It was dreamy, the way Lubov Ilyushechkina and Charlie Bilodeau swept about the Espoo ice, her hair back in a whiff, picked up by the wind, his body movement curving around a French Canadian tune. Together seven months, they could not stop smiling. There was shine on Ilyushechkina’s costumes, but more on her […]
Guillaume Cizeron
James and Cipres: Dancing to Cizeron’s Tune
So they’re back. It would be understandable to think Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres of France would want to hang up the skate laces after finally winning their first world medal – a bronze – last season. After all, James is 31 years old, Cipres 27. Pair skating doesn’t get any easier when you get […]
Virtue and Moir: on Top of the World
To describe the genius of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir is to require an armful of exclamation points. As one fellow skater put it, they are “beyond.” Way back in 2010, when Virtue and Moir won their first Olympic gold medal in Vancouver in their early twenties, the 1980 Olympic champion Robin Cousins was already […]
Virtue and Moir: reborn after the Grand Prix Final
Okay, folks. Listen up. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have no intention of finishing second at the Pyeongchang Olympics, although they finished second at the Grand Prix Final last month. They are not in this race for silver, for second-best, for forgotten footnote. Anybody remember who Sham was? The horse that finished second to Secretariat. […]