Hold a world championship for the first time in two years, during a pandemic (with rising numbers in many places), with all sorts of training interruptions and stay-at-home orders and what could go wrong? It all came to roost in the pairs short program Wednesday at the world figure skating championships in Stockholm. Is […]
Michael Marinaro
Moore-Towers, Marinaro Head into the Unknown
Canadian pair champions Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro did not believe there would be a world figure skating championship this season, so hunkered down were they because of a pandemic that doesn’t quit. They thought their virtual performances earlier this year at Skate Canada Challenge were going to be it this season, and everybody […]
“The Blower’s Daughter” Version Two
For two-time Canadian pair champions Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro, it was tricky this season: should they make the attempt to get new programs, even though there was a chance they would be seldom seen? And should they stray onto sacred ground and use music from other skaters they revered? The answers were yes and […]
Moore-Towers, Marinaro in a Virtual World
An injury, a pandemic, and all that entails, proved to be the sticky points for two-time Canadian pair champions Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro during a season beyond compare. COVID-19 scuttled their hopes of competing at the world championships in Montreal last March. Then, during the first wave of the pandemic, Marinaro’s grandmother died […]
Moore-Towers and Marinaro Seek New Milestones
What a difference five years makes. The first time Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro competed at Skate Canada International in Kelowna, B.C., it was their first Grand Prix event together, they had just formed a partnership and they had no idea just how difficult that would be. It was a rough start for the pair. […]
Moore-Towers and Marinaro: A new beginning
Everything is new, at least for Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro, pairs skaters who describe themselves as “definitely mom and dad now.” “We’re old for sure,” said Moore-Towers, who like her partner is 27. “We enjoy our leadership role.” Now Canada’s top pair team, they are surrounded by newness. And it’s working for them. […]
Moore-Towers, Marinaro: Taking the Next Big Step
Yes, this is the start of the next quadrennial. And it has turned Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro into the senior members of the national pair team heading out to Grand Prix events this season. They had a quick lesson in leading the pair show at the world championships last March in Milan when […]
Inside the heart of Moore-Towers and Marinaro
It was telling: Kirsten Moore-Towers burst into an ugly cry against the chest of her partner, Michael Marinaro, as soon as they took their final pose after the short program at the world championships in Milan on Wednesday. Surely they were tears of joy? They had just nailed it, big time: triple twist, whopper of […]