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| James & Bonheur in exhibition in 2008. | ||
| Personal Information | ||
| Full name: | Vanessa James | |
| Country represented: |  France |
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| Former country(ies) represented: |  United Kingdom |
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| Date of birth: | September 27, 1987 | |
| Place of birth: | Ontario, Canada | |
| Partner: | Yannick Bonheur | |
| Coach: | Vivien Rolland | |
| Former coach: | Karl Kurtz Priscilla Hill |
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| Choreographer: | Dominique Molina | |
| Former choreographer: | Alexei Pelexei | |
| Skating club: | Francais Volants | |
| ISU Personal Best Scores | ||
| Combined Total: | 139.34 | 2009 Worlds |
| Short Program: | 44.34 | 2008 Trophee Eric Bompard |
| Free Skate: | 95.24 | 2009 Worlds |
Vanessa James (born September 27, 1987 in Ontario) is a Canadian figure skater who has competed internationally as both a single skater and pair skater. She has competed for the United States and Great Britain as a single skater. In 2007, she teamed up with Yannick Bonheur to compete in pair skating for France.
Contents |
Biography
Personal life
James was born in Canada and grew up in the United states. Her father is from Bermuda, which enabled James to hold a British passport and to compete for Britain. While competing in singles, she lived and trained in the United States. She moved to France in 2007 to train with Bonheur.
Her twin sister Melyssa James is also a figure skater.
Career
James originally competed in the United States. In 2005, she switched to compting for Great Britain. She was the 2006 British national champion and 2007 national silver medalist. James was the first British figure skating champion who was of Black African descent.[1] She competed for Britain on the Junior Grand Prix and at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships.
She tried a partnership with British skater Hamish Gaman, but the partnership did not last.
James teamed up with French skater Yannick Bonheur and began competing internationally with him in 2008. At the 2009 World Championships in Los Angeles, Bonheur & James delivered a dynamic, nearly error-free free-skate which vaulted them from 17th to 12th place (11th place for the free skate). It resulted in one of only three standing ovations given during the pairs free skate (the others given to the highest finishing American team Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett and the eventual World Champions from Germany, Alona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy).
Competitive highlights
Pairs career
(with Yannick Bonheur for France)
| Event | 2008-2009 |
|---|---|
| World Championships | 12th |
| European Championships | 10th |
| French Championships | WD |
| French Masters | 2nd |
| Trophee Eric Bompard | 7th |
- WD = Withdrawn
Singles career
(for Great Britain)
| Event | 2005-2006 | 2006-2007 | 2007-2008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Junior Championships | 27th | ||
| British Championships | 1st | 2nd | |
| Coupe de Nice | 3rd | ||
| Junior Grand Prix, Netherlands | 8th |
References
External links
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