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Hmm I m not sure what some university has to do with skating or Megan or Vanessa or Eric but anyways I wonder whether there is enough time for Vanessa and Eric to gel & get the tech elements.
James/Radford announce partnership
- Thread starter Mista Ekko
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LOL, I think it is fair to say that Vanessa James is a global citizen! Her father is Bermudan, her mother is Canadian. Vanessa and her twin sister, Melyssa, grew up in Bermuda until age 10, when their parents moved with their girls to Virginia, in the U.S., for work-related reasons. It was in the U.S. where Vanessa and Melyssa learned to skate. Melyssa later took up ice dance. Vanessa was a passionate singles competitor.
To further her skating career, Vanessa made the decision to move to Great Britain, where she had no problems attaining citizenship due to her Dad's Bermudan roots. She became a British National champion in singles, she won a silver medal at British nationals, and she briefly competed internationally for Britain, winning a bronze medal at 2007 International Cup of Nice.
Coming to another career road block, Vanessa decided to pursue pairs. She found her first pairs partner in Britain's Hamish Gaman, but their pairing was brief with no competitive results. Vanessa then fatefully found a new partner in Yannick Bonheur of France. They competed from 2008 to early 2010, representing France. They received positive recognition at the 2010 Olympics, after which Bonheur retired. Vanessa searched for a new partner and later in 2010 paired with Morgan Cipres. They were skilled and compelling from the beginning, despite being rough around the edges, as Morgan was new to pairs. Of course, they steadily improved and carved out a successful career, but everything they earned was hard won.
Just when it seemed like J/C's career was stalling, Vanessa made another brainstorm decision. She called John Zimmerman and asked if he would coach her and Morgan. The rest is history. Everything came together with the right timing, coaching team, music, costumes, and choreography. Over three seasons, they broke through to the top with memorable and influential competitive programs.
J/C were always well-received when they competed in Canada, as it was known that Vanessa was born there. I believe her parents are based there now, and they also spend time in Bermuda. So, of course Canada can claim Vanessa, but she learned to skate in the U.S. She first became a champion in Great Britain, and France nurtured her career as a pairs competitor, while it was an American coach and an international collaborative team who guided her and Morgan to prominent championship success.
Meanwhile, I give Vanessa the major credit as the chief architect of her own career success. Her dedication, ambition, positive outlook, and never-say-die attitude, along with her winning smile, are huge assets. Plus, once again, it was in France where she was accepted and nurtured most of all. Her hard-won success representing France is what makes her more welcome to represent Canada with multiple World champion, Eric Radford.
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I'm very excited about this new pairing - they look amazing together. Have say so many posts seem heavy on conjecture, light on any concrete information. The un-partnering and partnering is their own business, the details of which may be fully revealed in the future.
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I don't know if this Winnipeg Free Press article was posted previously in this thread. It's a good read. You have to provide an email address in order to read the full article for free:
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Eric credits Meagan for all that he learned from her that has made him a better skater. He is excited about exploring new aspects of his abilities, and sad about how things ended overall with Meagan. Vanessa and Eric are enthused about the progress they are making. They look forward to being competitive, but are not driven by results as much as they are by new possibilities of what they can create together on the ice.
Apr 2021: Winnipeg-born skater and new pairs partner aiming for Olympic glory
Winnipeg-born figure skater Eric Radford is coming out of retirement to attempt something that’s never been done. Radford, 36, a two-time world champion and three-time Olympic medallist who reti...
www.winnipegfreepress.com
Eric credits Meagan for all that he learned from her that has made him a better skater. He is excited about exploring new aspects of his abilities, and sad about how things ended overall with Meagan. Vanessa and Eric are enthused about the progress they are making. They look forward to being competitive, but are not driven by results as much as they are by new possibilities of what they can create together on the ice.
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Looks good. As a European, it's not just an e-mail address to subscribe, it's not free at all. So, thanks for the summary as it's quite interesting!I don't know if this Winnipeg Free Press article was posted previously in this thread. It's a good read. You have to provide an email address in order to read the full article for free:
Apr 2021: Winnipeg-born skater and new pairs partner aiming for Olympic glory
Winnipeg-born figure skater Eric Radford is coming out of retirement to attempt something that’s never been done. Radford, 36, a two-time world champion and three-time Olympic medallist who reti...
Eric credits Meagan for all that he learned from her that has made him a better skater. He is excited about exploring new aspects of his abilities, and sad about how things ended overall with Meagan. Vanessa and Eric are enthused about the progress they are making. They look forward to being competitive, but are not driven by results as much as they are by new possibilities of what they can create together on the ice.
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Thanks for this summary. I like the part about not being driven by results as much as what they can create together. That is something I understood to be the case from their first interviews together, and as I commented very early in this thread, that's one of the things that puts me in their corner. Looking forward to their skating!I don't know if this Winnipeg Free Press article was posted previously in this thread. It's a good read. You have to provide an email address in order to read the full article for free:
Apr 2021: Winnipeg-born skater and new pairs partner aiming for Olympic glory
Winnipeg-born figure skater Eric Radford is coming out of retirement to attempt something that’s never been done. Radford, 36, a two-time world champion and three-time Olympic medallist who reti...
