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00:15We are in my childhood bedroom, there's all of our trophies over there.
00:23Gosh, I've had this Olympic dream as long as I can remember.
00:27I feel like as a kid you hold on to that hope of like something big is gonna happen and
00:34I hope that's possible.
00:37These are all my U.S. national medals.
00:40I competed for them until I was 18, so six years internationally.
00:49My old skating partner Zachary Donahue and I split in 2010 after Junior Worlds.
00:55He had a girlfriend and I think she wanted to skate with him.
00:59We were both teenagers and young and fiery and there was a lot of drama in that.
01:05Oh gosh, here we go.
01:07This one cracks me up because this is Evan with his old partner Emily.
01:12We were both available at that time.
01:15Piper and I were looking for partners at the same time.
01:18Finding the right partner is so challenging.
01:22It's a photo of Maddie.
01:23And I, again, like the side part, the everything, like just she was skating with Greg Zerline.
01:32There was a website at one point called IcePartnerSearch.com.
01:37IcePartnerSearch.com, I think it's still up.
01:39It was kind of like a dating profile.
01:41You put your height, your history, where you train.
01:44Definitely was on that at one point and used it.
01:46And then at that same event, Paul was also there.
01:50He and Vanessa were so good.
01:52Vanessa Crone and Paul Aurier.
01:54I was 19 when I was looking for a new partner.
01:58We were babies. Babies.
02:00So back in 2010, 2011, there was like a mass breakup of so many teams.
02:08Evan broke up with his partner Emily.
02:11I had asked for a tryout with Evan.
02:13We didn't try out together because I was waiting to hear back from Maddie.
02:17Paul and Vanessa split.
02:19Paul had actually written to me for a tryout.
02:21Like a year later, I realized I gave him the wrong email.
02:25I don't know if I knew that.
02:26I need to tell sweet Polly.
02:27I'm so sorry about that.
02:29Oh, that's really cute.
02:29We all kind of wanted to try each other out in a sense.
02:35But then at the end of the day, I just kind of went with my gut
02:38and my gut said Evan was the choice for me.
02:41Piper had been skating with Zach Donahue, who ended up skating with Maddie Hubbell.
02:46I moved to Canada to skate with Paul.
02:48Once I started skating with Paul, Emily started skating with my older brother.
02:52Paul's old partner cried out with Laurent's old partner.
02:55Laurent's just now skating with Guillaume.
02:56And so we're all kind of intertwined in this strange sort of way.
03:01It's just wild to see how all of us have been connected.
03:06Everybody will do something for a dream, right?
03:09For all of us.
03:10My dream was to go to the Olympics and stand on top of the podium.
03:41Okay, so we were...
03:45So during the summer is the fresh new start.
03:52This is when the teams are thinking about new concepts, music, character.
03:57I think we need, like, orange, a light blue.
04:01They're all different teams.
04:02It's the maximum of pressure.
04:04It's all about what you create, all the choices, the strategy.
04:11There's two programs that each couple has to perform.
04:15The first one skated is the rhythm dance.
04:22There's always a set theme or rhythm.
04:25So this year, the International Skating Union has assigned a 90s theme for that program.
04:33Wondering if we were missing some dimensions with the shoulders.
04:36Through, through, hey!
04:39And the free dance is whatever the skater's choice.
04:43So it can be anything from classical to modern.
04:46And it's supposed to display just what you do best.
04:50The free dance has got to feel like an iconic Olympic program that is your legacy.
05:00And especially in an Olympic year, this is a very important time.
05:05Because you are picking the programs that could seal your fate in Milan at the Olympics.
05:11Because there is no, he jumped higher.
05:15There is always going to be a little bit of, I just liked it better.
05:22It's anybody's game.
05:23It just depends on what teams have the right material.
05:27It's all about their material.
05:52It's all about their material.
05:57It's everything too much.
05:58I want more after this, when that goes bang, bang, bang, bang.
06:09The theme for the rhythm dance this year is 1990s.
06:13We wanted to lean into something that was very them.
