World bronze medalists Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres of France skated to the lead as Skate Canada International opened with the Pairs Short Program on Friday. China’s Cheng Peng/Yang Jin sit in second place, followed by Canadians Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro.
Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres (FRA) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)
Skating to “Uninvited” by Alanis Morisette, James/Cipres produced a triple twist, side by side triple toeloop and throw triple Lutz as well as level-four footwork and a level four side by side spin. The French scored 74.51 points. “It was not the best, but we’re happy about the fight we made today,” Cipres said. “We are very proud of our World medal, we had a really good fight, but this year is a whole different year,” James added. “Everyone has been working hard. There are new rules and regulations, and everyone is trying to be a little bit more innovative. I don’t count anyone out of the game at any competition.”
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Cheng Peng/Yang Jin (CHN) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)
Peng/Jin’s upbeat routine to “Ophelia” featured a triple toelooop, triple twist and throw triple loop and earned them a season’s best 72.00 points. “It is our second time at Skate Canada and we feel better this time. When we came here yesterday (to practice) we missed our jumps, but it was better today,” Jin said.
Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro (CAN) 2018©International Skating Union (ISU)
Moore-Towers/Marinaro completed a triple twist, side by side triple toeloop and throw triple loop in their program to “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” by Leona Lewis to pick up 71.26 points in another season’s best. “Our main goal for this competition was to not take ourselves out of the game in the first part of the competition. We are generally a stronger long program team and we wanted to be able to start strongly as well,” Moore-Towers said. “It’s our first time at Skate Canada since 2015 and the energy is amazing.”
The 2017 World Junior silver medalists Aleksandra Boikova/Dmitrii Kozlovskii (RUS) finished fourth on 64.57 points ahead of the 2017 World Junior Champions Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya/Harley Windsor (AUS), who had 60.77 points.
