Bermuda’s Vanessa James and her partner Morgan Cipres are eighth in the Pairs Short Programme after yesterday’s opening day of the World Figure Skating Championships in London, Ontatio.The duo, representing France, scored 60.98 points to qualify for the next stage. Russia’s Tatiana Volosozhar and her partner Maxim Trankov are leading with 75.84 points.Skaters from around the globe are competing in the four day event to become the world champions in men's, ladies’, pairs’ and ice dance figure skating.James and Cipres finished fourth at the 2013 ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Zagreb, Croatia earlier this year.The 25-year-old and Cipres currently train at Bercy, France with coach Jean-Roland Racle and hope to represent France at next year’s Winter Olympics.Before becoming a French citizen, James, who is also the cousin of top Bermuda tennis player Tyler Smith, was the former British National Champion (2006) in singles and in 2007 won the silver medal.She switched to pairs skating in 2007 and teamed up with Yannick Bonheur to compete for France. Following the Vancouver Olympics the pair decided to split. James twin sister, Melyssa James, is also a figure skater.