06:16Obviously like we had to do a RuPaul song.
06:19I think To You Supermodel was an obvious choice just because it's such a banger,
06:25but also it being a style of dance that emerged from the queer community.
06:31When I first came out of Lookly, it was exactly four years ago.
06:35It feels like a long time ago, but not a long time ago.
06:38It's not really like a skating part.
06:41No.
06:41It's more like, yeah, but needs more groove.
06:45I think it's been a really positive change in my life.
06:49And I feel like I can bring more of myself to the process of skating and of creating.
06:55That's been really nice.
06:56As you're coming up from Sexy, there's two beats, bam, bam, started there.
07:05That was it.
07:09Ay.
07:11That was good, except for no face.
07:14Yeah.
07:15What face are you going to do? Let's decide.
07:17Ooh. Ooh, yeah.
07:19On that one, right?
07:20Yeah.
07:20Okay.
07:21Mm-hmm.
07:21Do steel.
07:22Mm-hmm.
07:25At the beginning of every season, Paul and I and our coaches, we always call ourselves the
07:30cliff jumpers because we've created something so unique and new, and we don't know if the
07:34people are going to understand the characters.
07:36Hand.
07:37Magician.
07:38Magician.
07:38Magician.
07:38Hat.
07:40Swipe it.
07:41Okay.
07:42That's a lot of things.
07:43That's going to take two months for him to think about.
07:45This is what you asked?
07:46Did you not just ask for this?
07:47I did.
07:49Polk not multitask.
07:51Look at it!
07:52He just did, and he did it with a smile.
07:54Who are you?
07:55I was smiling because he was saying I can't multitask,
07:57which is entirely true.
07:59I'm like 99.9% sure no one is gonna do Supermodel by RuPaul
08:04because people aren't brave enough to do it.
08:07And the best thing about Piper and Paul is that they are.
08:13Thanks, Allison.
08:15So you mean in my living room, I'm just like, phew, phew.
08:17Correct.
08:23I just think the contrast, and when you look at it overall,
08:26and it's on his arm, I feel like it might be too much or I don't know.
08:31Can we look at it with the other browns?
08:33Mm-hmm.
08:34And we can go on the other side also, it's, the light is better.
08:38And are these the swatches for his, this is for his pants?
08:42Yeah, it's for the pants.
08:45And this is probably some part of, like, the chest in the back.
08:49Mm-hmm.
08:49And I use this.
08:51I love, love designing costumes and the research
08:55and then, like, seeing how the costumes look when they're all finished.
08:58What do you think?
09:00There's just a lot of brown.
09:02I'm just worried about being, like, so brown.
09:05Well, I mean, your pants can be airbrushed black.
09:08Like, there's gonna be darker...
09:09I feel like you just need a darker texture and depth
09:11so I'm not just, like, a big brown.
09:13I mean, you're not supposed to be fully brown.
09:16We're not, we're not trying to make you look like a turd.
09:20I don't look like a turd out there.
09:22It's my nightmare.
09:24Watching her create something from scratch
09:26and then see the full process of, like,
09:29it becomes a wearable piece of art
09:31and then we're the ones who get to wear it
09:33and go out and perform in it, it's pretty unique.
09:36From literally just an idea in Maddie's head
09:38to center ice, it's just, it's pretty cool.
09:42Let's try a dress.
09:44Let's try a dress.
09:45You dress your matador.
09:46My pants and cape.
09:49Mm-hmm.
09:51It's the whole family right here on the couch
09:52supporting you, guys.
09:54Good job, guys.
09:56So it's the first fitting,
09:57so it's not really glamour.
10:00It's...
10:01This is the skeleton of the costume.
10:03I am the matador in our program this year
10:06and Evan is the bull.
10:08I wanted to play with the traditional aspects
10:10and detailing.
10:12How much would you take off the bottom?
10:14Like the same as my practice skirt.
10:16We wanted a longer skirt because I am the matador
10:20and I wanted to play with it like a cape,
10:21so it had to be long so I can, like, drape it over my arm.
