping passes. Not only did they land their jumps, they also got nice positive GOE on them. The Russians earned 13.41 points total for their SBS jumps in the LP, almost as much as James/Cipres, and substantially more than any other team in the event.
Boikova and Kozlovsii during the pairs short program draw. Photo by Claire Cloutier.
“We are feeling great, because we did our job very well. And I think the judges saw it,” Boikova said with a laugh afterward.
“It was amazing,” agreed Kozlovskii. “Amazing performance today, amazing stadium.”
The team appreciated the loud ovation from the Canadian audience. “Very big reaction!” Boikova said with a giggle.
The team was very happy with their senior Grand Prix debut. Kozlovskii said of the transition from juniors to seniors, “It’s not hard. Because last season, we had a senior competition.” They skated in two Challenger Series senior events last season.
“But we work hard on our elements and our steps, because it’s a big difference between juniors and seniors in skating skills,” Boikova commented.
While many successful junior Russian pairs have split up the last few years and formed new partnerships, Boikova & Kozlovskii have stayed together and are now in their third season. Asked what makes their relationship work, Kozlovskii said: “Communicate. And help. If Alexandra needed my help, I give it to her. If I needed her help, she give it to me.”
Boikova & Kozlovskii also got a shout-out from champion Morgan Cipres in the press conference. “I just want to say that I’m proud of the Russian team. Honestly, they did amazing, and it’s good for the future,” said Cipres. “I’m happy to see a new generation coming up.”
Evelyn Walsh & Trennt Michaud continued their rebound from a disappointing debut at Skate America with a relatively strong performance in the free skate in Laval. The Canadians opened with a successful side-by-side triple toe/double toe jump combo, and also landed a good throw triple loop. Walsh underrotated and fell on the side-by-side triple Salchow, and they crashed on their triple twist catch. But the rest of their elements were completed without mishap. I feel like their new Romeo & Juliet free skate needs more time to develop artistically; the performance was fine, but lacked ease and flow. Their PCS marks were a mix of 6s and 7s. They totaled a season’s best 112.94 to finish sixth in the LP and overall.
After a disappointing short program, Americans Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier skated better in the long program. Denney popped their side-by-side triple Salchow to a single and doubled the planned triple toe loop in the combo. She did land both throw jumps, albeit with minor errors. Denney & Frazier’s other elements were quite strong and earned significant positive GOE, especially their final two lifts. Overall, they earned almost 10 points in GOE. Their new Irrepressibles free skate is one of the loveliest programs this team has ever had, and they skated with a lot of emotion and good speed. With cleaner technical elements, the program could be a major plus for them. Denney & Frazier’s PCS marks were mostly in the low-7s. They earned a season’s best 114.91 to pull up to fifth in the LP and sixth overall.
Australian team Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya & Harley Windsor landed some good elements in their tango free skate (level 4 triple twist, nice throw triple flip, death spiral). However, they had small mistakes on three jump elements, and their lifts and spin were a bit on the slow side. Ideally, I’d like to see the Australians carry more speed into and out of their elements, as they visibly slow down before some elements. Artistically, their tango program had a studied, step-by-step feel to it; it didn’t really flow or feel very connected to the music. Their PCS marks were mixed, with some scores up in the low-7s, but a handful dipping into the high-5s. Still, they improved on their long program at U.S. Classic, earning a season’s best 106.18 to place seventh in the LP and overall.
Afterwards, the Australians expressed satisfaction with their performance, particularly considering the changes they experienced during the off-season in switching coaches to Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte.
“I think it’s better than our previous competitions. We’re slowly moving forward, and we’re starting to understand now what it’s like to be in senior events,” Windsor said. “But overall, for our first senior Grand Prix, I think it was okay. There’s still a lot of work to do, obviously. I can’t say I’m disappointed with it, but I’m not satisfied with it, either.”
“We had [a] long break after the World Championships,” Alexandrovskaya said.
Windsor concurred: “We started off a lot behind where we should be, in physical form—just because we had such a long break after Worlds, and the whole relocation of coaches and training. I think we’re on the right track. But we’re still a little bit behind of where we want to be.”
Alexandrovskaya & Windsor discussed the factors that led to their decision to change coaches.
