2020-21 Retirements, Splits & Partner Changes

[noskates]

I think this is a case of he said/she said although I do see Eric's side of it. Meagan is married, has a family, is coaching, has a very successful husband and is part owner apparently of a skating school. Eric says skating shows is his only source of income. A person has to support themselves. Even before this I would have been very surprised if Meagan left family and current responsibilities to skate in ice shows. I don't wish either of them any ill will and I hope the new pairs team works out.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

Slightly off topic but ... I'm sorry but where do these "Meaghan doing a family thing" beliefs come from? Replying to a q&a in insta stories along the lines "yeah I want to have another kid or adopt one" doesn't equal to "I'm never ever gonna do shows. Who needs that income anyway. I'm gonna habe a kid right now"
She's been doing shows while pregnant. She returned to the ice a few months after giving birth to relearn jumps because in 2020 she was suppossed to skate with Eric in ice shows in Japan.
After ice rinks opened again, she immediately began training again.
She was coaching, is teaching a ton of seminars, commentates... she hardly qualifies as a housewife and stay at home mom (yeah under these circumstances you do some of these jobs at home but that's not the point).

Simple - I haven't heard anything about what Meagan has been doing since she retired from competition. And since we have been regularly seeing Bruno at competitions with skaters he coaches, I just assumed that meant that Meagan was the one busy looking after the baby.

When I went into the dedicated thread about Vanessa and Eric last night (which I hadn't seen yet when I replied in this thread), I read that Meagan had won a TV series recently! I didn't even know she had been on one!

It just shows how, once they stop competing, you lose track of skaters that you don't actively look up.

---

@theblade - Although I haven't quoted it for the sake of saving space, I found your post VERY interesting. So, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

Edit: turns out there was a recent conversation. Eric has given context to Meaghan's online comments:

https://twitter.com/CBCOlympics/status/1385004528592986112

And thank you for sharing Eric's response. After reading it, everything totally makes sense. Funnily enough, one of my first thoughts when I read that he and Vanessa were getting together was "Wow! I'm amazed we haven't heard anything about a big fight with the FFSG over Vanessa's release". After all, they fought so hard to prevent Tiffany Zahorski leaving. And Bruno Massot. And neither of them had significant Senior international results for France. Vanessa, on the other hand, had been winning everything going in her most recent season competing for France!

By the way, am I picking things up right? Is Bruno Marcotte not working with Richard Gauthier any more? If that is the case, there's another thing I hadn't heard about!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[snowflake]

What great news to hear heading towards the summer break!

Good to see two great skaters back in action.

Lol, love your enthusiasm.

Come backs are always exciting for me. All the best to Eric and Vanessa!

 

[Minz]

Lol, love your enthusiasm.

That wasn’t enthusiasm, just stating, but thanks.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

By the way, am I picking things up right? Is Bruno Marcotte not working with Richard Gauthier any more?

IIRC Bruno stopped working with him a couple of years ago. Also, a few months ago Gauthier was suspended by Skate Canada. I don't know if the two things are related though.

 

[snowflake]

That wasn’t enthusiasm, just stating, but thanks.

okay, included your statement just to explain what CaroLiza_fan was happy about

I'll erase your post as it's confusing

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

That wasn’t enthusiasm, just stating, but thanks.

I think that bit was in reply to the quote of my post.

While I'm here, thank you for posting about the new partnership in this thread. Because, whereas the other thread will eventually work it's way down the forum once everybody gets bored with arguing, this thread will stay at the top for handy reference.

CaroLiza_fan

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

IIRC Bruno stopped working with him a couple of years ago. Also, a few months ago Gauthier was suspended by Skate Canada. I don't know if the two things are related though.

Oh. I really am out of the loop!

Wow. It really doesn't seem like it was a couple of years ago that we last saw them sitting together. But, with the way the past year has been, I wouldn't be surprised if we have all lost any understanding we had of the concept of time by now!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[NanaPat]

IIRC Bruno stopped working with him a couple of years ago. Also, a few months ago Gauthier was suspended by Skate Canada. I don't know if the two things are related though.

They stopped working together when Bruno moved to Oakville in spring of 2019. I believe for some time before that they were working together at one rink but Bruno was also coaching (different skaters) at a different rink.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

What is your point?

No point to make by simply asking what's up with Vadym as well on the new partner front. It's sad, and too bad that neither have firmed up a new partnership. Mostly sad they couldn't overcome their differences in order to remain together as one of the more promising young ice dance teams who were due to advance to seniors.

 

[Joe Mendoza]

I listened to Meagan Duhamel's side of the story in TSL. She seemed still hurt, but I wish she and Eric will be okay.

