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The doping scandal in Russia occupied a lot of the world’s attention over the summer, coupled with the problems surrounding the Olympic Summer Games in Rio — and who went and who did not. The information contained in the McLaren Report detailed a sophisticated doping scheme, which has, unfortunately, tainted the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and a number of unnamed skaters from all three sports. We have included an overview of the findings of the report in this issue to give you an idea of what transpired. For the first time in 22 years, the International Skating Union (ISU) has a new president. James Cowling caught up with Ottavio Cinquanta to talk about the highs and lows of his two decades in office and what he hopes to…
Czech star Michal Březina made some life-changing decisions at the end of last season. He left his long-time coach, Karel Fajfr, and his German training base in June and headed to Los Angeles to work full-time with Rafael Arutyunyan. Březina said a number of factors motivated him to make the move to Southern California. His fiancée, Danielle Montalbano, had relocated to the U.S. and the Czech federation was pushing him to make a coaching change. “I spoke with my coach, and we decided that the best option for me would be to go where there were other skaters to give me more motivation and it would probably be better if I trained in the U.S.,” Březina explained. “Pretty much everyone had left my training venue and it was kind of…
It was a year of ups and downs for Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier but last season closed on an unexpected high note for the Canadian ice dance duo. An email from the International Skating Union in May confirmed a rumor Gilles, Poirier and their coaches — Carol Lane, Juris Razgulajevs and Jon Lane — had heard during the 2016 World Championships. At its annual spring conference, the International Skating Union’s (ISU) Ice Dance Technical Committee had adopted a proposal that the repeating steps Gilles and Poirier had woven into their short dance last season be considered for a new pattern dance. “One of the new elements of the short dance is called a partial step sequence and essentially, you just make up your own. One of the goals is…
Alexa Scimeca and Chris Knierim are satisfied with how last year played out, but have switched their focus and adopted a different strategy as they prepare for the new season. The 2015 U.S. pairs champions medaled at five of the seven competitions they entered in the 2015-2016 campaign. Capturing a silver medal at Skate America and a third-place finish at NHK Trophy earned them a trip to the Grand Prix Final, where they landed in seventh overall. Nationals did not go quite the way Scimeca and Knierim had hoped, but with a second-place finish they were guaranteed a berth on the World and Four Continents teams. “We had a couple of technical errors at nationals,” Knierim said. “It was not a disaster, but it was not our best and not…
Deniss Vasiljevs is on track to become Latvia’s most decorated skater. In his third season on the junior circuit he claimed silver at both his Grand Prix events, missing a berth at the Final by just 0.38 of a point. He is the first skater from Latvia to ever win a medal on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. Vasiljevs said he felt the pressure at first assignment, which played out in Riga, Latvia, with friends and family in attendance. “It is natural to be nervous before competing, but especially at home because everyone wants to see magnificent skating from you,” he said. “I was very tense. That feeling is very dangerous when you are skating, because it makes you start thinking about your next movements. While you are performing, your…
Julianne Séguin and Charlie Bilodeau were making quite a splash in their first full season in the senior ranks. Third at both their Grand Prix events and fourth at the Final, the Canadian duo was building momentum as they prepared for their final two events. Then, just before Four Continents, the landing of a throw jump in a practice session knocked them out of action for the rest of the season. Séguin suffered a sprained ankle and bone bruises that kept her off the ice for two months. “Charlie and I were having a few problems with the throw triple Lutz, so our coach, Josée (Picard) asked us to do just a single Lutz to fix the little details,” Séguin explained. “When she thought it was good, she asked us…
