Vanessa James

Vanessa James began skating with her sister after watching the 1998 Winter Olympics.[2] 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.[5] 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.[5] She teamed up with French skater Yannick Bonheur in December 2007, after a three-day tryout in Paris.[3]

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.

James and Bonheur at the 2010 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.[6] 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.[7] James later recalled that they "weren't progressing, and we weren't able to work well together anymore."[8]

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.[9]

In September 2010, James began a partnership with Morgan Ciprès, until then a singles skater.[7][10] They made no competitive appearances in their first season as Ciprès learned pairs elements.[11] 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."[12]

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 (outscoring Popova/Massot by almost 12 points) 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.

James/Ciprès won the bronze medal at the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy—it was their first international medal as a pair.[13] 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.

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.[14][15] 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.

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.

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.[16] James said "either we improve, or we stop. There was no point in anything else."[8]

In June 2016, James/Ciprès relocated to Coral Springs, Florida, to be coached by John Zimmerman and Jeremy Barrett.[17][18][19] 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,[20][21] becoming the first French pair in fourteen years to medal at the event[22] (since 2003, when Sarah Abitbol / Stéphane Bernadis took silver).

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 [before] 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."[23]

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.[24] 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 (since 2000), 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."[12]

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.[8]

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."[25] 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.[26] 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."[27]

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.[28] 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."[29]

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.[30] 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 toe loop. 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 would continue to keep skating until they won the World title.[31] 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.[32]

Following the 2018–19 season, James/Ciprès were initially given two assignments on the 2019–20 Grand Prix circuit, the 2019 NHK Trophy and 2019 Internationaux de France. At the same time, it was announced that James would be appearing on the revival of the Canadian CBC skating competition program Battle of the Blades in the fall of 2019, partnered with retired NHL player Brian McGrattan. James/Ciprès subsequently withdrew from their Grand Prix assignments, concluding it was unfeasible to do both. James and McGrattan were the second team eliminated from the program.[33]

On 10 December 2019, USA Today journalist Christine Brennan reported that Ciprès was under investigation for having sent a picture of his penis to a 13-year-old girl who was a student at their training center; and further, that coaches Zimmerman, Silvia Fontana, and Vinny Dispenza were accused of having known about this and attempted to cover it up in the runup to the 2018 Olympics.[34] James/Ciprès would not compete again during the remainder of the season, and the allegations against Ciprès would subsequently factor into the scandals that forced the resignation of controversial FFSG chief Didier Gailhaguet in the spring of 2020.[35][34]

On 25 September 2020, it was announced that James would be returning to Battle of the Blades for its sixth season, this time partnered with Akim Aliu.[36] Four days later, the FFSG announced that James and Ciprès would both be retiring from competition.[37] Ciprès was subsequently charged with a third-degree felony.[38][39]

Free skate from the 2018 European Figure Skating Championships

• ^C – Event cancelled due to the attacks in Paris.