Carreira and Ponomarenko to train under Scott Moir

[gsk8]

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (February 8, 2021) - Team USA ice dancers Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko announced today that they will begin training at the Ice Academy of Montréal (I.AM) under the supervision of Scott Moir, who is head coach and managing director of a second I.AM location in Southwestern Ontario. Moir won the 2018 Olympic gold medal in ice dance with partner Tessa Virtue.

Carreira and Ponomarenko, who previously trained in Novi, Michigan, under Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo, won the 2020 U.S. pewter medal, and have won two World Junior medals (silver, 2018; bronze, 2017) and two Grand Prix Series medals.

“We’re so happy and excited to start working with our new coaching team,” Carreira said. “We’ve worked with Scott before and we really enjoyed working with him. Scott has so much enthusiasm and energy and will help us exploit our full potential.”

“We are excited to work with Scott Moir and the entire I.AM family,” Ponomarenko added. “From our first conversation, we’ve felt very welcome. I.AM’s enthusiasm and love for the sport is outstanding and we can’t wait to start this next chapter in our journey!”

Carreira and Ponomarenko have been partners since 2014.

 

[ana]

I wish them the best of luck. I will always cheer for them as my favourite dance pair.
They take a big risk, Scott has any experience as a coach.

 

[Dawn825]

Exciting news, I hope Scott has lots of success and new ideas for them. But will training in Canada hurt her citizenship quest?

 

[Lamente Ariane]

I look forward to seeing Scott at the boards with Christina and Anthony!

 

[Seven Sisters]

This seems like an odd choice, unless the new rink is close enough to the US border to make it possible for Christina to continue to maintain residence in the US, which she presumably needs for her citizenship process. Can our Canadian readers enlighten us, as to whether that would be feasible logistically?

 

[Dreamer57]

A little nervous but so excited for them! (What choreo will they get?)

I've read earlier comments elsewhere that Christina's citizenship shouldn't be affected as long as she spends 6 months of the year residing in the U.S.
Good luck Christina and Anthony!

 

[Colonel Green]

This seems like an odd choice, unless the new rink is close enough to the US border to make it possible for Christina to continue to maintain residence in the US, which she presumably needs for her citizenship process. Can our Canadian readers enlighten us, as to whether that would be feasible logistically?

In normal times, you could commute from London to Port Huron in Michigan in about an hour and a half (optimally).

These obviously are not normal times, so unless she’s going to pretend to be a truck driver who can cross the border without quarantining they’ll presumably have to split time between the US and Canada in longer chunks to keep Christina on US soil at least half the year.

 

[Colonel Green]

A little nervous but so excited for them! (What choreo will they get?)

Scott has started collaborating on choreo himself, but beyond that the IAM staff in Montreal already does choreography for hire for some junior dance teams in Ontario so I expect they’ll also be involved here.

 

[NanaPat]

In normal times, you could commute from London to Port Huron in Michigan in about an hour and a half (optimally).

These obviously are not normal times, so unless she’s going to pretend to be a truck driver who can cross the border without quarantining they’ll presumably have to split time between the US and Canada in longer chunks to keep Christina on US soil at least half the year.

Since Cristina is a US permanent resident and Canadian citizen, she can cross freely; the only question (and it's a big one) is quarantine requirements. There are nurses who live in the Windsor area and work in Michigan who cross every day, without quarantine requirements. Cristina may be considered the same; she can live in the US and work (train) in Canada.

Anthony might have a more difficult time entering Canada. Like Brown and the US ice dancers training in Montreal, he might not want to cross frequently.

 

[Colonel Green]

Since Cristina is a US permanent resident and Canadian citizen, she can cross freely; the only question (and it's a big one) is quarantine requirements. There are nurses who live in the Windsor area and work in Michigan who cross every day, without quarantine requirements. Cristina may be considered the same; she can live in the US and work (train) in Canada.

As great as competitive figure skating is, I highly doubt that the government would exempt Christina from quarantine requirements on that basis. Skaters who merely go to the US to compete aren’t, and the potential for exposure in this case is obviously much higher given the frequency.

 

[skylark]

Seems very odd. Could they be thinking of Anthony trying for Canadian citizenship, since Christina has had such resistance (from somewhere) to getting US citizenship? I wouldn't want them to do that! but Olympics 2022 doesn't look likely or even possible for them, for a couple of good reasons, including 3 USA couples ahead of them.