Eric credits Meagan for all that he learned from her that has made him a better skater. He is excited about exploring new aspects of his abilities, and sad about how things ended overall with Meagan. Vanessa and Eric are enthused about the progress they are making. They look forward to being competitive, but are not driven by results as much as they are by new possibilities of what they can create together on the ice.
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Here are revealing direct quotes from the article, by Eric:
"It really comes down to the belief that Vanessa and I have in our ability to mesh probably on the fastest level we've ever seen before.
I think that in the last month, we've been skating for about a month now, every day, we've seen incredible improvement… Trying to attain that goal of two skaters skating as one, it's happening so fast. Because it's happening so fast it's like a positive feedback loop where it makes us believe more and more that we can actually do this as more time goes by."
What Eric had to say in the article regarding Meagan:
"Overall, I'm just really sad things ended up the way they did between Meagan and I. I have nothing but respect for her. She turned me into a competitor and a skater. She was a big part of the skater I became. She taught me so much on so many different facets of skating, how to take care of my body, how to listen to my body, also, how to be a fierce competitor and I'm going to take all of my experience and everything I learned from Meagan into the future."
"It really comes down to the belief that Vanessa and I have in our ability to mesh probably on the fastest level we've ever seen before.
I think that in the last month, we've been skating for about a month now, every day, we've seen incredible improvement… Trying to attain that goal of two skaters skating as one, it's happening so fast. Because it's happening so fast it's like a positive feedback loop where it makes us believe more and more that we can actually do this as more time goes by."
What Eric had to say in the article regarding Meagan:
"Overall, I'm just really sad things ended up the way they did between Meagan and I. I have nothing but respect for her. She turned me into a competitor and a skater. She was a big part of the skater I became. She taught me so much on so many different facets of skating, how to take care of my body, how to listen to my body, also, how to be a fierce competitor and I'm going to take all of my experience and everything I learned from Meagan into the future."
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that's nice that Eric says this now. It is unfortunate he didn't have the courage to talk to her ahead of time.. This could have been done in a much more positive way, and they could have saved their off-ice partnership.
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Slightly off-topic but related news:
According to the Stars on Ice website, Meagan is partnering with Dylan (Moscovitch) for Stars on Ice 2021! This sounds like an exciting pairing for the tour, I imagine they'll have some great, crowd-pleasing tricks. I'm glad Meagan has this opportunity to continue skating shows, maybe if they enjoy skating together for SOI, they can book more tours together.
Here's their SOI profile: https://www.starsonice.ca/skaters/meagan-duhamel-dylan-moscovitch
According to the Stars on Ice website, Meagan is partnering with Dylan (Moscovitch) for Stars on Ice 2021! This sounds like an exciting pairing for the tour, I imagine they'll have some great, crowd-pleasing tricks. I'm glad Meagan has this opportunity to continue skating shows, maybe if they enjoy skating together for SOI, they can book more tours together.
Here's their SOI profile: https://www.starsonice.ca/skaters/meagan-duhamel-dylan-moscovitch
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This looks really good! How wonderful that this is happening. Not that I will ever be able to visit a SOI tour but I'm sure there will be some videos posted somewhere once it happens. Looking forward to them already.
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the skating gods have heard us. THIS makes me so happy. Happy also that Dylan is feeling healthy to come back (of course, touring is not the same as competing)... i think they will be exciting to watch with acrobatic daredevil tricks.
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Things ended up the way they did because of YOU, Eric! Because YOU told her LAST and not FIRST!
The lack of self awareness, my god.
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Oh come on Canada bring on the drama. Imagine if Meagan and Dylan started to compete. It would be one big mess. KMT ex partner who she thought wouldn't skate to Beijing, Eric Megan's ex, I am happy Megan is able to work though I assume there would only be a market in Canada - though if they did some interesting tricks Japan opens their home and hearts to all. Of course we are assuming Covid doesn't create havoc.
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I think they could be quite popular in a bunch of places... this pairs is going to be all about daredevil tricks.
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For sure, there's a difference between show touring and competition. But to be honest, I find this pairing to be more intriguing than any of the competitive Canadian pairs. I think they'd have been wonderful on competitive ice.
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I kind of love the thought that Duhamel and Radford separately, with their new partners, might well inspire more interest in Canadian pairs skating than they ever did when they were skating together! I can see Eric making a big competitive splash with Vanessa, Meagan wowing audiences on tour with Dylan, and all four—Meagan, Eric, Vanessa, and Dylan—having long careers in Battle of the Blades, skating shows, etc, for years to come.
Who knew?
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Woulda shoulda coulda. I think it's excellent that Eric is doing and saying what he can now.
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