In September 2010, Ciprès teamed up with Canadian/American Vanessa James to compete in pair skating for France.[3][4] They made no competitive appearances in their first season as Ciprès learned pairs elements.[5] Eight years later, James recalled the beginning of her partnership: "I remember our 3-day-trial and it was so fun. He was so funny, because he had never done pairs before, so he was really nervous and saying 'oh my gosh, oh my gosh' every time he threw me. I knew that we were going to be good friends."[6]
Finishing sixth overall, James/Ciprès were the best French pair (outscoring Popova/Massot by almost 12 points) at the 2012 European Championships in Sheffield, England. They were granted France's lone spot in pairs at the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France. In Nice, the two qualified to the final segment and finished sixteenth overall.
2012–2013 season
James/Ciprès won the bronze medal at the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy — it was their first international medal as a pair.[7] Their 2012 Grand Prix assignments were Skate America, where they placed fourth, and the Trophee Eric Bompard, where they came in sixth. James/Ciprès won another international medal at the 2012 NRW Trophy and followed that in December with their first French national title.
James/Ciprès were again assigned to Skate America and the Trophee Eric Bompard. After Ciprès underwent surgery to correct a wrist injury, he had to avoid lifts for a period, causing the pair to withdraw from Skate America.[8][9] They were able to compete at the Trophee Eric Bompard and placed fifth. The pair successfully defended their national title, winning in 2013.
At the 2014 Europeans, James/Ciprès set personal best scores in both segments of the competition and came in fifth. They were named to the French team to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. There they placed tenth in the pairs event and sixth in the team event.
James/Ciprès began their season with a bronze medal at the 2015 CS Nebelhorn Trophy. They placed second in the short program at the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard. The remainder of the event was cancelled following the November 2015 Paris attacks by terrorists. The ISU deemed those placements to be the final results, and awarded James/Ciprès silver as their first Grand Prix medal. The pair finished fourth at the 2016 European Championships in Bratislava and tenth at the 2016 World Championships in Boston. At the end of the season, they concluded that they needed a major change if they were to continue competing.[10] James said "either we improve, or we stop. There was no point in anything else."[11]
In March, James/Ciprès placed tenth in the short program, sixth in the free skate, and eighth overall at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. The following month, they competed as part of Team France at the 2017 World Team Trophy in Tokyo, Japan. While the French team finished sixth overall, the pair scored personal bests and placed first in both segments of the pairs' event, ahead of Russia's Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov.
Reflecting on their progress as a team, James said, "Our main problem [before] was that we were two different people on the ice. We needed to change that and to increase the connection between the two of us."[17]
2017–2018 season: PyeongChang Olympics and World bronze medal
James/Ciprès were named to France's delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics, which took place in February in Pyeongchang, South Korea.[18] During the team event, they placed sixth in their segment and Team France finished tenth. In the regular pairs event, they placed sixth in the short, fifth in the free, and fifth overall. In March, they became the first French pair since 2000 to stand on the World podium, winning the bronze medal at the 2018 World Championships in Milan, Italy. James, reflecting on the start of her partnership, remarked "I'm so glad I made that choice because we're a really good team today. It's been bumpy, but amazing with Morgan."[6]
2018–2019 season
The duo's programs were both choreographed by ice dancers. Charlie White, a retired Olympic gold medalist, worked on the free skate, and fellow French Olympian Guillaume Cizeron developed the short programme.[11]
James/Ciprès won gold at their first event of the season, the 2018 CS Autumn Classic International and obtained their first victory at a Grand Prix event, at 2018 Skate Canada International, setting a new world record in the free skate. James said that they "gave so much emotion, and at the end, it was just magic for us."[19] In mid-November they competed at the 2018 Internationaux de France, where they won their second Grand Prix gold medal of the season, albeit with a somewhat rockier performance in the short program. They ranked third before winning the free skate. These results qualified them for their first Grand Prix Final, for 2018–19.
Ciprès said "it's the first time for us to win two Grand Prix in the season and to go to the Grand Prix Final. We have a lot of work to do for these next two weeks."[20] In fourth after the short program in the Final, they again set a world record to win the free skate and the gold medal. James expressed the hope that "having this long program so solid and strong will just help when we have a good short program. I know we have to fight every time after our short program to make up the points, but feeling more free and not having to try and try to make a comeback, I think will just liberate us a little bit more, I am hoping."[21]
After winning another national title, their sixth, James/Ciprès competed at the 2019 European Championships in Minsk. After a first-place finish in the short program, they were ahead of Tarasova/Morozov.[22] They won the free skate as well, taking the European pairs title. They were only the second French team to do so, and the first since 1932, when Andrée Joly and Pierre Brunet won it. James called the result "a dream come true", saying that it was "a dream when we were children to be here one day."[23]
In March at the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, during the short program warm-up, James had a collision with Italy's Matteo Guarise, in which both skaters fell onto the ice.[24] James/Ciprès placed a very unexpected seventh in the short program after additional mishaps. James fell on her throw triple flip, and Ciprès doubled his planned triple toe loop. In the free program they placed third, and fifth overall. They did not make the 'top of podium' for the first time that season, but took a small bronze medal for the free program. At the end of their free program, James/Ciprès announced that they would continue to keep skating until they won the World title.[25] To finish the season, they competed at the 2019 World Team Trophy in Fukuoka, Japan. They earned a new personal best in the free skate to earn first in the pairs event and fourth overall with the French team.[26]
Following the 2018–19 season, James/Ciprès were initially given two assignments on the 2019–20 Grand Prix circuit, the 2019 NHK Trophy and 2019 Internationaux de France. At the same time, it was announced that James would be appearing on the revival of the Canadian CBC skating competition program Battle of the Blades in the fall of 2019, partnered with retired NHL player Brian McGrattan. James/Ciprès subsequently withdrew from their Grand Prix assignments, concluding they could not practically do both.[27]
Sexual abuse allegations, and retirement
On 10 December 2019, USA Today journalist Christine Brennan reported that Ciprès was under investigation by the United States Center for SafeSport, which investigates sexual abuse in Olympic sports, for having sent a picture of his penis to a 13-year-old girl who was a student at their training center. She reported that coaches Zimmerman and Silvia Fontana were accused of having known about this and attempted to cover it up in the runup to the 2018 Olympics.[28] Zimmerman — who coached the 13-year-old as well as Cipres — was suspended by SafeSport in March 2021 for covering up the 2017 abuse, and for shaming and threatening the girl after he found out about the incident.[29]
James/Ciprès did not compete again during the remainder of the season. The allegations against Ciprès subsequently factored into the scandals that forced the resignation of controversial FFSG chief Didier Gailhaguet in the spring of 2020.[30][28] In July 2020, the FFSG's disciplinary committee declined to take action against Ciprès, claiming that it was not aware of the alleged victim's complaint, and that there was a lack of "objective [elements] (photographs, messages, letters) that could establish proof of any offense."[31]
On 25 September 2020, it was announced that James would return to Battle of the Blades for its sixth season, this time partnered with Akim Aliu.[32] Four days later, the FFSG announced that James and Ciprès would both be retiring from competition.[33]
On 8 December 2020, the Florida state attorney's office filed a third-degree felony charge against Ciprès for the transmission of material harmful to a minor by electronic device, which carries up to a five-year prison sentence, and issued a warrant for his arrest.[34][35][36] The investigation had been reopened in June; the U.S. SafeSport investigation remains ongoing.[37]
James announced in April 2021 that she was coming out of retirement.[29] She has partnered with Canadian pairs skater Eric Radford.
