Michał Woźniak (born 1 July 1999) is a Polish pair skater. With his current skating partner, Ioulia Chtchetinina, he is the 2023 Bavarian Open silver medalist, the 2023 Diamond Spin silver medalist, the 2023 Budapest Trophy bronze medalist, and the 2024 Polish national champion.
| Michał Woźniak | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ioulia Chtchetinina and Michał Woźniak at the 2024 World Championships | |||||||||
| Born | 1 July 1999 Katowice, Poland | ||||||||
| Hometown | Katowice | ||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||
| Country |  Poland | ||||||||
| Discipline | Pair skating (since 2020) Men's singles (2012–20) | ||||||||
| Partner | Ioulia Chtchetinina (since 2023) Anna Hernik (2020–22) | ||||||||
| Coach | Nolan Seegert Dmitri Savin | ||||||||
| Skating club | UKŁ SPIN Katowice | ||||||||
| Began skating | 2005 | ||||||||
| Medal record | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Personal life
editWoźniak was born on 1 July 1999 in Katowice, Poland. As of 2023, Woźniak is a law student at the University of Silesia in Katowice. In his free time, he enjoys reading and road cycling.[1]
He married Polish singles skater, Elżbieta Gabryszak, in May 2024.[2]
Career
editEarly years and single skating career
editWoźniak began learning how to skate in 2005. He trained as a single skater in Poland until 2019. While Woźniak never competed in the senior ranks internationally, he did receive a handful of junior international assignments over the course of his singles career, including two ISU Junior Grand Prix events. Notably, he won the Polish Junior Championships in 2016. Woźniak's coach, Iwona Mydlarz-Chruścińska, attempted to convince him to switch to a paired discipline — namely ice dance given his height and musicality — for several seasons before he ultimately chose to pursue pair skating.[1]
2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons: Partnership with Hernik
editWoźniak teamed up with his first partner, Anna Hernik, in 2020, coached by Mateusz Chruściński. Both new to pair skating, the duo learned the basics of the discipline together, eventually building to throw triple jumps and a double twist. Hernik and Woźniak entered the 2021 Four Nationals Championships, the shared national championship event for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, but withdrew after the short program.
Hernik and Woźniak made their international debut at the 2021 Nebelhorn Trophy, the final qualifying event to the 2022 Winter Olympics. The couple finished last at the event, suffering an error during the free skate where Hernik fell head first out of a lift and onto the ice. While the team did eventually return for the 2022 Four Nationals Championships where they won the Polish national title, Hernik ultimately made the decision to conclude her competitive career.[3]
Partnership with Chtchetinina
edit2023–24 season
edit
Woźniak faced challenges in finding a new skating partner following the conclusion of his collaboration with Hernik. His search was initially hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic and later by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. With limited options internationally, he decided to explore possibilities within his home country. However, tryouts with young skater Wiktoria Pacha and returning veteran Ola Malinkiewicz proved unsuccessful. Eventually, Woźniak connected with Swiss-Hungarian skater Ioulia Chtchetinina, who was in search of a new partner after parting ways with Márk Magyar, over Instagram.[3] Despite differences in their levels of experience in the discipline, Chtchetinina agreed to a tryout. The official announcement of their partnership for Poland took place in August 2023.[1] It was also made public that the pair would train in Berlin, Germany, where they would be coached by Nolan Seegert and Dmitri Savin.[4]
Chtchetinina and Woźniak made their international debut at the 2023 Budapest Trophy, where they finished fourth. They next competed at the 2023 Diamond Spin where they placed second between Italian teams Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini and Anna Valesi and Manuel Piazza. The team claimed their second international medal not long after with a bronze at the 2023 Warsaw Cup behind Georgians Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava and Brits Anastasia Vaipan-Law and Luke Digby. Chtchetinina and Woźniak competed once more before the Polish National Championships, finishing fourth at their first Challenger event, the 2023 Golden Spin of Zagreb.[5]