10:24I wanted to keep it as long as possible,
10:26within reason, of course, because safety.
10:30Oops, there's a pin there.
10:33Hello.
10:34There is a possibility that my skirt
10:36comes completely over his head
10:37and obstructs his vision,
10:39which, as a matador, great.
10:40That's what you want.
10:41But as an ice dancer, not ideal.
10:44That's so cool.
10:46It moves really well.
10:48Mm-hmm.
10:48But it's got, like, a real cool whip,
10:50you know, like a ripple.
10:52You look like Batwoman, this.
10:54All right, well, let's just do the practice skirt
10:56in the same exact style as you have this now with the two.
10:59Right.
11:00See how that goes.
11:06Five, six, seven, eight.
11:08One and two and three.
11:11For Laurence and Guillaume's rhythm dance,
11:13they're skating to Depeche mode.
11:15It's the third one.
11:16It has a unique European sound,
11:19a little bit underground.
11:20It has good bones for voguing.
11:23Cha-cha.
11:25Zoom.
11:25Brill is a specialist in arm control movement,
11:29which is one category of the big family of voguing.
11:34Better?
11:35Better.
11:36From there, can we open, can you open this?
11:38Open the bottom one, maybe?
11:41Si?
11:41No.
11:42No.
11:44I think it's really special because voguing
11:47and arm control, what we're learning,
11:49is like going back to basics.
11:54Probably one of the hardest things that I've done, like honestly.
11:59It's literally like learning a language in a few weeks.
12:04Okay, let's get on the ice.
12:06Okay, let's get on the ice.
12:09There are fans of both Laurence and Guillaume
12:11that have already decided that's your next Olympic champion.
12:15I think that's very bold to assume.
12:19After the illusion when we do all this,
12:21should I try to aim to go here?
12:24So I finish on this side?
12:26I like either.
12:28Yeah.
12:28I kind of naturally like it more you here and here.
12:33So I represented Canada for many years,
12:36and now I'm representing France.
12:39She doesn't have her citizenship yet.
12:41I can represent France in all the competition
12:44up to world championships.
12:46In order to do Olympics,
12:48I need the French citizenship.
12:52Oh, you're going so hard.
12:54I'm crossing my fingers
12:55that everything will go accordingly to plan
12:58and that we'll have the citizenship in time
13:00for me to go to the Olympics with Guillaume.
13:03We're doing the best that we can every day
13:05to get closer to our goal,
13:06and the rest you kind of leave to faith.
13:10When we did the footwork yesterday,
13:12we were tracking at Tokyo...
13:13Most of the time, when you find a partner,
13:16they're not from the same country.
13:17So it makes getting the citizenship even more challenging
13:21because some countries, it takes years,
13:24and it's impossible to get it.
13:26So we don't know if they will be able to compete
13:29for the Olympics, like we're hoping.
13:31They're hoping, but we don't know.
13:33I love it.
13:35Where?
13:35In ice dance, we're dealing with a sport
13:39that has so many women and not so many men.
13:44And, of course, finding two people of the same age
13:48from the same country, oh, my God.
13:50It's hard.
13:52Representing Finland, Yuka Orhara and Yuhal Pirates.
13:57As skaters, we live a very global lifestyle.
14:01From Sweden.
14:02There is some country hopping.
14:05Sometimes the best option for you is from Lithuania.
14:09Representing Lithuania,
14:12Thomasin Reed and Yuhal Pirates.
14:15If you look at the Lithuanian team,
14:17the famous last name Reed does not really ring a bell
14:22when you kind of go through the yellow pages.
14:25I don't think you're going to find any Reeds in Lithuania.
14:29We see that even with the Spanish team.
14:31That's the craziest one to me.
14:33Olivia's British.
14:35She got her Spanish citizenship.
14:36But she's not Spanish at all.
14:38She gets a new partner that's German.
14:40But it's easier for them to get Spanish citizenship
14:43than for her to get German citizenship.
14:45And now they're Spanish.
14:49If you look at the top ten teams in the world,
14:51more than half have a skater
14:52who's represented more than one country.
