Maheu and Cote Succeed in Junior Pairs

Valene Maheu and Simon-Pierre Cote

November 26, 2006
Article & Photo © J. Barry Mittan 

Valene Maheu, 17, and Simon-Pierre Cote, 20, were top ten finishers for Canada at the 2006 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in pairs. The couple from Levis, Quebec finished eighth in their first international competition after finishing fifth at Canadians in junior pairs and making the international team. Previously the couple had placed fifth in pre-novice in 2004 and seventh in novice in 2005.

They started the 2006-07 season by finishing eighth at their first ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Budapest, Hungary. "We were hoping to get a Junior Grand Prix and some other internationals," Maheu said. "It was cool to be at Junior Worlds and see all the other teams. We learned a lot about what we have to do to improve."

Maheu started to skate when she was three. "My parents brought me to the rink and I liked it," she said. "I first started competing when I was six and kept going until last year. I finished seventh at the Quebec Games in 2005. Then when I was 12, another boy, Karolin Metivier, asked me to do pairs. We were second in juvenile at Junior Nationals in 2003." She landed her first triple jump, a triple toe, last summer, then landed a triple flip soon afterwards.

Cote began skating when he was eight. "Before that I was playing sports like baseball," he said. "Then my sister started skating and someone showed me how to skate. At the beginning, I would hide so as not to have to go skating but then I came to like it. I did my first competition at nine and skated in singles up to last year. My best finish was second at the Quebec Games in 2003." Cote learned his first triple jump, a triple toe loop, when he was 16.

"Some people asked me to do pairs, but I said no, no, no," he continued. "Then I tried competing with my sister, Dominique, for a year when I was 14. We were sixth at the Quebec Games and went to Sectionals where we finished before last place. But she was always scared so she quit. Then I skated two and a half years with Andree Anne Levesque. We were 16th at Junior Nationals in pre-novice in 2003."

When their partners quit, their coaches put them together in March 2003. "Valene is very good in skating and has great determination," Cote said. "Simon-Pierre is very strong and when we practice difficult things, he cares a lot about me," Maheu noted.

Cote's father usually finds a variety of pieces of music for the couple and plays them so they can choose what they like. "I have to imagine us skating to the music before we can use it," Cote said. "I like music that moves, that the crowd can get into it." Their programs were both new for the 2005-06 season. Caroline Masse choreographed their short to the "Waterworld" soundtrack by James Newton Howard and the long to "Takito Milliter" by Ictactou.

"They're two kinds of music," Maheu stated. "The short is very dynamic, while the long is different, unusual music." "I really liked Waterworld," Cote added. "It had a lot of rhythm." For their exhibition program, the couple used "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams, a song that Cote selected. They choreographed their own gala program. Off ice, he listens to pop but is open to anything except country music, while she likes pop, hip-hop and rock.

Since September 2004, Denis Frederick has coached the couple, which trains five days a week for four hours a day. "We switched when our former coach left the rink," Cote explained. This season, they added Isabelle Brasseur and Rocky Marval as coaches. The skaters do another hour of off ice work every day including a lot of lifts and stretching with a former circus performer. He also cycles and plays hockey with friends while she swims.

For fun, Maheu enjoys shopping, going out with friends, and reading all kinds of books except science fiction. Cote likes to play computer games, bowl, play billiards and go out with friends. He also plays the guitar and the drums.

Cote is in his final year of high school and plans to be either an electrician or a Mountie as a career. He now works 30 hours a week in a grocery store. Maheu, who is in the tenth grade, is very good in school, especially in math and science. She plans to either work in medicine or be a scientist.

"I was very proud of them last season," Frederick said. "At the beginning of the first practices, things were very tough but they did a very good short program. The long was not so good but they learned from it. Right before Canadians, we added the throw triple salchow and they did it the first time in competition. Then before Junior Worlds, we added the side-by-side double axels but they found it not so easy to control the landings. This season, we will try to add some new and different elements, some more difficult lifts and the throw triple loop. They also need a solid side-by-side triple jump. That will be our goal for the season."