Crystal Skate

France's James & Cipres during their backwards outside death spiral The second leg of the Grand Prix Series is here. Held in Laval, Quebec, Canada, this competition is going to bring more new skaters to the ice, but also a few skaters we saw last week at Skate America. As in Everett, the pairs start the event with their short programme. The favourites for the gold would have to be France's James/Cipres, but the hosts are likely keeping their fingers crossed for their own Moore-Towers/Marinaro. Who will come on third? Well, that door is currently wide open. Evelyn Walsh & Trennt Michaud  are the first pair. Their performance at Skate America last week was not memorable at all, but this is quite the improvement. The only mistake is not syncing the side-by-side spins. Score: 59.59 . Camille Ruest & Andrew Wolfe  skate to Wild Horses , performed by Alicia Keys and Adam Levine. She puts a hand down on the side-by-side 3Toeloops and falls on the throw 3Loop. T...

If the ice dance finale was unmissable to the host country of Internationaux de France, the pairs finale is going to be the second most anticipated event. France's national champions are competing for the silver medal, and they're in the perfect position to get it after the short. Lola Esbrat/Andrei Novoselov  are the first pair to skate. They struggle as she doubles out of the 3Salchow, he can't get her into the lasso position for the first lift and they can't perform the side-by-side spins completely in sync. Presentation wise, I'd like to see The Great Gatsby  come through more in the choreography. Their score: 94.82 . Overall: 146.72 . Zoe Jones/Christopher Boyadji 's first Grand Prix free skate is peppered with mistakes, a lot of which are probably due to her not feeling well. She falls on the side-by-side 3Toeloops and the throw 3Flip, doubles out of the 3Salchow and double-foots the throw 3Loop. The side-by-side spins are not in sync either. They earn...

The ending of the pairs' short programme was one of the biggest surprises we've received this season from figure skating. Evgenia Tarasova & Vladimir Morozov ended first, but I was somewhat expecting that. The real surprise were Vanessa James & Morgan Cipres, the French pair who are currently in second position. Theirs will be the greatest challenge of the night - hold their place against not one, but two couples who have already been on the European podium several times. Rebecca Ghilardi/Filippo Ambrosini  are first to skate. Their music, Homecoming  by Thomas Bergersen, is breathtaking, and their lifts are original. There are two weird bits at the back of her costume that make me think it has come undone, but that's just an illusion. This is a great start of the night despite the double-footed throw triple Loop. Their score: 97.77 . Overall: 148.48 . Arina Cherniavskaia/Evgeni Krasnopolski  skate to a selection of Oriental music. Her hand touching the ice du...

The pairs' final does not predict a lot of changes for the competition, as Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot are set for the win, but Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov are only a point behind, so anything could happen. It's a rough start of the competition as Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer  make mistake after mistake. They both fall on the side-by-side triple Lutz, then he over-rotates the triple Toeloop and steps out of the double Toeloop, she falls again on the throw triple Flip, they only manage a single twist, and the side-by-side spins are out of sync. Their score: 92.95 . Overall: 145.01 . Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres  make their home crowd proud. She lands the throw quad Salchow, but double-foots it; same mistake with the throw triple Flip, and the side-by-side spins are not in sync at the very end. Their first lift is innovative and their death spiral is incredibly low. Their music is a cover of Sound of Silence . They get 132.53  points. Overall: 198.58 . ...

It's time for the new Chinese pairs to make a name for themselves, or at least that's what the short programme results seem to imply. Wenjing Sui and Cong Han are very close to winning their second silver medal of the season, while Xuehan Wang and Lei Wang would also like another bronze-worthy performance after Cup of China. The gold is undoubtedly going to stay in the hands of Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov. Failed death spirals are a rare sight in figure skating, but unluckily for Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer , they add one to their luggage of technical mistakes today. The fault lies with her as she loses her edge. Their score: 88.91 . Overall: 139.92 . Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro 's costumes are fabulous, depicting disintegrating chessboards. Only one mistake here, his hand down on the side-by-side triple Salchows. They get 108.06  points. Overall: 159.13 . Nicole della Monica/Matteo Guarise  have the same presentation problem as in the short. She is j...

There wasn't a lot of groundbreaking action in the pairs' events at this Grand Prix, and the spell is unlikely to be broken in Bordeaux. Stolbova & Klimov have virtually no rivals, while the second and third places will certainly be occupied by someone who's never been on the Eric Bompard podium. But who exactly? Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro  start the competition with a visibly shakier Cell Block Tango than at Skate Canada. She falls on the thrown triple Loop, and he struggles with the exit of the second lift. Their score: 51.07 . Xuehan Wang/Lei Wang 's theme couldn't be vaguer. Their song title simply says: Romance. Overall, they are however better than the Americans because they have no technical errors. They get 63.25  points. Stolbova & Klimov's death spiral Photograph: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images Europe Miriam Ziegler/Severin Kiefer 's C'est pas l'amour  and Zydeko  couldn't be more appropriate for a French crowd...

Surely if there's one event here that the Canadians have in their back pockets, it's the pairs'. But that doesn't mean Meagan Duhamel/Eric Radford are the only ones worthy of the spotlight. Here's some thoughts on all of the performances. Kirsten Moore-Towers/Michael Marinaro 's new partnership is paying off. They have no mistake on a technical level. Artistically, I'm hard to please when it comes to Cell Block Tango , so my opinion is that she could be a bit sassier and the choreography could do with a bit more elements of the murder stories. Their score: 53.79 . A seriously twisted lift by Evgenia Tarasova Photograph: Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press It is still pretty obvious that Brittany Jones/Joshua Reagan  haven't been a pair for long, but there is definitely some chemistry here to improve on. However, they couldn't be more out of sync both on the side-by-side triple Toeloops and on the side-by-side spins. The music is the soundtrac...