14:55It's a dog-eat-dog world.
14:58Sometimes you just got to get
14:59your Azerbaijani citizenship.
15:02From Azerbaijan, Samantha Rinder
15:04and Daniel Brickhoff.
15:09For the last one?
15:11She just said it, yeah.
15:13Technically, it does count as a lift once the music starts.
15:16Can you show them again the steps in between the...
15:19Two and three?
15:19Yeah.
15:21So up here.
15:29One, two, and now, take this under the arm, move forward.
15:33And now, move forward.
15:35Yeah.
15:37Yeah.
15:37That's cool.
15:38Beginning of the tension, no separation.
15:39Yeah.
15:41So we're here at Champs Camp,
15:42and it's the annual preseason camp
15:44that U.S. Figure Skating holds.
15:46So all the skaters who are going to be sent out
15:48for international competitions come here
15:50and debut their programs for the American judges.
15:54But this is a really great starting point.
15:56Just kind of share our music, share the concept,
15:59what our vision for the program is,
16:01and see how people respond.
16:03Yeah.
16:04Remember, Judges 1 through 9 are completely scattered
16:07along the boards here, and everybody's going to have
16:10a different perception of that face-to-face moment
16:12in what it looks like.
16:14I know it will feel insane what I'm about to say,
16:17but sometimes the judges and different officials
16:22will come to the rinks, and they will watch the skaters train.
16:29They are there while the skaters are picking out their programs
16:33and their music, and they're letting the teams know,
16:36we think this is good, we think this isn't,
16:38we think scratch this, start over here.
16:41That's always kind of like the first scary moment
16:44of the season, putting it out in front of other people
16:47and like opening the program up to the opinions of people.
16:51It's beautiful, but it's not counting as an exit for me.
16:54It's so important to be on the good side of the judges
16:58and to have them be involved in your process.
17:01Because we're a creative sport,
17:03everybody has something to say, good or bad.
17:06You have to choose what's going to help you.
17:11You have to understand what's going to break you, too.
17:14It's kind of the game of,
17:15does anybody have something negative to say about this?
17:18If it's a constructive criticism coming from the right people,
17:23then we're going to use it to get better.
17:25What's nice is that when it turns with the music,
17:29you have the asymmetry with the music.
17:32That's nice.
17:33The arrival is nice and all,
17:36so I think we need to...
17:38So you have to be ready for judgment.
17:40You have to embrace it and you have to use it as a tool
17:45to be the best that you can be.
17:47It's an uphill, never-winning battle
17:50to try to appease everyone.
17:55We've had moments where we've decided mid-season
17:57to change the music or to change the program.
17:59Like in the last Olympic season,
18:00we really felt that we had to do everything
18:04that everyone was telling us to do
18:05in order to get the result that we wanted.
18:11And it didn't go the way that we wanted to.
18:16Fighting through this lift, she was going to go up to the top
18:19and she couldn't get it.
18:25You couldn't hide the disappointment in a program like that.
18:29You just couldn't.
18:31I think the last games was a good learning experience for us.
18:37So this year, we're really sticking to our vision.
18:40Especially if you've been in it for a while, you're a veteran,
18:43you want to stick to your guns and say,
18:46I know that's your opinion, but it doesn't feel right for us.
18:50But that's also then taking a chance
18:52because you're telling the judge, like,
18:55okay, thanks, but no thanks.
18:58We skated a few weeks ago just to get some initial feedback
19:01and they weren't sure about it.
19:05They couldn't really see the vision
19:07and maybe the pieces of music weren't their favorite cuts.
19:10We want to, like, listen to your feedback
19:12and kind of make the changes.
19:14So we switched some songs.
19:15We added a song.
19:16We're playing with remixes.
19:18But we felt like what we have is the most mature option for us
19:21and, like, we feel like this is the best vehicle for us still.
19:25But, I mean, we're, like, working on it daily,
19:28so it's kind of still evolving.
19:32Yeah.
19:48It's important.
19:49It's important.
