by Claire Cloutier, special for Two for the Ice
The pairs short program at Skate Canada in Laval, Quebec, was quite a strong event, with many teams showing improvement from their early-season performances. It was a deep pairs field overall in Laval.
Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres of France, reigning World bronze medalists, won the short program with an intense, if less than perfect, performance of their new “Uninvited” short program, choreographed by Guillaume Cizeron. This program is well-designed to highlight the passionate connection and charisma that James & Cipres bring to their skating, and the judges clearly approved, awarding PCS marks in the high-8 range. James & Cipres had a 2.55-point PCS advantage over the pair with the next-highest components mark. Technically, they had a few small errors in the performance. They opened with a successful level 4 triple twist that earned 8.14 points, tops in the event. However, James’s landing on the side-by-side triple toe loops was not well controlled. She also had a slight stumble on a transition and landed forward on the throw triple flip. The judges did not mark these mistakes as harshly as they might have; nonetheless, their TES score suffered a bit. James & Cipres finished with 74.51.
“Our performance today was not the best,” Cipres admitted afterward. “But I’m just proud of the fight.” James & Cipres said that the rink in Laval is smaller than the rink they train on at home, which meant they needed to adjust some elements.
Asked if they felt more pressure as reigning World medalists, James said “This year is a totally different year. We’re proud to continue this season, because we weren’t sure if we were going to continue. But we still have the same heads on our shoulders. We’re grounded, and after setbacks at each competition, we’re trying to make ourselves better.”
James & Cipres described how Guillaume Cizeron came to choreograph their short program. It all started during the French tour this past summer, when they discussed with Cizeron what types of music they were considering for the coming season. Cizeron had some ideas. “He didn’t want us to have the same style–or, like, stay in the style, but not stay in the same genre [of music]–blues. It’s kind of repetitive,” recounted James. Cizeron offered to help with their programs for the coming year if they needed it. Then James & Cipres decided to take him up on it and have him actually choreograph their short program.
“Guillaume was really nervous,” said James, “because he’d never choreographed a program before.” But they got the heads-up from their coaches, John Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana, and from the French federation, and went ahead. “We just wanted to please him, and show off his good work. And also that we won’t fight [about it], because we’re actually friends. We tried not to take anything out of the program that he choreographed. So it was fun,” James said.
Cheng Peng & Yang Jin took second place in this event with their “Ophelia” SP. This program is a bit quirky and offbeat, and choreographically challenging, with many arm and hand movements timed to handclaps in the music. Peng & Jin pulled it off well, skating with nice precision and energy. The Chinese team has a charming and unique chemistry, sometimes like a brother/sister or friend/friend type of connection, rather than the more romantic/passionate relationship we often see portrayed in dance or pairs. This program, choreographed by Lori Nichol, takes that quality and puts it center stage (as did their “My Drag” SP from the 2016-17 season). It suits them well and is a nice change of pace from more traditional programs. The judges seemed to appreciate it as well, with individual PCS marks in the mid-7s to mid-8s. Technically, it was also a very strong performance. Peng & Jin hit side-by-side triple toe loops to start, then followed with a good level 3 triple twist (7.25 pts). Their throw triple loop was excellent, with great height. Peng & Jin were the only pair in the short program event to receive no negative GOE marks, with almost all GOE marks positive—the exception being one 0 score. Peng & Jin totaled 72.00 for second. A very successful outing.
“This is our second time at Skate Canada. Yesterday we missed some jumps in [practice],” said Jin. “But today, we feel it’s better. We love our program.”
Peng & Jin worked with choreographer Lori Nichol to create the program. “We feel it’s happy music,” said Jin. “Before, [in] our first year, we did “My Drag”, which was the same–happy music. This year, we need something more senior, more quality, for this program. So we worked with Lori, and listened to her.”
Jin, who speaks quite good English, says he has learned the language by watching films, as well as via a class sponsored by the Chinese federation.
Canadian pairs at the free skate draw following the short program. Photo by Claire Cloutier.
“We felt pretty good today,” Moore-Towers said afterwards. “Our main goal at this competition was to not take ourselves out of the game in the first part of the competition. We are generally a stronger long program team. And we wanted to be able to start strongly [here] as well. It’s our first time at Skate Canada since, I believe, 2015, and the energy was amazing. We had a lot of fun.”
