Vanessa James (born 27 September 1987) is a French pair skater. With partner Morgan Ciprès, she is the 2017 European bronze medalist and a five-time French national champion. They have also won medals in Grand Prix and Challenger Series competitions.

With earlier partner Yannick Bonheur, James represented France at the 2010 Winter Olympics, placing 14th. She is also the 2006 British national champion in single skating.

Vanessa James was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. She lived in Bermuda until age 10 when her family moved to Virginia in the United States. She lived in the U.S. through 2007, holding an American permanent residence card, and then moved to Paris, France. Her father is from Bermuda, which enabled James to hold British citizenship. She became a French citizen in December 2009. Her twin sister, Melyssa James, has also competed in figure skating.

Vanessa James began skating with her sister after watching the 1998 Winter Olympics. She originally competed domestically in the United States and represented the Washington Figure Skating Club.

In 2005, James began representing the United Kingdom internationally. She won gold at the 2006 British Championships and silver in 2007, becoming the first British figure skating champion of Black African descent. She competed for Britain on the 2006 ISU Junior Grand Prix and at the 2007 World Junior Championships. Her last event as a singles skater was the 2007 International Cup of Nice where she won the bronze medal. In late 2007, James switched to pair skating, partnering briefly with British skater Hamish Gaman.

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