19:51It's important.
19:51It's important.
19:52You're right.
19:52Yes.
19:53It's important.
19:54You want a coffee or you're already caffeinated?
19:56You don't have any coffee?
19:58Yeah, but I'd like to change...
20:00Oh, I'd like to take a matcha.
20:01I'd like to take a matcha.
20:05So we have a little bit of a change of plan.
20:09Pivoting.
20:11Pivoting with the music of our rhythm dance.
20:20Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
20:21Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
20:22In fact, I didn't put any other coffee.
20:23I think that's enough.
20:26It's good?
20:27Very good.
20:27It's sweet.
20:29Our coach, Roma, had some feedback from judges
20:34that our last music from Depeche Mode,
20:38Personal Jesus, the single was released in...
20:421989?
20:431989.
20:45So a few months before 1990.
20:50Basically, we would take the risk of having an illegal music,
20:55which would make us lose a lot of points.
21:01Our original idea was to skate to Vogue from Madonna.
21:05We wanted to do arm control movement,
21:08which is like a very technical version of the voguing.
21:11So we're coming back to the original idea.
21:15We're coming back.
21:19We're coming back.
21:23I think it's a big deal, but I think it's still early in the season, so it's very good that
21:29it's happening now in September.
21:33We've spent like five months on, you know, cutting music, trying to make everything perfect.
21:38So it's always a bit frustrating when you've done so much work and you have to kind of start again.
21:46But we think that it's very good to pivot now towards this avenue and we're having now costume changes.
21:55And we have to figure out which part of music could highlight what we had and at the same time
22:01change and modify what we were not super satisfied with.
22:06So it gives us a breath of fresh air and a little challenge.
22:13We have four weeks from now until the Grand Prix of France.
22:18And I would say we're like halfway through transposing the program into this new, with this new music.
22:29It's still, it's enough time. I think we'll be ready.
22:42Welcome to the beginning of the Grand Prix season. Oh my God.
22:48The Grand Prix is here.
22:49Oh my gosh. We made it.
22:50We made it.
22:50It doesn't feel real.
22:52The big events, the ones that are going to move us towards the big ticket events of the Olympics, the
22:57World Championships, right?
22:59Each year, the best skaters in the world phase off against one another on the Grand Prix series.
23:05You have six events and the skaters will have two each.
23:09And then the best placed skaters of this series will then go on to the Grand Prix Final, which is
23:16the top six teams in the world.
23:18It's the creme de la creme of the Grand Prix series.
23:23This is where you set the tone. This is where you let everyone know I'm the one to beat.
23:33Okay. Grand Prix of France. Ooh.
23:36I'm ready.
23:37Oh, so exciting.
23:37I'm so jealous of, like, literally everyone on my Twitter feed that's there today.
23:41We also are going to get our first international look at Laurence Fournier-Baudray and Guillaume Cizeron.
23:47Can't imagine they're not going to be hotly in the mix for that podium here.
23:52For Guillaume and Laurence, doing their first Grand Prix in France for sure has more pressure because they represent the
24:00country.
24:01It's like a full house.
24:08Heading into Grand Prix France, this is a critical moment for Guillaume and Laurence.
24:13This is their first international event together.
24:16But this is also where they're letting the entire ice dance world know where they will rank this season.
24:23If they're able to go out and dominate the field and end up on the top of the podium at
24:29their first event, I think it would send a message.
24:32We haven't seen anything yet, and we have no idea what's going to happen.
24:36And they have apparently recalibrated and gotten a new rhythm dance.
24:41It'll be very interesting to see how the international judges rank them because it's a really strong field overall.
24:47What they're doing has never been done before, like an Olympic champion coming back with a new partner, it's not
24:53been done.
24:53There's always nerves, like we're competing, but it fuels us and you need the nerves to make a good performance.
25:03I don't think anyone expected me to come back with Laurence.
25:06It might shake things up a little bit for everyone.
25:10I was the last Olympic champion, but Laurence and I were kind of the underdog.
