Vanessa James
Vanessa James is a French pair skater. With her skating partner, Morgan Ciprès, she is the 2019 European Champion, the 2018 World bronze medalist, the 2017 European bronze medalist, the 2018 Grand Prix Final champion and a six-time French national champion. They have also won medals in Grand Prix and Challenger Series competitions. James and Ciprès represented France at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics.
With her previous partner Yannick Bonheur, James represented France at the 2010 Winter Olympics, placing fourteenth. She is also the 2006 British national champion in single skating.
Personal life
Vanessa James was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. She lived in Bermuda until age 10 when her family moved to Virginia in the United States. She lived in the U.S. through 2007, holding an American permanent residence card, and then moved to Paris, France. Her father is from Bermuda, which enabled James to hold British citizenship. She became a French citizen in December 2009. Her twin sister, Melyssa James, has also competed in figure skating. James' hobbies include tennis, dancing, and reading.Career
Early years
Vanessa James began skating with her sister after watching the 1998 Winter Olympics. She originally competed domestically in the United States and represented the Washington Figure Skating Club.In 2005, James began representing the United Kingdom internationally. She won gold at the 2006 British Championships and silver in 2007, becoming the first British figure skating champion of Black African descent. She competed for Britain on the 2006 ISU Junior Grand Prix and at the 2007 World Junior Championships. Her last event as a singles skater was the 2007 International Cup of Nice, where she won the bronze medal.
In late 2007, James switched to pair skating, partnering briefly with British skater Hamish Gaman. She teamed up with French skater Yannick Bonheur in December 2007, after a three-day tryout in Paris.
2008–2009 season: Debut of James/Bonheur
Making their international debut, James/Bonheur placed seventh in November at their Grand Prix assignment, the 2008 Trophée Eric Bompard. They ranked tenth at the 2009 European Championships, which took place in January in Helsinki, Finland.In March, James/Bonheur finished twelfth at the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles, California, United States. Due to their result, France qualified a spot in the pairs' event at the next Olympics. In April, they competed at the 2009 World Team Trophy in Tokyo, Japan.
2009–2010 season: Vancouver Olympics
James/Bonheur opened their season at the 2009 Nebelhorn Trophy, where they placed 6th. They were invited to two Grand Prix events, the 2009 Cup of China and 2009 Trophée Eric Bompard, and finished eighth at both. At the 2010 French Championships, they ranked second in the short program and first in the free skate. They won the title, outscoring the silver medalists Adeline Canac / Maximin Coia by 3.69 points.In January, James/Bonheur placed seventh at the 2010 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. In February, they represented France at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; they placed fifteenth in the short program, fourteenth in the free skate, and fourteenth overall. James/Bonheur were the first black pair to compete at the Olympics. Their final competition together was the 2010 World Championships, held in March in Turin, Italy. They placed tenth in the short, thirteenth in the free, and twelfth overall. They ended their partnership in spring 2010. James later recalled that they "weren't progressing, and we weren't able to work well together anymore."
2010–2011 season
In May 2010, James had a successful tryout with Maximin Coia and the two agreed to train in Germany with Ingo Steuer, but several weeks later Coia decided to end his amateur career.In September 2010, James began a partnership with Morgan Ciprès, until then a singles skater. They made no competitive appearances in their first season as Ciprès learned pairs elements. Eight years later, James recalled the beginning of her partnership: "I remember our 3-day trial and it was so fun. He was so funny, because he had never done pairs before, so he was really nervous and saying 'oh my gosh, oh my gosh' every time he threw me. I knew that we were going to be good friends."
2011–2012 season: Debut of James/Ciprès
James/Ciprès made their competitive debut in late September 2011, finishing fifth at the 2011 Ondrej Nepela Memorial. After placing fifth at the 2011 Coupe de Nice, the pair finished eighth at their first Grand Prix together, the 2011 Trophee Eric Bompard. At the 2012 French Championships, they ranked first in the short program and second in the free skate. With a total score 8.92 points lower than Daria Popova / Bruno Massot, James/Ciprès received the silver medal.Finishing sixth overall, James/Ciprès were the best French pair at the 2012 European Championships in Sheffield, England. They were granted France's lone spot in pairs at the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France. In Nice, the two qualified to the final segment and finished sixteenth overall.