 

[ladyjane]

I applaud her. She's still hurt, but refuses to go with the 'sexist' thing about Eric some of us have put forward. She acknowledges she doesn't own anyone - and also that that wasn't her point - but is very clear in what exactly hurt her. Actually, this interview makes me still very excited about this new team, and I remain feeling sorry for her (not that she acted as a victim, she clarified why she acted as she did on social media). End of.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Eric himself is probably more tactless than sexist... I think it's valid to criticise the chauvinistic implications of his statement (putting the blame solely on Meagan's purported family plans to misdirect attention from the real thing she was upset about, i.e. not being upfront with her) without using it to make generalisations about the author's character. Publicly he's never had a track record of being sexist.

 

[GoneWithTheWind]

Diana Mukhametzianova and Ilya Mironov both have new partners, according to this Sports Express article: https://www.sport-express.ru/figure-skating/news/v-gruppe-mozer-poyavilis-dve-novye-pary-1785099/ (it's in Russian, but Google Translate seems to do an okay job).
Diana is now skating with Vladislav Antonyshev.
Ilya's new partner is Ekaterina Geynisch.
Although I really enjoyed watching Diana and Ilya together and was sad when they split, I hope they can both be successful in their new partnerships. I think they are all of the correct age to compete junior, so I hope to see both new teams on the JGP!

 

[IceDancingQueen]

No point to make by simply asking what's up with Vadym as well on the new partner front. It's sad, and too bad that neither have firmed up a new partnership. Mostly sad they couldn't overcome their differences in order to remain together as one of the more promising young ice dance teams who were due to advance to seniors.

I saw on IG that Vadym is doing singles skating now.

 

[Skater Boy]

I think this is a case of he said/she said although I do see Eric's side of it. Meagan is married, has a family, is coaching, has a very successful husband and is part owner apparently of a skating school. Eric says skating shows is his only source of income. A person has to support themselves. Even before this I would have been very surprised if Meagan left family and current responsibilities to skate in ice shows. I don't wish either of them any ill will and I hope the new pairs team works out.

THe only problem with Eric's only source o income is skating shows is that it is illogical to assume he is going to be worth much skating with VAnessa. They are not a known commodity as a team, they have no pedigree or credentials as a team and who knows if they will make the olympics.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

I saw on IG that Vadym is doing singles skating now.

Really? Is he just biding time, or does he truly have good enough singles skills?

 

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

Forgot to post this here, but Lee June-hyoung (KOR) has retired to pursue a career as a musical theater actor.

[캐스팅보드] 스케이트 벗고 무대로… 이준우, “뮤지컬 배우 꿈, 가족들도 몰랐죠” ①

“뭐라고 소개해야 하죠? 음, 피겨 전 국가대표 선수였고 지금은 ‘라 레볼뤼시옹’으로 데뷔하게 된 이준우라고 합니다.”이준우(25)는 멋쩍은 듯 웃었다. 금세라도 비가 내릴 듯 흐렸다가 잠시 햇빛이 비치기도 하는 4월의 마지막 날, 혜화동의 한 카페에서 만난 이준우는 뮤지컬 ‘라 레볼뤼시옹’의 연습복 위에 겉옷을 걸쳐 입은 채 나타나 그렇게 자신을 소개했다.‘피겨 전 국가대표’, ‘한국 남자 피겨의 맏형’. 지금까지 피겨 선수 이준형이라는 이름으로 살아왔던 그를 장식하던 수식어들이다. 그러나 이제 그는 이름을 바꾸고, 은반이 아닌

www.onseoul.net

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

THe only problem with Eric's only source o income is skating shows is that it is illogical to assume he is going to be worth much skating with VAnessa. They are not a known commodity as a team, they have no pedigree or credentials as a team and who knows if they will make the olympics.

Uh, both Eric and Vanessa have solid, major international championship-winning pairs credentials with their former partners. Added to that both have popular name and career recognition among skating fans. Their individual BOTB contestant stints over the past two seasons has maintained and perhaps even enhanced their pairs skills and credentials, along with their public profiles.

For you to suggest that together they 'wouldn't be worth much' on the show circuit, I think is an erroneous assumption on your part. Time will tell how well they might fare together in the current competitive environment. But for anyone assuming J/R won't mesh well or compete well, nor receive show gigs, if I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath in negative anticipation. Furthermore, predicting or assuming a complete lack of success for their partnership is IMHO, questionable judgment.

 

[Minz]

THe only problem with Eric's only source o income is skating shows is that it is illogical to assume he is going to be worth much skating with VAnessa. They are not a known commodity as a team, they have no pedigree or credentials as a team and who knows if they will make the olympics.

As a team, no. But as skaters yes. Vanessa is a European and GPF Champion. Eric is a two-time world champion and Olympic bronze medalist. Last season Knierim/Frazier, who were both established pair skaters with their former partners won Skate America and became National Champions in their first season. If Vanessa and Eric can perform decently well, they should be ok. Also, competing will give them both income.