Lefrancois and Blanchard Return After Missing Olympic Season

Sabrina Lefrancois and Jerome Blanchard are the youngest French pairs team competing internationally. The couple made a big splash in their first season together in 2000, finishing fifth at the 2000 European Championships and third at the Karl Schaefer Memorial in Vienna as well as second in France. But then Lefrancois was felled by injury. A nerve running down her back to her leg began spasming, occasionally causing a loss of feeling in her leg. “I thought I would never skate again,” she said, “but the injury worked itself out by itself. I had to have a lot of rest and a lot of massage and could not skate for a year.”

“I told her to trust her lucky star,” coach Annick Gailhaguet said,” and she would be able to go to the next Olympics.” Since Lefrancois finally returned to the ice last July, the skaters have been working hard to return to their previous form. “They are really hard…

American Dancer Represents Azerbaijan

Kristin Fraser, an American ice dancer from Palo Alto, California, is having a very successful career representing Azerbaijan with partner, Igor Lukanin. The couple finished 14th at the 2002 European Championships, 15th at Worlds and 17th at the Olympics. So far this season, they have finished fourth at the Nebelhorn Trophy, sixth at Skate America and seventh at Skate Canada.

Fraser began skating when she was seven. “My baton teacher at the park and recreation center quit and I had to pick a new sport,” she stated. “I skated both pairs and singles when I was young, but I became too tall for pairs and couldn’t jump well enough to continue in singles.” She competed in U. S. Nationals for five years, four years with Peter Kongkasem and one year with Jonathan Nichols. “Peter and my best placing was in 1994, second in Intermediate,” she noted. “Jon and I were eighth in senior in 2000, but stopped skating together because…

Bellemare Hopes to Stay Perched on Canadian Podium

For years, Canada’s Annie Bellemare tried to get by on her natural talents, with inconsistent results. But once she started to work with Stephan Yvars, her attitude changed and her results improved with four medals in four years at Canadians. “Stephan knows what it takes to compete,” Bellemare said. “I didn’t train well so I didn’t skate well. He told me he wouldn’t take me if I wouldn’t train. It was very hard at first. I had poor technique. I’d land some jumps and fall on some, but I had no idea why. Stephan changed my technique for triple jumps. Now if I miss, I know why.”

Yvars elaborated: “I made it clear that Annie had to do more and more in practice. It’s hard to change attitudes, but it pays off. We made a plan to improve her technique so she could go and look good when she competed and she did. We didn’t expect a specific rank. We…

Polish Pair to Continue Through 2004

Poland’s dominant pairs team, Dorota Zagorska and Mariusz Siudek, plan to continue to compete internationally after this season, with an initial goal of two more years. “I like the competitions,” Siudek stated, “so why not compete for a few more years.” With professional skating opportunities diminishing and a limited number of skaters to coach in Poland, the couple’s decision to continue to compete on the lucrative Grand Prix circuit is not a surprise.

Zagorska and Siudek were the first Polish pair to win a medal at the World Championships when they took the bronze in Helsinki in 1999. They have finished in the top six at Worlds for the past five years, won two…

Australia’s Manzano Returns with a Purpose

One of the biggest surprises at the 2002 World Figure Skating Championships was the re-emergence of Australian ladies champion Miriam Manzano as a serious contender. Although her draws were awful, Manzano finished 16th, moving up after each skate. That was the highest finish for an Australian since Joanne Carter finished 12th in 1997, substantially better than Stephanie Zhang’s 37th in 2001. “It was definitely the most addictive and inspiring event for me ever,” Manzano said. “It was a friendly championship in terms of skaters interaction with each other which took away some of the pressure and tension that competition often has.”

What made the accomplishment more astonishing was the fact that the 27-year-old Manzano had retired completely from skating for two years…

2002 NHK Trophy: Highlights

The Grand Prix series concluded in Japan with the NHK Trophy, held in Kyoto from November 28 to December 1. The sixth and final event of the Grand Prix series, NHK was the last opportunity for skaters to earn points toward qualifying for the Grand Prix Final, which will be held in St. Petersburg in March 2003.

Japan’s rising star Yoshie Onda won the ladies event for her second victory on the Grand Prix. Though she stepped out of her opening triple Axel, Onda completed seven clean triple jumps – the most of any lady on the Grand Prix circuit this season — in her free skate to “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra” and “Serenade.”

Onda upset World Champion Irina Slutskaya, whose sluggish start to the season continued with a fall on the triple flip in the short program. Though she rebounded somewhat in the free skate, Slutskaya managed just four clean triple jumps.

Slutskaya’s placement over third-place finisher, Shizuka Arakawa of…

Aureli and Vaturi Give Italy a Strong Junior Team

With Alessia Aureli and Andrea Vaturi, Italy has a strong future in ice dancing. The couple has been very successful on the Junior Grand Prix circuit, finishing second in Montreal and first in Milan. Last season, they finished third in the Junior Grand Prix in Milan, their first podium finish, and sixth in Gdansk, Poland. They were tenth at Junior Worlds in Norway last season. “We’ll compete as juniors at least for this season,” he said, “but next season, we will be seniors. Our situation is very good. There is a high level of skating in Italy, but very few skaters, so a senior career can be very good for the second or third couple. We hope to be able to go to the Olympics in Turino in four…

Grushina and Goncharov Win Three Grand Prix Golds

For Ukrainian ice dancers Elena Grushina and Ruslan Goncharov, the 2002-2003 season is already their best ever. They won Skate America, Skate Canada and Trophee Lalique, the most dominant performance of this year’s Grand Prix season, to easily qualify for the final in Moscow. Before this year, the dancers had competed in every Grand Prix event at least once since 1995, but had never reached the final. Their best previous showings were a silver at Skate Canada in 1999 and a bronze at the Cup of Russia last season. Now they have the difficult task of preparing for their first final, since two free dances are required. Goncharov said, “finding a nice piece of music for the free dance presents every year a major challenge. To have that task doubled is very hard on the skaters.”

The dancers, who married in 1995, have been skating together since 1990, finishing in the top ten at both the European Championships and the…