Blossom on Ice - Figure Skating. Interviews

February 12, 2020June 15, 2020

Zoe Jones/Christopher Boyadji: “We first met at the ISU Adult Competition”

Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadji paired up in April 2016 and have since won three national titles in a row. Last week, they took 4th place at the Bavarian Open, which took place in Oberstdorf, Germany.

In an interview with the “Blossom on Ice”, which Zoe and Christopher had given before the start of the tournament, the skaters commented on their performance at the European Championships in Graz and told what life troubles they had to face, as well as how they met at the competition among adult amateurs and decided to pair up.

You had a really good skate in Graz. How do you feel about your performance?

Christopher:

Honestly, I think we’re quite happy with it. There was one major mistake in the free skate, but it happens. Usually we’re very strong on the throw jump, so I think we were just unlucky this time. Normally it’s not a problem. Overall, we’re very happy with what we’ve done in Graz. Short program was clean. Free program was, let’s say, nearly clean. It’s a very good improvement for us.

Zoe:

It was a difficult few weeks leading up to this, with family life and things going on. It has just been very hard. So, I’m really happy with what we’ve done here.

December 1, 2019June 15, 2020

Lilah Fear/Lewis Gibson: “We had 31 versions of the same music for our free dance and 40 – for the rhythm dance”

The 2019 British Figure Skating Championships took place in Sheffield this weekend.

Ice dancers Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, who competed for GB at this year’s European Championships and World Championships, placed first both in the rhythm dance and in the free dance to win the gold medal with 195.70 points.

In an interview with the “Blossom on Ice”, which Lilah and Lewis had given before the start of the tournament, the skaters told how the process of choosing music and setting programs for this season went, what records they set when cutting musical passages, who Lilah does interviews with in her free time and why Lewis switched from footballers to skaters.

This year, the music pieces for the rhythm dance should be chosen from musicals or operettas. What is your favourite musical so far?

Lilah:

Okay. That’s a difficult question.

Lewis:

I know mine, so I’ll go first and you’ll think about it (smiles). My favorite musical is “Hamilton”. It’s a new musical about American history. I feel like it would be really cool for the ice, but I don’t think it’s well-known enough yet.

November 21, 2019June 15, 2020

Alexa Scimeca Knierim/Chris Knierim: “We just want to do better each time”

The 2019 NHK Trophy will be the sixth event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. It will be held at Makomanai Ice Arena in Sapporo, Japan between November 22nd and 24th.

The 2018 Olympic bronze medalists in the figure skating team event, the 2016 Four Continents silver medalists, the 2014 Four Continents bronze medalists, three-time Grand Prix medalists, and two-time U.S. national champions (2015, 2018) Alexa Scimeca Knierim and Chris Knierim are among the competing skaters.

They talk about the inspiration behind their free program, whether they plan on performing a quad twist at competition this season, how it feels to work with your spouse, and whether their pets get along at home.

Your free program is so beautiful. Would you please tell us about it? Who chose the music?

Alexa:

Well, actually we got inspired for the music when Mariah Bell used it. We were in a practice session in California with her, sharing the ice. At the same time I looked at Jenny, and I was like “something like this?”, and she was like “I was thinking the same thing”. Then Jenny and I brought it up to Chris and Todd, and we all felt like it was just what we needed for our next program.