Commuting is a possibility, but I think it would take its toll even under normal circumstances. This is very perplexing. I'd rather see them move to Florida with Marina; coupled with what they've gained from years with Igor, I think Marina could give them a new flair and some fluidity in style. But this sounds like a done deal with Scott. They must surely have worked out the logistics for where to live.

 

[el henry]

I agree with that this seems a puzzling move with Christina trying to obtain US citizenship. The announcement from I.AM. specified that Christina and Anthony represent the USA.

If I understand immigration law (and I could be very wrong) Christina needs to live in the US at least six months out of the year, and that is a long commute even in the best of times.

But I'm sure greater minds than mine must have thought about this, so best of luck to them

 

[TontoK]

I agree with that this seems a puzzling move with Christina trying to obtain US citizenship. The announcement from I.AM. specified that Christina and Anthony represent the USA.

If I understand immigration law (and I could be very wrong) Christina needs to live in the US at least six months out of the year, and that is a long commute even in the best of times.

But I'm sure greater minds than mine must have thought about this, so best of luck to them

I'm with you.

I have no idea how this would work, but I am certain that they just didn't stumble into this decision.

They know the answer, even if we don't.

Logistics aside, this seems like a smart move. I semi-expect Hubbel and Donohue to join them in Ontario.

 

[Seven Sisters]

I agree with that this seems a puzzling move with Christina trying to obtain US citizenship. The announcement from I.AM. specified that Christina and Anthony represent the USA.

If I understand immigration law (and I could be very wrong) Christina needs to live in the US at least six months out of the year, and that is a long commute even in the best of times.

But I'm sure greater minds than mine must have thought about this, so best of luck to them

I think it only makes sense if they are prepared to concede that they wouldn’t make the US Olympic team for 2022, and have decided to focus instead on 2026. And in their position, I wouldn’t want to concede that!

 

[Colonel Green]

I think it only makes sense if they are prepared to concede that they wouldn’t make the US Olympic team for 2022, and have decided to focus instead on 2026. And in their position, I wouldn’t want to concede that!

That decision has pretty much already been made, there's no real chance they could get citizenship in time for 2022 after the initial denial of the expedited track.

 

[Bonnie F]

I'm excited to see what Scott brings to my favorite American dance team! I have high hopes for them during the next Olympic quadrant.

 

[rollerblade]

I wonder if Christina would even receive her citizenship in time for 2026 Olympics.

She got her green card in Aug 2020, which means she's eligible to apply for naturalization in Aug 2025. (Technically she could apply up to 90-days earlier, which means... May 2025). Then she is at the mercy of USCIS processing time, which normally takes 8-12 months.

 

[Colonel Green]

I wonder if Christina would even receive her citizenship in time for 2026 Olympics.

She got her green card in Aug 2020, which means she's eligible to apply for naturalization in Aug 2025. (Technically she could apply up to 90-days earlier, which means... May 2025). Then she is at the mercy of USCIS processing time, which normally takes 8-12 months.

Can she reapply for the expedited route, since I’m sure Uncle Joe’s immigration authorities will take a different view of such things? Given processing times, it’d be too late for that to realistically happen before 2022, but if there’s another four years that’s plenty.

 

[MCsAngel2]

....does anyone think they might be moving to Canada permanently?? As in, to compete for Canada? They're already a no go for 2022 as far as I know because her citizenship isn't complete (and there is still a chance the winter Olympics could be cancelled due to the pandemic).

The US has 3 dance teams in front of them. In Canada I think they'd only be behind Piper and Paul. And Piper and Paul are both 29, Christina and Anthony are both 20. And moving now would hopefully have his citizenship done by 2026 (maybe? maybe I'm wrong).

 

[rollerblade]

No idea on expedited, unless she marries a US citizen, which would shorten the 5-year wait to 3-years. (this could also make USCIS more suspicious as well).

Tanith Belbin got her citizenship "early", didn't she? Her status was probably different though, as B/A were in position to make the Olympic podium. No other US dance team was even close to that, which place her quite favorably into the "exceptional ability" category.

It may come down to how deep US dance field is in 2025.