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00:15¡SuscrÃbete al canal!
00:30You hold on to that hope of, like, something big is going to happen, and I 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.
00:58We 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.
01:38I 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 Crowe and Paul O'Reilly.
01:54I was 19 when I was looking for a new partner.
01:58We were babies.
01:59Babies.
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 tryout 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.
02:30We 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 Hubble.
02:46I moved to Canada to skate with Paul.
02:47Once 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 Kim.
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.
03:36Again.
03:37This is the driver's house.
03:41Ok, 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.
04:06It's 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.
04:31One, two, three, four, round.
04:33Wondering if we were missing some dimensions with the shoulders.
04:37Through!
04:38Hey!
04:39And the Free Dance is whatever the skater's choice.
04:43So, it can be anything from classical to modern, and 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 because you are picking the programs that could
05:08seal 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.
05:21It's anybody's game.
05:23It just depends on what teams have the right material.
05:27It's all about their material.
05:42Piper and Paul are literal, they're camp.
05:46Get it!
05:48They're just very, like, big and, like, very, so much character, so much personality.
05:54One more to go.
05:55You're almost, like, thinking too much.
05:58I want more after this, when it 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 TU 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 Luke Lee, 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 park.
06:41No.
06:41It's more like...
06:43Yeah.
06:43But 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 gonna do?
07:16Let's decide.
07:18Ooh.
07:18Ooh, ooh, yeah.
07:19On that one, right?
07:20Yeah.
07:20Okay.
07:21Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
07:21Do steel.
07:22Mm-hmm.
07:26At the beginning of every season, Paul and I, and our coaches, we always call ourselves the Cliff Jumpers.
07:30Because we've created something so unique and new, and we don't know if the people are gonna understand the characters.
07:36Hand.
07:37Magician.
07:38Magician.
07:38Magician.
07:38Hat.
07:40Swipe it.
07:41That's a lot of things.
07:43That's gonna take two months for him to think about.
07:45This is what you asked?
07:45This is what you asked?
07:46Did you not just ask for this?
07:47I did.
07:49Fucking on multitask.
07:51Look, he 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, which is entirely true.
07:59I'm, like, 99.9% sure no one is gonna do Supermodel by RuPaul because people aren't brave enough to
08:06do it.
08:07And the best thing about Piper and Paul is that they are.
08:12Thank you.
08:13Thanks, Allison.
08:14Mm.
08:15So, you mean my living room?
08:16I'm just like, phew, phew.
08:17Correct.
08:23I just think the contrast, when you look at it overall, and it's on his arm, I feel like it
08:29might 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, this is for the pants, and this is probably some part of, like, the chest in the back.
08:49Mm-hmm.
08:49I'm gonna use this.
08:51I love, love designing costumes, and the research, and 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, like, there's gonna be darker...
09:10Yeah.
09:10...and depth, so I'm not just, like, a big brown.
09:13I mean, you're not supposed to be, like, 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, and then see the full process of, like, it becomes a wearable piece of
09:31art,
09:31and then we're the ones who get to wear it, and go out and perform in it, it's pretty unique.
09:35Like, from literally just an idea in Maddie's head to center eyes.
09:40It's just, it's pretty cool.
09:43Let's try a dress.
09:44Let's try a dress.
09:44Let's try a dress.
09:45Not at all.
09:46My pants and cape.
09:48Mm-hmm.
09:51It's the whole family right here on the couch supporting you, guys.
09:54Thank you.
09:54Good job, guys.
09:56So it's the first fitting, so it's not really glamour.
10:01This is the skeleton of the costume.
10:03I am the matador in our program this year, and Evan is the bull.
10:08I wanted to play with the traditional aspects and detailing.
10:12How much would you take off the bottom?
10:14It's the same as my practice skirt.
10:16We wanted a longer skirt because I am the matador, and 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, within reason, of course, because safety.
10:30Oops, there's a pin there.
10:33Hello.
10:34There is a possibility that my skirt comes completely over his head and obstructs his vision,
10:39which as a matador, great, that's what you want.
10:41But as an ice dancer, not ideal.
10:44That's so cool.
10:46It moves really well.
10:48Yeah.
10:48But it's got, like, a real cool whip, like a ripple.
10:52It looks like that momentous.
10:54All right, well, let's just do the practice skirt in the same exact style as you have this now with
10:59the two.
10:59Right.
11:00See how that goes.
11:06Five, six, seven, eight.
11:08One, and two, and three, and four, and four, and four, and...
11:11For Laurence and Guillaume's Rhythm Dance, they're skating to Depeche Mode.
11:14It's the third one.
11:16It has a unique European sound, a little bit underground.
11:20It has good bones for voguing.
11:25Brill is a specialist in arm control movement, which is one category of the big family of voguing.
