Meagan Duhamel

Meagan Duhamel
Duhamel and Radford in 2011
Personal information
Country represented	Canada
Born	(1985-12-08) December 8, 1985 Sudbury, Ontario
Home town	Lively, Ontario
Residence	St-Leonard, Quebec
Height	148 cm (4 ft 10 in)
Partner	Eric Radford (2010–present)
Former partner	Craig Buntin (2007–2010) Ryan Arnold
Coach	Richard Gauthier, Bruno Marcotte, Sylvie Fullum
Former coach	Lee Barkell
Choreographer	Julie Marcotte
Skating club	CPA St-Leonard
Began skating	1988
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	221.53 2015 Worlds
Short program	77.01 2014 Worlds
Free skate	146.22 2014–15 Grand Prix Final
Medal record Competitor for  Canada Figure skating: Pairs Olympic Games 2014 Sochi Team World Championships 2015 Shanghai Pairs 2013 London Pairs 2014 Saitama Pairs Four Continents Championships 2013 Osaka Pairs 2015 Seoul Pairs 2011 Taipei Pairs 2010 Jeonju Pairs Grand Prix Final 2014–15 Barcelona Pairs 2015–16 Barcelona Pairs World Team Trophy 2013 Tokyo Team 2012 Tokyo Team

Meagan Duhamel (born December 8, 1985) is a Canadian pair skater. With her partner Eric Radford she became the 2015 World Champion, a Olympic silver medalist in the team event, two-time World bronze medalist (2013 and 2014), two-time Four Continents champion (2013 and 2015), 2014–15 Grand Prix Final champion, and five-time Canadian national champion (2012–16).

With previous partner Craig Buntin, Duhamel became the 2010 Four Continents bronze medalist and a three-time Canadian national medalist (one silver, two bronze).

Personal life

Meagan Duhamel was born on December 8, 1985 in Sudbury, Ontario and raised in Lively, Ontario.^[1] She is studying holistic health.^[2] She became a vegan in 2008.^[3] In July 2014, it was announced that she was engaged to Bruno Marcotte.^[4] The couple married on June 5, 2015 in Bermuda.^[5]

Career

Early career

Duhamel began skating when she was three years old.^[6] At age 14, she moved to Barrie, Ontario to train at the Mariposa School of Skating.^[7]

Duhamel competed in both singles and pairs for several years. She teamed up with Ryan Arnold in the spring of 2004.^[8] They were the first skaters to perform a side-by-side triple Lutz jump in competition,^[9] which they did at the 2005 Canadian Championships. They ended their partnership in March 2006. Duhamel had a stress fracture and was off the ice for four months.^[9] She withdrew from both her Grand Prix events due to injury. She competed at the 2007 Canadian Championships and placed sixth; it was the last time she competed as a single skater. She was coached by Lee Barkell.

Partnership with Buntin

In June 2007, Duhamel moved to Montreal and teamed up with Craig Buntin.^[7][10] In January 2008, the pair won the bronze medal at the Canadian Nationals but during the exhibition Buntin injured his shoulder, with which he had previous problems, as a result of a timing issue.^[10] They missed the Four Continents but competed at the 2008 World Championships in Sweden on March 19, 2008, despite the shoulder still being a problem, and finished 6th. However, their participation aggravated Buntin's injury, tearing the rotator cuff, the labrum and three tendons; he had surgery in April and the recovery took seven to eight months.^[10] They could not practice lifts until two weeks before 2008 Skate America so they worked on adding variations to their elements, such as a spread eagle entrance into a lift and a death spiral with the opposite hand.^[10] In November 2008, during the long program at the Trophée Eric Bompard, Duhamel accidentally sliced Buntin's hand a minute into the program on their side-by-side salchow jumps and blood dripped on the ice; the pair stopped to get his hand bandaged and resumed the program to win the bronze medal.^[11]

In July 2010, Buntin announced his retirement from competitive figure skating.^[12] Having been through two stress fractures, a bulging disc in her back, and a nerve dysfunction in her leg, Duhamel also considered retiring but soon decided to continue competing.^[13]

Partnership with Radford

At a coach's suggestion, Duhamel had a tryout with Eric Radford and they decided to compete together.^[14] They won a silver medal at the 2011 Canadian Championships and were assigned to the 2011 Four Continents Championships and the 2011 World Championships. At Four Continents, the pair won a silver medal. During the short program at the 2011 World Championships, Radford's nose was broken when Duhamel's elbow hit him on the descent from a triple twist, their first element – she opened up too early.^[15][16] Seeing the blood, Duhamel suggested they stop but he decided to continue and they finished the program without a pause.^[15] Duhamel had not done a triple twist since 2005, and the new pair only began performing it before the Canadian Championships.^[17]

In the 2011–12 season, Duhamel/Radford won bronze medals at their Grand Prix events, the 2011 Skate Canada and 2011 Trophée Eric Bompard. They won their first national title^[18] and finished 5th at the 2012 World Championships.

The next season, Duhamel/Radford won silver at their Grand Prix events, the 2012 Skate Canada International and 2012 Trophée Eric Bompard. They then won their second national title^[19] and their first Four Continents title.^[20][21] Duhamel/Radford stepped onto the World podium for the first time at the 2013 World Championships in London, Ontario where they won the bronze medal.

In the 2013-14 season, Duhamel/Radford skated their short program to music composed by Radford.^[22] After finishing seventh at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi,^[23] they returned to the podium at the 2014 World Championships, where they scored personal bests in both the short program and the free skate on their way to a second bronze medal.^[24]

Duhamel/Radford practiced a quad throw Salchow during the summer of 2014.^[25] At the inaugural 2014 Autumn Classic International held in Barrie, Ontario, they successfully executed the quad throw Salchow and won the event.^[26] They were chosen to compete at the 2014 Skate Canada International and 2014 NHK Trophy in the 2014–15 Grand Prix season.^[27] They won both events and eventually won their first Grand Prix Final title.^[28] At the Grand Prix Final, they improved their personal best scores in the free skating and combined total.^[29] They continued their first place streak by winning their fourth Canadian title and their second Four Continents title.^[30]

Duhamel/Radford began the 2015-16 season with a 1st place finish at the 2015 Skate Canada Autumn Classic, before taking gold at 2015 Skate Canada International.^[31]

Programs

With Radford

With Buntin

With Arnold

Singles career

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series (began in the 2014–15 season); JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Pairs career with Eric Radford

Pairs career with Buntin

Duhamel and Buntin in 2008

Pairs career with Arnold

Singles career

Detailed results

(Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships – Worlds and Four Continents. At team events, medals awarded for team results only.)

(with Radford)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Meagan Duhamel.

• Meagan Duhamel / Eric Radford at the International Skating Union
• Meagan Duhamel at the International Skating Union
• Meagan Duhamel / Craig Buntin at the International Skating Union
• Meagan Duhamel / Ryan Arnold at the International Skating Union