Vanessa James and Eric Redford: “We were sure that by this time our “honeymoon” in relationship would have ended, but it’s continuing.”
Vanessa James and Eric Redford about joint training and performances.
source: sports.ru dd. 7th October 2021, by Maiia Bagryantseva
Vanessa James: We are so happy to be back, thanks to the audience for their support, we feel it with all our hearts.
Now we feel more relaxed than at the beginning of the season, this is only our second international event, we are gaining confidence with every competitions. I am sure that as soon as we start showing in competitions what we can do in training, it will be something exceptional. We are waiting for it, but we still need a lot of time.
Eric Radford: Well, we need to be realistic about our expectations. Of course, we want to skate perfectly, and the audience probably expects that we, with our experience, will immediately skate at the highest level, but to be honest, everything turned out to be a little more complicated than we expected. But we had the same with our previous partners. At the beginning of the season we never showed the maximum. There is a long season ahead. For us, this is definitely a big step forward compared to the previous event.
Vanessa James: When we paired up, everything went smoothly and easily at once. Throw, twist. But let’s not forget that we performed together at official competitions only a couple of times, and before the Olympics we will still have several competitions. Very little time has passed.
Plus it’s necessary to look at the levels. It’s one thing to make a throw, another is to make it on high levels. We work very hard, we try our best. We are focused on ourselves, we know what we are capable of and move step by step. We can be proud of ourselves, because in comparison with the last performance, we have made a huge step forward.
Who is the more nervous?
Vanessa James: I’m, Eric is very calm.
Eric Redford: Our main goal is to remember why we are doing this. Of course, we want to skate well, but we returned not just to skate, but to compete. We did not come back to necessarily win. But we love so much how we feel on the ice. And each time we succeed more and more.
It is clear that we did not return with the goal of beating the world champions immediately. Of course, this is impossible, we understand this, this will not happen. We will focus on ourselves and our work. And slowly everything will work out.
Feeling like a pair already?
Vanessa James: Yes, definitely. Eric knows how to give you the support you need right now, he knows what to say on and off the ice, he has an amazing gift to calm me down.
Honestly, we feel as if we have known each other for eternity, we understand each other perfectly. Of course, different days happen, different workouts, something works out, something do not, but you know, we were sure that by this time our “honeymoon” in the relationship would have ended, but it’s continuing. And I think it will be like this all my life.
That is, no conflicts?
Vanessa James: Eric is not capable of fighting at all, well I can, but with him it just desn’t work out.
Vanessa, how do you choose your performance outfits: jumpsuit or dress? Why do you suddenly switch to dresses now?
Vanessa James: Well, jumpsuits used to be my thing, but Eric and I are a completely new pair, we start from scratch, we are a new pair. So I decided that I would skate in a new style. Dresses in both programs – I haven’t such before. I think that now I will skate in dresses, it generally suits us very well, we look good.
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