Young Russian team Aleksandra Boikova & Dmitrii Kozlovskii put out a strong performance in their senior Grand Prix debut. Skating to an unusual jazz version of “Dark Eyes,” the Russians showed strong technical elements and good skating skills. Their level 3 triple twist was solid (7.25 pts), and their throw triple Salchow big. They did have a few small technical errors that held down their score a bit, including a swingy landing on side-by-side triple toes from Kozlovskii and off-sync side-by-side spins. However, it was a fine performance overall, and the Russians scored 64.57 for fourth.
This was also the Grand Prix debut for Australians Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya & Harley Windsor. Although the team has already competed at the Olympics and two senior Worlds, this was their first senior Grand Prix. The Australians had a quite decent performance of their “Never Tear Us Apart” SP. Windsor unfortunately doubled his side-by-side triple toe loop, which cost them 3 points in base value. However, the rest of their elements were mostly good. Artistically, the program needs more connection, both to the music and between the partners, but it was a solid effort overall. They scored 60.77 points for fifth.
Alexandrovskaya & Windsor talked afterwards about their recent coaching change to Richard Gauthier and Bruno Marcotte in Montreal. “It’s so different,” said Alexandrovskaya. “So different between the Russian coaches and the Canadian coaches. Because it’s a different system. Different technique.”
“Yes, it was a really big change. It took us a lot longer than we expected to adjust,” Windsor agreed. “Just their training style, their mentality going into the training here. But now we’re settled in a lot more, and we’re quite liking the change. So I think it’s better for us, long-term. We’re still slowly getting used to it. It’s only the first season with new coaches, so we’re still trying to figure out what works for us with them, and vice versa.”
Only a week after Skate America, Canadians Evelyn Walsh & Trennt Michaud showed significant improvement from their performances in Everett, Washington—they hit all their jumps and completed a level 3 triple twist. They appeared to enjoy performing for the home crowd in Laval, showing energy and good skating skills in their program to “Come Together.” Their PCS scores were mostly in the mid-6s. Overall, they scored a personal-best 59.59 for sixth.
Fellow Canadians Camille Ruest & Drew Wolfe also improved on their earlier showings this season. Although Ruest fell on the throw triple loop and put a hand down on the side-by-side triple toe loop, the rest of their elements were fairly clean. And their program to a soft, lyrical version of “Wild Horses” showed off their connection and line. They scored 57.53 for seventh.
Ruest & Wolfe said they really enjoy their short program this season. “We had picked this short program music at the beginning of last season,” shared Wolfe. “So it’s been sitting there, waiting for us. I love the Rolling Stones, and it’s cool to skate to a contemporary version of it.”
The team is happy about their progress on the triple twist. Wolfe said, “We’ve stripped it down, and rebuilt it back from the basics.” They feel the twist is one of the hardest pairs elements to perfect. “There’s a lot of moving parts, a lot of timing involved,” said Wolfe.
Unfortunately, it was a tough day for U.S. team Haven Denney & Brandon Frazier. Denney fell on both the side-by-side triple Salchow and throw triple loop, and their death spiral was only level 1. The Americans scored 55.31 for eighth place.
At a press conference after the event, the top pairs addressed the change in the scoring system this year to +5/-5 GOE.
“It’s been a little tricky and an adjustment for everybody,” said Moore-Towers. “Especially because we’ve found that the judges are quicker to go to the minus side than they are to go to the plus side. So we’re seeing discrepancies in the scores a little bit more. We’re not sure how to compare [scores] from last season to this season. You really can’t. So it’s new for everyone. And through the season, we’ll see where we can capitalize, and where we need to be a little strategic.”
“We can see [that] when there’s falls, there’s a lot of -4s, -5s,” commented James. “People are trying to be cleaner. We took out the quad throw, because it’s not worth the risk any more, it’s not worth the energy. The value has gone down, and with -5 plus a deduction [for a fall], that’s a lot of risk. I think people are going for less risk, cleaner programs. But I think it’s good for the sport because we’re starting to see really cool transitions, really good lifts. People were kind of copycatting and doing all the same things. Now we’re really seeing things out of the box. So I think it’s going to be a cool season. It’s just that we’re learning, and the judges are also learning. It’s new for everyone. But I kind of like it.”
“The quality of the elements has become more important, and also the program as a whole,” added Jin. “So that’s the main difference.”
Today, we’ll get another chance to see how the new scoring changes play out when the pairs return to the ice for their long programs at Skate Canada.