25:15It's the first time we're hugging each other in the backstage, and it's the first time where we exit up
25:22the curtains and they say Laurence Fournier-Baudry and Guillaume Cezeron.
25:26And it's really special to feel that I was going to skate on the ice with my best friend.
25:34And Guillaume, of course, the five-time world and European champion, reigning Olympic champion.
25:41And there's a lot of hype, a lot of expectation to see how he fares with his new partner.
25:50For Guillaume and Laurence, it's very important here to show everybody that they are contenders for the Olympic medal in
25:58the rhythm dance.
25:59It would be great if they could be between 85 and 90 points.
26:11And there is the new partnership of Laurence Fournier-Baudry and Guillaume Cezeron.
26:17And the crowd knows only too well that despite the newness of their partnership,
26:21they have the potential to take goals in their Grand Prix debut in France.
26:27It's human nature.
26:28It's human nature.
26:31And it doesn't matter what he does.
26:41In nice dance every little step counts, because the technical panel is going to really analyze every difficult turn.
26:52Look at that.
26:55Straight sponge.
26:56They just have an amazing presence when they go out there.
27:04Every moment counts a lot for the final score.
27:09It's very important to be perfectly in sync, perfectly on the music, on the beat.
27:21Your arm drops to both knees that has to count as a fall.
27:27That would be a Costa mistake.
27:47Well, they are such incredible skaters.
27:50However, the mistake on the final element has to have a Costa impact on their score.
27:58How did you feel until now?
28:00Yes, until now.
28:13My expectations are extremely high. I need to know that I'm the best version of myself. But there's always a
28:23question of what if we don't win?
28:26Is that maybe the mistake of the mistake? This feeling of pressure, of envy?
28:32He passed by his pointe, so he falls on the two knees. And that, for us, is considered a fall.
28:40But, no, it's a little stupid mistake. But, well, it's a good lesson for the next competition.
28:53I don't know what the scores are, but I know that 68, it's not very good. It's not very good.
29:00I don't know what the scores are.
29:02I don't know what the scores are.
29:10I don't know what the scores are, but it's not very good.
29:20It's not very good until that point, until the end.
29:24You know, when you think about all the, you know, you know, all the facts that we forget about, like,
29:32you know, how long we've been skating together, how long we've been skating this specific program, how it's like, you
29:38know, an extra, maybe extra nerves or skating in France, having the whole family here.
29:45You know, you lose eight, nine points in, like, one second, you know. It's not ideal, but it's also a
29:55really good lesson for the rest of the season, because, you know, competition's not over.
30:01No.
30:02And there's tomorrow, and we have a pretty strong freedom, so.
30:05Yeah.
30:26I feel pretty good. I get nervous when you put your skates on. It's a hard time to stay in
30:35the present moment, because your brain keeps going towards the future to do the performance of our lives.
30:50I've heard people say, like, when you stop being stressed, it means you stop caring. And I'm still stressed, so.
30:57To us, it never goes away.
30:59Kyroman and Laurence are currently in third position. To be secure, to go to the Grand Prix Final, you need
31:05to win here. I think with a clean skate, they should be able to win the free dance. But to
31:12catch up 6.38 points over the British team, that's a huge amount of points.
31:20Sous la glace, représentant la France. On the eyes, representing France, Laurence Fournier-Baudry, Guillaume Cizeron.
31:31The crowd making quite clear who their favorites are here in France. But Laurence and Guillaume have to skate, not
31:38just cleanly, but brilliantly, if they are to have any chance of moving up to take the title.
31:59The crowd making quite clear who they are changing.
32:03Ooc, a good cake!
32:09Oh, my God.
32:41Oh, my God.
33:04Oh, my God.
33:31Just sublime.
33:33Arguably, some of the best quality of skating skills that we have ever seen.
33:45And the crowd here, standing on their feet, applauding what was an absolute masterclass of skating skill.
33:57They will need a huge score to close the gap and move up to first place.
34:09Laurance and Guillaume have obtained a total of 130 points.
34:26That score will take them to the top of the leaderboard.
34:31Laurance and Guillaume go home with the goal.