11:34Better?
11:35From there, can we open, can you open this?
11:38Open the bottom one, maybe?
11:41No.
11:42I love it.
11:44I think it's really special because voguing and arm control, what we're learning is 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 that have already decided that's your next Olympic champion.
12:15I think that's very bold to assume.
12:18After the illusion when we do all this, should I try to aim to go here, so I finish on
12:25this side?
12:26I like either.
12:27Yeah.
12:28I kind of naturally, like, get more you here and here.
12:33So, I represented Canada for many years, and now I'm representing France.
12:39She doesn't have her citizenship yet.
12:41I can represent France in all the competition up to world championships.
12:46In order to do Olympics, I need the French citizenship.
12:52Oh, you're going so hard.
12:54I'm crossing my fingers that everything will go accordingly to plan and that we'll have the citizenship in time for
13:00me to go to the Olympics with Guillaume.
13:02We're doing the best that we can every day to get closer to our goal, and the rest you kind
13:08of leave to faith.
13:10When we did the footwork yesterday, we were tracking it.
13:13Most of the time, when you find a partner, they're not from the same country.
13:17So, it makes getting the citizenship even more challenging because some countries, it takes years and it's impossible to get
13:25it.
13:26So, we don't know if they will be able to compete for the Olympics.
13:30Like, we're hoping.
13:31They're hoping, but we don't know.
13:36In Ice Dance, we're dealing with a sport that has so many women and not so many men.
13:44And, of course, finding two people of the same age from the same country.
13:49Oh, my God.
13:50It's hard.
13:52Representing Finland, Yuka Hora Hora and Yuhal Pirates.
13:57As skaters, we live a very global lifestyle.
14:02There is some country hopping.
14:05Sometimes, the best option for you is from Lithuania.
14:09Representing Lithuania, Taliesin Reid and Yassolius, up to innovation.
14:14If you look at the Lithuanian team, the famous last name Reid does not really ring a bell when you
14:22kind 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 than for her to get German citizenship.
14:45And now, they're Spanish.
14:49If you look at the top ten teams in the world, more than half have a skater who's represented more
14:54than one country.
14:55It's a dog-eat-dog world.
14:58Sometimes, you just got to get your Azerbaijani citizenship.
15:02From Azerbaijan, Samantha Rinder and Daniel Brickpahl.
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?
15:19Two and three?
15:19Yeah.
15:21So, up here.
15:29One.
15:30Two.
15:31And now, take this out of there.
15:32Move forward.
15:37That's cool.
15:39Yeah.
15:41So, we're here at Champs Camp, and it's the annual pre-season camp that US Figure Skating holds.
15:46So, all the skaters who are going to be sent out for international competitions come here and debut their programs
15:52for the American judges.
15:54But this is a really great starting point to just kind of share our music, share the concept, what our
16:00vision for the program is, and see how people respond.
16:03Yeah.
16:04Remember, judges one through nine are completely scattered along the boards here, and everybody's going to have a different perception
16:11of that face-to-face moment and what it looks like.
16:13I know it will feel insane what I'm about to say, but sometimes the judges and different officials will come
16:23to the rinks, and they will watch the skaters train.
16:29They are there while the skaters are picking out their programs and their music, and they're letting the teams know,
16:36we think this is good, we think this isn't, we think scratch this, start over here.
16:41That's always kind of like the first scary moment of 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 and to have them be involved in your
17:00process.
17:01Because we're a creative sport, everybody has something to say, good or bad.
17:06You have to choose what's going to help you.
17:10You have to understand what's going to break you too.
17:14It's kind of the game of, does anybody have something negative to say about this?
17:18If it's a constructive criticism coming from the right people, then we're going to use it to get better.
17:37So you have to be ready for judgment.
17:40You have to embrace it and you have to use it as a tool to be the best that you
17:46can be.
17:47It's an uphill, never winning battle to try to appease everyone.
17:55We've had moments where we've decided mid-season to change the music or to change the program.
17:59Like in the last Olympic season, we really felt that we had to do everything that everyone was telling us
18:05to do in 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 and she couldn't get it.
18:25You couldn't hide the disappointment in a program like that. You 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, you want to stick to your guns and
18:45say,
18:45I know that's your opinion, but it doesn't feel right for us.
18:50But that's also then taking a chance because you're telling the judge like, okay, thanks, but no thanks.
18:58We skated a few weeks ago just to get some initial feedback and they weren't sure about it.
19:05They weren't, they couldn't really see the vision and maybe the pieces of music weren't their favorite cuts.
19:10We wanted, like, listen to your feedback and kind of make the changes.
19:14So we switched some songs, we added a song, 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, so it's kind of still evolving.
19:32Yeah.
19:35Yeah.
19:47It sounded so good.