“We reached a certain point in juniors. And we wanted to take the next step and really try and move up in seniors and start to become more of a proper senior pair, rather than just juniors who are kind of in the mix. We don’t want to just be participating in competitions, we actually want to be competitive skaters. So we thought that the move here would help us with that,” Windsor explained. “And it’s slowly happening, but it takes time.”
There were some issues with their previous coaching arrangement. “We had a lot of complications after Worlds and Olympics. In Russia, there were a lot of complications with coaching, with ice, with going there with visas, a little bit with the Russian federation,” Windsor explained.
“It was just a whole lot of things that were playing a factor. And it was just a big mess, for a while,” he admitted. “We weren’t sure what we were going to do—if we were going to continue to skate, if we were going to move somewhere. So that’s why we took such a long break, because we didn’t know what we were going to do.”
The team decided to explore other coaching options. “I knew Bruno through competitions previously, and had spoken to him,” said Windsor. “And knew they had a really good track record, obviously, with Meagan [Duhamel] and Eric [Radford]. And I got in contact with Bruno and Richard, and asked if we could come for a tryout sort of thing and see how the whole thing would work. So far, we’re liking the change.”
Alexandrovskaya & Windsor discussed the differences between their previous Russian training style and the Canadian approach. “I think the biggest change is the mindset that everybody has,” Windsor said. “Here, we work a lot more on not just elements, but actual presenting and skating.
“Before, when we were in Russia, it was more just elements, elements, elements. We never really had time to work on the in-between stuff that the top senior pairs do,” Windsor went on. “So that’s why our technique is still a little bit hit-and-miss at the moment. But it’s because we’ve been working so much on trying to commit [to] the program better, and we’ve done a lot of changes to our short and long program. It just takes time to blend everything together. And hopefully by next competition, we’ll improve more—be a bit fitter and a bit more confident with our program,” he concluded.
After a nice short program, Camille Ruest & Drew Wolfe of Canada struggled a bit in the long program. They hit a nice side-by-side triple toe/double toe combo, and lifts were fairly good, too. However, their triple twist was messy, and the other jump elements had issues. They were lyrical and elegant as usual in their long program, and scored into the 7s in PCS. Their total of 104.63 was a season’s best.
Ruest & Wolfe spoke about how much they enjoy their new long program to “Turning Page” by Sleeping at Last. “For the long program, we took a full piece of music. We didn’t make any cuts. So it’s very interesting to put our art into another [piece of] art, untouched,” said Ruest.
“Exactly. To have two pieces of art in parallel,” added Wolfe.
“And it’s a beautiful piece of music. From my perspective, it’s the prettiest song I’ve ever skated to,” Ruest said. “So it’s a good program.”
“Music always makes a big difference for skating,” Wolfe said. “We listen to it every day, we’re practicing to it every day, so having appreciation for what people do with instruments and vocals … We can add to it by what we do in our athleticism and our creativity.”
After the event, the top pairs teams in Laval discussed the change this season in the length of pairs free skates, which have been reduced from 4:30 to 4:00 minutes in duration.
“At first, everybody was happy to skate 30 seconds less, obviously,” Morgan Cipres said with a laugh. “But it’s not that easy. Because there is only one element out, which is the [side-by-side] spin. And I feel like, for myself, it was kind of a time to breathe during the spin.” But he noted the positive aspects of the change: “I think it’s a good idea because it makes everything more interesting and not so repetitive.”
“I think it’s better for us [pairs] than for the boys [men],” Vanessa James commented. “The boys only have one jump out. And most of the time, an Axel or quad at the beginning of the program only takes 10 seconds. But it’s 30 seconds off [total in program length]. For the boys, I really feel bad.”
“We feel it’s easier for us [than for the men],” Yang Jin agreed.
Kirsten Moore-Towers commented, “Our choreographer, Julie Marcotte, has been doing pairs programs at the same length [for a while]. So, the first year of having 30 seconds out, and having one spin [out], we had … not a difficult time, but we had to take a second to really see how we plan our elements and where we put our breathing spots. Because last year, there was such a distinct middle area, where we could breathe and prepare for the second half of the program. And this year, it just condenses it a little bit. So it’s fine. We don’t dislike it or like it, I don’t think. It’s just that it took some adjusting.”
It will be interesting to see how the pairs continue to adjust to the new free skate length over the course of the season. Meanwhile, that’s a wrap for the pairs competition from Skate Canada International!