34:43Coming back into that free and skating so flawlessly, such a beautiful performance.
34:49And still dominating the score in a way that's quite a bit on top of anybody who's competing.
34:55We'll see if they can keep the momentum going into their next Grand Prix.
34:59So, on est content d'avoir fait ça au début de la saison, ce qui place la barre haute pour
35:06la suite.
35:07Puis, on va travailler fort pour l'amener encore plus haut.
35:12It's a really good start.
35:14I feel like we're going to be able to really build a lot on this first experience together
35:19and get ready for, you know, the long road that's ahead.
35:23Well, long and not long.
35:24It's only a few months.
35:26But every experience, we try to learn from it and, you know, get better.
35:48Soar?
35:48Yeah.
35:51Taking a little while to go away.
35:54We are leaving for Lake Placid in a few days.
35:58We're competing this upcoming weekend at Skate America, which is our second Grand Prix.
36:04You have, like, not that much time between Grand Prixs.
36:08So, like, you've got to just kind of, like, get back in and we wanted to make some adjustments to
36:13both programs.
36:14We changed some lifts.
36:17That adds, like, another layer of challenge because then you take out, like, the comfort that you were just starting
36:21to feel.
36:22And that's where we're at right now.
36:25Like, we had time, but we're just figuring it out.
36:27Sorry, I need a minute.
36:32You okay?
36:33Yeah.
36:36In our sport, it's like, you never really want to show that you're struggling.
36:41Perception becomes reality in some sense.
36:43So, you always want to put on that you're, you know, thriving.
36:47And this is just easy for you.
36:50But obviously, it's not easy.
36:51It takes a lot.
36:55Stop.
36:58My back's not feeling good because when you put new stuff in, you repeat it, like, over and over and
37:03over again to get the muscle memory.
37:05When you repeat lifts over and over and over again, your back doesn't feel good.
37:15But we're training over 30 hours a week, I'd say.
37:18And the mileage can add up over years.
37:21I don't know.
37:21It's just, like, the mid-season slog, I suppose.
37:24It's just kind of hard.
37:27So, our first Grand Prix was Cup of China.
37:29And then afterwards, we always get a load of feedback.
37:33People had more chatter about the skirt than the dancing.
37:36That skirt is the scariest to me.
37:40It limits the visibility of what she's performing.
37:43There was a couple of people, judges, commentaries about the skirt being a little bit heavy, a little bit long.
37:51So, we changed the customers.
37:53We made them with the intent of doing, like, a little more of, like, a sleek, modern look.
37:58Is the skirt the same length?
38:00It's a little bit shorter.
38:02And it's not double layered.
38:03It's just one layer.
38:07I feel like it looks dinky and, like, small now.
38:14It looks really good.
38:15No, it's fine.
38:16Let's just get going.
38:26When you go to the Olympics, you do not want to have any variable that, like, you are not in
38:31control of.
38:32You're not in control of a long skirt.
38:36It can move the same direction a thousand times.
38:40And then, on the 1,001th time, it'll go the other direction.
38:45And if I were competing for the Ice Dance gold medal, I wouldn't want to leave anything to chance.
38:51It's not that skirt in my face.
38:54You still did?
38:55Yeah.
38:55It's okay.
38:56Yeah.
38:57You got to trust it and look a little bit inside because the skirt is this way.
39:19I do love the skirt, but the choreo slide would for sure be the riskiest moment of the program for
39:25him to get a little bit of that skirt underneath the edge of his blade.
39:28He will fall.
39:29She'll fall.
39:30Like, we're talking probably an eight-point mistake for something as silly as your skirt being long.
39:39I know you weren't bothered by the skirt.
39:41It changes, like...
39:43See, like, I put a hole in your skirt.
39:45Yeah, yeah.
39:46You stepped on it.
39:47There's a hole.
39:49What are we going to do?
39:51As long as I've been skating, Madison Chalk has been the gold standard of how do you want to look
39:57when you go to a competition.
40:00And so I think that this costume is something that's probably really important to her, that she takes this in
40:07her...