2012–2013 season
James/Ciprès won the bronze medal at the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy—it was their first international medal as a pair. Their 2012 Grand Prix assignments were Skate America, where they placed fourth, and the Trophee Eric Bompard, where they came in sixth. James/Ciprès won another international medal at the 2012 NRW Trophy and followed that with their first national title, in December.In January, James/Ciprès came in fourth at the 2013 European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. After taking gold at the 2013 International Challenge Cup, they placed eighth at the 2013 World Championships in London, Ontario. Due to their result in Canada, they qualified a spot for France in the pairs' event at the Sochi Olympics.
2013–2014 season: Sochi Olympics
James/Ciprès were again assigned to Skate America and the Trophee Eric Bompard. Ciprès, however, underwent surgery after a wrist injury and had to avoid lifts for a period, causing the pair to withdraw from Skate America. They were able to compete at the Trophee Eric Bompard and placed fifth. The pair then successfully defended their national title.At the 2014 Europeans, James/Ciprès set personal best scores in both segments of the competition and came in fifth. They were named in the French team to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where they placed tenth in the pairs event and sixth in the team event. They repeated their results at the 2014 World Championships.
2014–2015 season
James/Ciprès finished fourth at the 2014 CS Nebelhorn Trophy and fifth at both of their Grand Prix assignments, the 2014 Skate Canada International and 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard.They placed third in the short program, earning a small medal, their first, and fifth overall at the 2015 European Championships in Stockholm. They placed ninth at the 2015 World Championships in Shanghai. The two later competed at the 2015 World Team Trophy in Tokyo where they placed fifth individually and sixth as a team.
2015–2016 season: First Grand Prix medal
James/Ciprès began their season with a bronze medal at the 2015 CS Nebelhorn Trophy. They placed second in the short program at the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard before the event's cancellation due to the November 2015 Paris attacks. The ISU deemed those placements to be the final results, awarding James/Ciprès their first Grand Prix medal, silver.The pair finished fourth at the 2016 European Championships in Bratislava and tenth at the 2016 World Championships in Boston. At the end of the season, they concluded that they needed a major change if they were to continue competing. James said "either we improve, or we stop. There was no point in anything else."
2016–2017 season: European bronze medal
In June 2016, James/Ciprès relocated to Coral Springs, Florida, to be coached by John Zimmerman and Jeremy Barrett. After taking silver at the 2016 CS Autumn Classic International, the pair competed at two Grand Prix events; they finished fourth at the 2016 Skate America and won the bronze medal at the 2016 Trophée de France.In January 2017, James/Ciprès won the bronze medal at the European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, becoming the first French pair in fourteen years to medal at the event.
In March, James/Ciprès placed tenth in the short program, sixth in the free skate, and eighth overall at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. The following month, they competed as part of Team France at the 2017 World Team Trophy in Tokyo, Japan; although their team finished sixth overall, the pair scored personal bests and placed first in both segments of the pairs' event, ahead of Russia's Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov.
Reflecting on their progress as a team, James said, "Our main problem was that we were two different people on the ice. We needed to change that and to increase the connection between the two of us."
2017–2018 season: PyeongChang Olympics and World bronze medal
James/Ciprès began their season with gold at the 2017 CS Autumn Classic International. They then won medals at both of their Grand Prix assignments, taking bronze at the 2017 Skate Canada International and silver at the 2017 Internationaux de France. They finished as the first alternates for the Grand Prix Final. At the 2018 European Championships in Moscow, the pair placed first in the short program, fourth in the free skate, and fourth overall—0.01 shy of the podium. They received a small gold medal for their short program.James/Ciprès were named to France's delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics, which took place in February in Pyeongchang, South Korea. During the team event, they placed sixth in their segment and Team France finished tenth. In the regular pairs event, they placed sixth in the short, fifth in the free, and fifth overall. In March, they became the first French pair in 18 years to stand on the World podium, winning the bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships in Milan, Italy. James, reflecting on the start of her partnership, remarked "I'm so glad I made that choice because we're a really good team today. It's been bumpy, but amazing with Morgan."
