Blossom on Ice - Figure Skating. Interviews

March 8, 2024September 19, 2024

Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha: “We love it when the coaches refer to us as super kids”.

World Junior champions in 2019, multiple medalists at the Canadian Championships, and finalists in the 2023 Grand Prix series, Canadian ice dancers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha unfortunately had to withdraw from the Nationals in early January in Calgary, Canada, and also missed the 2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai due to health issues.

The skaters gave this interview in December following the Grand Prix final in Beijing. We wish Marjorie and Zachary a speedy recovery and successful performances on their home ice in Canada at the World Championships.

Zachary, this season your rhythm dance is set to the compositions of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. About a year ago in an interview, you mentioned your dream of creating a program specifically to Jackson, even though you believed you would never persuade the coaches to agree to it. How did you manage to do it?

Zachary:

I simply approached them and said, “Coach, I agree to skate to Michael Jackson”. And he was like, “What?” (laughs). But I persisted, and in the end, they agreed, although they were still skeptical.

January 8, 2024September 19, 2024

Lia Pereira and Trennt Michaud: “We aim for the podium at Nationals”

The Canadian Figure Skating Championships are set to take place in Calgary, Canada, from January 8 to 14. Among the top contenders for the podium are Lia Pereira and Trent Michaud, who won the ISU GP Grand Prix de France 2023, and took silver at the ISU GP Skate America 2023. They also won the bronze medals at the Canadian Championship in 2023.

In an interview following their performance at the Grand Prix final in Beijing, Lia and Trennt shared their thoughts on the tournament, discussed what they considered successful scores for their short and free programs, Trennt’s unexpected partner change when Evelyn Walsh decided to leave the sport, Lia’s decision to return to school after graduating it, and the way the education system works in Canada.

Lia:

This is our first season competing on the Grand Prix circuit, so we were thrilled to have the opportunity to be here. Our goal for the season was to make it to the final, so we were really proud of ourselves for delivering two strong performances at the Grand Prix events.

Regarding the short program, we made an uncharacteristic mistake, which is a bit disappointing because our practices have been going well, and we always aim to give our best. However, making mistakes is a part of the learning process, so we will accept it and move forward.

Trennt:

There were some really positive aspects in our free skate as well. However, the mistake on the final lift was quite frustrating to me. It’s a setback, but there were many other great elements in our performance. We will take away the positives and focus on improving so that it doesn’t happen again.

January 3, 2024September 19, 2024

Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps: “Never use SPF at night.”

The winners of the 2023-2024 ISU Grand Prix series in figure skating in Canada and China, the Canadian champions of the 2022/23 season, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps, took third place at the Grand Prix final in Beijing, scoring 204.30 points.

In an interview after their free skate, the athletes shared their thoughts on their performance at the tournament, discussed the expectations they set for themselves, how they cope with the burden of expectations, their anticipation for the World Championships in their hometown, and also offered skincare tips.

Deanna:

We know we fell short of expectations this time. We were the top team by 10 points, so this result is definitely below what we had hoped for. However, we still managed to score competitively with some mistakes on almost all the big elements. If we can clean up our performance, we know we can achieve even higher scores than we did at the State Canada.

Maxime:

After the Cup of China, we returned home and worked on various aspects of our performance. Although we faced some challenges this time, we are still proud of what we accomplished and the improvements we made this week. We have been working on a lot of things that we aimed to improve.