#dwarchive

[aspecialrelationship-blog]

1998-1999

In 1998, Meryl and Charlie moved up to the intermediate level of ice dance at the ages of 10 and 11. This year they won EGL regionals, sectionals and junior nationals ( hashtag champs). Annoyingly, it is also very difficult to find videos of them at this age, but I did find a post on the Junior Olympics this year at which D/W won gold. I am seriously in awe of how these two munchikins won gold at the junior olympics (later renamed US junior national championship) in only their second year of partnership, especially when they were still at the age when they couldn't look each other in the eye and Charlie was still pursuing hockey and singles. Look at those babies sweeping the competition: 

I can only find one video from this competition season which I will post separately because it is just TOO good to be lumped in this post (i.e. the beginning of the charlie paso face and sassy!meryl) 

[aspecialrelationship-blog]

1997-1998

A quick recap of the first year of the D/W partnership: There are no videos of them from this time, other than the 1998 Indy Challenge (see previous post). As they were at the juvenile level it is also difficult to find competition results (because really, other than hashtag twizzlers, no one cares). Its possible, based on my internet lurking, that they only competed 3 times this year: the indy challenge, regionals and junior nationals. According to wikipedia/google, the official results for D/W this year were 1st at the Eastern Great Lake (EGL) regionals (only their second competition together) and 2nd at the US Junior Olympics (later renamed US Junior Championships). This was their first year of competition, and last year at the juvenile level.  Again, its hard to find images from this age but this has to be one of my favorites- just look at these dumbs avoiding all eye contact.

Results from the 1998 US Jnr Champsionships:

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An incredibly cute article about the event- the first time D/W appear in print together (be still my ice-dance-heart)

[aspecialrelationship-blog]

If you're on this blog, you probably already know the backstory of Meryl and Charlie- she was a singles skater looking for an ice dance partner and he was a hockey skater looking to improve his posture for singles. Their coach Seth Chafetz paired them, realized they were physically well matched and soul mates  and the rest is history. Any internet search will reveal that the first competition Meryl and Charlie attended was the Junior Olypmics- at which they shocked everyone (except themselves) by winning the silver. The only available youtube footage of them from that year is this performance from the 1998 Indy Challenge (lol wut?), but I think its safe to assume it is the same program. They synchronization between them is insane, considering they were 9/10 and just at the beginning of their careers. I realize its just basic steps, but thinking about the journey from this to olympic gold makes me emotional on a whole new level.