2018–2019 season: Grand Prix Final and European Champions
James/Ciprès's programs were both choreographed by ice dancers, with fellow French Olympian Guillaume Cizeron developing the short program and 2014 Olympic gold medalist Charlie White developing the free skate.James/Ciprès won the gold medal at their first event of the season, the 2018 CS Autumn Classic International and obtained their first victory at a Grand Prix event, at 2018 Skate Canada International, setting a new world record in the free skate. James said that they "gave so much emotion, and at the end, it was just magic for us." In mid-November they competed at the 2018 Internationaux de France where they won their second Grand Prix gold medal of the season, albeit with a somewhat rockier performance in the short program that left them in third place before placing first in the free skate. These results qualified them for the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final, their first appearance at the event. In fourth after the short program at the Final, they again set a world record to place first in the free skate and win the gold medal. James expressed the hope that "having this long program so solid and strong will just help when we have a good short program. I know we have to fight every time after our short program to make up the points, but feeling more free and not having to try and try to make a comeback, I think will just liberate us a little bit more, I am hoping."
After winning another national title, their sixth, James/Ciprès went to the 2019 European Championships in Minsk. They a first place finish in the short program, ahead of Tarasova/Morozov. They won the free skate as well, taking the European pairs title, only the second French team to do so, and the first since Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet in 1932. She called the result "a dream come true", while Ciprès called it "a dream when we were children to be here one day." In March at the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, during the short program warm-up, James had a collision with Italy's Matteo Guarise, in which both skaters fell onto the ice. James/Ciprès placed a very unexpected seventh in the short program after unusual mishaps, James had an uncharacteristic fall on her throw triple flip, while Ciprès doubled his planned triple toeloop. In the free program they placed third, and fifth overall. They finished off the top of podium for the first time of the season, but took a small bronze medal for the free program. At the end of their free program, James/Ciprès announced that they will continue to keep skating until they get the World title. Later, they said that they would compete until the 2022 World Championships, which will be hosted in the French town of Montpelier.To finish off the season, they competed at the 2019 World Team Trophy in Fukuoka, Japan, where they earned a new personal best in the free skate to earn first in the pairs event and fourth overall as a team.
Programs
With Ciprès
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2018–2019 | by Alanis Morissette choreo. by Guillaume Cizeron | by Ursine Vulpine featuring Annaca choreo. by Charlie White | by Michael Jackson ---- by Lewis Capaldi |
| 2017–2018 | by Ed Sheeran arranged by Maxime Rodriguez | by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera
---- by Disturbed, Maxime Rodriguez |
---- by The Weeknd, The Theorist |
| 2016–2017 | by The Weeknd, Maxime Rodriguez |
| by Beyoncé ---- by X Ambassadors ---- by Riccardo Cocciante |
| 2015–2016 | performed by Joss Stone | by Craig Armstrong by Abel Korzeniowski
|
|
| 2014–2015 | performed by Ewan McGregor, José Feliciano, Jacek Koman ---- by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez |
by Vangelis by Clint Mansell |
|
| 2013–2014 | by Cab Calloway
|
| |
| 2012–2013 |
| by Faith Hill | |
| 2011–2012 |
|
With Bonheur
| Season | Short program | Free skating |
| 2009–2010 |
| |
| 2008–2009 | by Pink Floyd |
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Singles career
Competitive highlights
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand PrixPairs with Ciprès for France
Pairs with Bonheur for France
Ladies' singles
Detailed results
Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. ISU seasons best scores highlighted in bold.With Ciprès
- – Event cancelled due to the attacks in Paris.