19:49It sounded so good.
19:51How's it going?
19:52Yes.
19:53Do you want a coffee or you already have coffee?
19:56You don't have a coffee?
19:58Yeah, but for like chance...
19:59Oh, I'll 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.
20:18Thank you.
20:19Thank you.
20:20Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
20:22I don't have any other coffee, but I think that's enough.
20:24Thank you.
20:27Thank you.
20:27Very good.
20:27Thank you.
20:28Thank you.
20:30Our coach Romain had some feedback from judges that our last music from Depeche Mode, Personal
20:39Jesus.
20:40The single was released in 1989, so a few months before 1990.
20:50Basically, we would take the risk of having an illegal music, which would make us lose a lot of points.
21:01Our original idea was to skate to Vogue from Madonna.
21:06We wanted to do arm control movement, which is like a very technical version of the voguing.
21:11So we're coming back to the original idea.
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 and
21:55we have to figure out which part of music could highlight what we had.
22:00And at the same time, change 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. Oh, my gosh. We made it. We made it.
22:51The 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.
23:22This 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. Oh, 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-Baudry 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. Very.
24:08Heading into Grand Prix France, this is a critical moment for Guillaume and Laurence.
24:13This is their first international event together. But this is also where they're letting the entire ice dance world know
24:21where 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.
24:37And 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. It might shake things up a little bit for
25:09everyone.
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.
25:35Guillaume, 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.
25:57In the rhythm dance, it would be great if they could be between 85 and 90 points.
26:07Presenting France, Laurence Fournier-Baudry, Guillaume Cezeron.
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,
26:22they have the potential to take gold in their Grand Prix debut in France.
26:41In Iceland, every step counts because the technical panel is going to really analyse every difficult turn.
26:52Look at that.
26:55Strike the pose.
26:56They just have an amazing presence when they go out there.
27:03Strike the pose.
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.
27:15It's very important to be perfectly in sync.
27:20Let's do it!
27:21Let's do it!
27:21Let's go!
27:21Yomp drops to both knees, that has to count as a fall.
27:28That would be a cost of mistake.
27:48¡SuscrÃbete al canal!
27:50¡SuscrÃbete al canal!
27:54¡SuscrÃbete al canal!
27:58¿Cómo se siente hasta aqu�
28:00Hasta aquÃ.
28:13Mis expectativas son extremadamente altas
28:16y necesito saber que soy la mejor versión de mÃ.
28:21Pero siempre hay una pregunta de
28:23¿Qué si no ganamos?
28:26¿Eso es la error también?
28:27¿Eso es la sensación de pressión, de deseo?
28:32Se ha pasado por la punta,
28:34asà que se pasa por los dos pies.
28:37Y esto, para nosotros, es considerado como una caja.
28:40Pero no, es una error un poco estúpida.
28:45Pero bueno, es un buen aprendizaje
28:47para las próximas competencias.
28:53No sé qué son los resultados,
28:56pero sé que 68 no es muy bueno.
28:58No es muy bueno.
29:01No sé nada más.
29:02No sé nada más.
29:10No sé nada más.
29:19No sé nada más.
29:22No sé nada más.
29:44No sé nada más.
29:49No sé nada más.
30:01No sé nada más.
30:05SÃ.
30:05¡Oh, sÃ!
30:25No sé nada más.
30:28No sé nada más.
30:30cuando te pones tus skates en.
30:33Es difÃcil de estar en el momento presente
30:35porque tu cerebro sigue hacia el futuro
30:39para hacer la performance de nuestras vidas.
30:50Yo he oÃdo que la gente dice
30:52que cuando te cierres de estrellas,
30:54te significa que te cierres de care.
30:55Y yo estoy muy estrellado,
30:56asà que para nosotros,
30:58no se va a pasar.
30:59Guillermo y Laurence
31:00están en la tercera posición.
31:03Para ser seguro,
31:04para ir a la final de la Grand Prix,
31:05tienes que ganar aquÃ.
31:07Creo que con una escala limpia,
31:09deberÃan poder ganar la danza libre.
31:12Pero para acceder a 6,38 puntos
31:16sobre la equipa británica,
31:18eso es una gran cantidad de puntos.
31:21¡Sus la glace, representando la Francia!
31:23En el aire, representando la Francia,
31:25Laurence Fournier-Baudry,
31:27Guillaume Cizeron.
31:31La gente está haciendo muy claro
31:33quiénes son favoritos aquà en Francia,
31:36pero Laurence y Guillaume
31:37tienen que irse,
31:38no solo cleanamente,
31:39pero brillante,
31:40si tienen alguna oportunidad
31:41de moverme y tomar el tÃtulo.
31:55no solo cleanamente.
31:57No solo key.
31:57No lo screech.