40:07Let's imagine their final Olympic season takes the biggest swing of her life.
40:21We don't always get ready in matching outfits, but just on special occasions, like today.
40:27Matching exactly, I've been.
40:31We have to do our makeup together in our...
40:33It's the best.
40:34In our matching outfits.
40:37We are in Lake Placid, New York, for the Skate America Grand Prix.
40:45I never have enough curl cream.
40:48Well, we did make a lot of changes to the program, and I feel like the goal would be to
40:53have a good showing, show the progress we've made, and show the potential of the program.
41:02I'm not feeling great, honestly.
41:06I saw the doctor last night, and they thought maybe because I've been taking so much ibuprofen is why I
41:10feel like so nauseous and sick.
41:12So I'm going to switch to a leave.
41:16And I think I was more stressed because I knew I wasn't feeling good.
41:19And then Maddie was just doing the deep breathing and just anchoring the team, pulling me through.
41:26And I was so grateful for her yesterday because that's the only reason why I can still do it, honestly.
41:34I got your phone.
41:35I do think that Maddie and Evan, they only let in certain people.
41:39Usually it's for a week or so before the event.
41:43They start being a little bit tighter.
41:46They don't skate as free.
41:48They're not as much in the enjoyment.
41:50All righty.
41:51Let's do it.
41:52They're starting to overanalyze every little bobble.
41:55I don't feel good.
41:56I don't like this.
41:57And it sometimes manifests in, like, a stiff neck, a stiff back.
42:12Maddie and Evan are at a home Grand Prix.
42:15They have the home field advantage.
42:18What do you want to do if you have the home field advantage and you just saw another team, Guillaume
42:23and Laurence, who's in that mix for gold now.
42:26When they had the home team advantage, they got this crazy score.
42:32So, the goal isn't to win.
42:34They're going to do that.
42:36They are head and shoulders above the rest of the teams in this field.
42:41Their focus is to basically draw a line and go, we have set the precedent.
42:50Great job at your Grand Prix in France, Guillaume.
42:53But we're the three-time and reigning world champions.
42:59Look at the score that we can get.
43:16I was feeling pretty good, actually, this morning.
43:18And then, on practice, we did one combo lift where she jumps over my shoulder and I catch her.
43:23And I just felt like in that moment, I felt this really sharp pain in my back.
43:29Competitors, there is one minute remaining in this practice session.
43:33I knew that I kind of tweaked something a little bit and it was going to kind of, the pain
43:37is going to get a little bit worse.
43:40I mean, that's the hardest thing is there's nothing I can do.
43:43I can't, like, fix it for him.
43:44I can't, like, do anything more to help but just be supportive and make sure that he knows that I've
43:51got his back, literally and figuratively.
44:22I don't know how he's feeling right now, but it was pretty bad.
44:26And his back is out.
44:28He's been having an issue with his back for, I don't know, at least a week, if not more.
44:34And in practice, during a lift, it just, like, made it much more worse.
44:39I don't know, it's just moving my arms and stuff.
44:42Like, it hurts to breathe, you know, it's like my ribs.
44:45It's not a static sport.
44:47Like, the whole thing is on curves and the physics of it all is, like, momentum-based and it's all
44:51twisting and turning and stuff like that.
44:53So it's just, like, it's not conducive to having back and rib pain.
44:59Withdrawing would be a last resort.
45:01That would mean no Grand Prix final.
45:03We'd be out.
45:04If they don't do the final, then they wouldn't get another international event before the Olympics.
45:10It's a big part of the preparation towards the Olympics, getting your programs to be seen, getting to fine-tuning
45:16your programs.
45:17It's hard to fine-tune programs without doing competition.
45:22If it's unsafe for Maddie, if he feels he cannot lift her and keep her safe, I think he would
45:27make a decision to keep his wife safe.
45:32I'm worried that some of the moves that we're doing on the ice are really putting Maddie at risk.
45:38If I'm not feeling my best, I'm questioning whether I'm going to be able to do it.
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