32:41Música
32:41Música
33:17Música
33:18Música
33:18Música
33:21Música
33:32Música
33:33Música
33:38Música
33:39Música
33:45Música
33:46Música
33:49Música
33:56Música
34:01Música
34:02Música
34:14Música
34:15Música
34:18Música
34:19Música
34:21Música
34:24Música
34:25Música
34:26¡That score will take them to the top of the leaderboard!
34:31Laurence and Guillaume go home with the goal.
34:43Coming back into that free and skating so flawlessly,
34:46such a beautiful performance and still dominating the score
34:51in 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, we're happy to have done that at the beginning of the season,
35:04which places the top part for the next,
35:07and we're going to work hard to bring it up again.
35:12It's a really good start.
35:14I feel like we're going to be able to really build a lot
35:17on this first experience together
35:19and get ready for, you know, the long road that's ahead.
35:23Well, long and not long. It's only a few months.
35:26But every experience, we try to learn from it and, you know, get better.
35:48Soar?
35:48Yeah. Taking 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,
36:01which is our second Grand Prix.
36:05You have, like, not that much time between Grand Prix,
36:08so, like, you've got to just kind of, like, get back in,
36:10and we wanted to make some adjustments to both programs.
36:14We changed some lifts.
36:17That adds, like, another layer of challenge
36:18because then you take out, like, the comfort
36:20that you were just starting to feel,
36:22and that's where we're at right now.
36:24Like, we had time, but we're just figuring it out.
36:27Sorry, I need a minute.
36:32You okay? Yeah.
36:36In our sport, it's like you never really want to show
36:39that 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. It takes a lot.
36:55Stop.
36:56You all right?
36:58My back's not feeling good
36:59because when you put new stuff in,
37:02when you repeat it, like, over and over and over again
37:04to get the muscle memory,
37:05when you repeat lifts over and over and over again,
37:08your 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
37:31a load of feedback.
37:33People had more chatter about the skirt
37:35than the dancing.
37:36That skirt is the scariest to me.
37:40It limits the visibility of what she's performing.
37:44There was a couple of people, judges, commentaries
37:48about the skirt being a little bit heavy,
37:50a little bit long.
37:51So we changed customers.
37:53We made them with the intent of doing, like,
37:55a 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.
38:03And it's just one layer.
38:07I feel like it looks dinky and, like, small now.
38:12It looks really good.
38:15No, it's fine.
38:16Let's just get going.
38:27When you go to the Olympics, you do not want to have any variable
38:30that, like, you are not in control of.
38:32You're not in control of a long skirt.
38:37It can move the same direction 1,000 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,
38:49I wouldn't want to leave anything to chance.
38:51It's not that skirt 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
38:59because the skirt is this way.
39:19I do love the skirt,
39:21but the choreo slide would for sure be the riskiest moment
39:24of the program for him to get a little bit of that skirt
39:27underneath the edge of his blade.
39:28He will fall, she'll fall.
39:30Like, we're talking probably an eight-point mistake for something
39:35as 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, there's a hole.
39:49What are we gonna do?
39:51What are we gonna do?
39:52As long as I've been skating,
39:53Madison Chalk has been the gold standard of
39:56how do you want to look when you go to a competition?
39:59And so I think that this costume is something that's probably really important to her.
40:05That she takes this in her, let's imagine their final Olympic season,
40:10takes the biggest swing of her life.
40:21We don't always get ready in matching outfits, but just on special occasions.
40:26Like 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.
40:45We never have enough curl cream.
40:48Well, we did make a lot of changes to the program,
40:51and I feel like the goal would be to have a good showing,
40:55show 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,
41:07and they thought maybe because I've been taking so much ibuprofen
41:10is why I feel, like, so nauseous and sick.
41:12So I'm gonna switch to a leave.
41:16I think I was more stressed because I knew I wasn't feeling good.
41:19And then Maddie was just doing the deep breathing
41:21and just anchoring the team, pulling me through.
41:26And I was so grateful for her yesterday
41:29because 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. Let's do it.
41:53They're starting to overanalyze every little bobble.
41:55I don't feel good. I 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
42:21and you just saw another team, Guillaume and Laurence,
42:24who'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,
42:48we 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
43:23and I catch her and I just felt like in that moment,
43:24I 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
43:35and it was going to kind of, the pain is 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
43:48and make sure that he knows that I've got his back literally and figuratively.
44:22I don't know how he's feeling right now but it was pretty bad.
44:26His 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, doing 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
44:51and it's all twisting 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,
45:15getting to fine-tuning your 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,
45:27I think he would make 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.
46:02Strike the bone.
46:13Strike the bone.
46:14Strike the bone.
46:14Strike the bone.
46:20Strike the bone.
46:28Strike the bone.
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