At the 2024 Four Nationals Championship, Chtchetinina and Woźniak placed second in the combined senior pairs event, but won the Polish national title by default as the sole Polish entrant. Their win yielded assignments to both the 2024 European Championships and the 2024 World Championships. The team competed just once more before the championship season began, winning the silver medal at the 2024 Bavarian Open between Daria Danilova and Michel Tsiba from the Netherlands, and Barbora Kucianová and Martin Bidař of the Czech Republic.[6]
Chtchetinina/Woźniak finished tenth at the European Championships and nineteenth at the World Championships.[7][8]
2024–25 season
editChtchetinina/Woźniak opened their second season together at the 2024 Nebelhorn Trophy, where they finished in seventh place.[9] They then went on to take silver at the 2024 Diamond Spin for a second consecutive time.[10]
Following the withdrawal of Italian pair team, Lucrezia Beccari/Matteo Guarise, Chtchetinina/Woźniak were assigned to compete on the 2024–25 Grand Prix circuit at 2024 Skate Canada International as substitutes.[11][12][13] They would come in sixth at the event.[14]
Programs
editPair skating with Ioulia Chtchetinina
edit| Season | Short program | Free skate | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023–24 |
|
|
[4] |
| 2024–25 |
|
[15] |
Pair skating with Anna Hernik
edit| Season | Short program | Free skate | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021–22 |
|
|
[16] |
Single skating
edit| Season | Short program | Free skate | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018–19 |
|
|
[17] |
Competitive highlights
edit- GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
- CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
- JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
- WD – Withdrew from competition
Pair skating with Ioulia Chtchetinina
edit| Season | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
|---|---|---|
| World Championships | 19th | |
| European Championships | 10th | |
| Polish Championships | 1st | |
| GP Cup of China | TBD | |
| GP Skate Canada | 6th | |
| CS Golden Spin of Zagreb | 4th | TBD |
| CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 7th | |
| Bavarian Open | 2nd | |
| Budapest Trophy | 4th | |
| Diamond Spin | 2nd | 2nd |
| Warsaw Cup | 3rd |
Pair skating with Anna Hernik
edit| Season | 2020–21 | 2021–22 |
|---|---|---|
| Polish Championships | WD | 1st |
| CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 16th |
Single skating
edit| Season | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2018–19 | 2019–20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish Championships (Senior) | 8th | 7th | 4th | |||||
| Polish Championships (Junior) | 10th | 7th | 5th | 1st | 6th | 3rd | 5th | |
| JGP Czech Republic | 19th | |||||||
| JGP Poland | 24th | |||||||
| Mentor Toruń Cup | 8th | |||||||
| Tirnavia Ice Cup | 9th | |||||||
| Warsaw Cup | 10th |
Detailed results
editPair skating with Ioulia Chtchetinina
edit| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | TSS | 174.22 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| Short program | TSS | 60.87 | 2024 Skate Canada International |
| TES | 33.65 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy | |
| PCS | 27.63 | 2024 Skate Canada International | |
| Free skating | TSS | 113.58 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy |
| TES | 58.31 | 2024 CS Nebelhorn Trophy | |
| PCS | 55.62 | 2024 Skate Canada International |
External links
edit- Ioulia Chtchetinina & Michal Wozniak at the International Skating Union
- Ioulia Chtchetinina & Michal Wozniak at SkatingScores.com
- Anna Hernik & Michal Wozniak at the International Skating Union
- Anna Hernik & Michal Wozniak at SkatingScores.com
References
edit- ^ a b c Tascher, Magdalena (7 August 2023). "Nowa para sportowa" [New sports pair] (in Polish). Polish Figure Skating Association.
- ^ Chtchetinina, Ioulia. "First stop of my vacation". Instagram. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
- ^ a b Gorecki, Mateusz (9 January 2024). "Polska wraca na ME po 11 latach! Niezłomny duet marzy o igrzyskach" [Poland returns to the European Championships after 11 years! The unwavering duo dreams of the games] (in Polish). TVP Sport.
- ^ a b "Ioulia Chtchetinina / Michal Wozniak: 2023/2024". International Skating Union. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
- ^ "ISU Golden Spin of Zagreb 2023 – Pairs". www.croskate.hr. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "Bavarian Open 2024 Pairs". www.deu-event.de. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "ISU European Championships 2024 – Pairs". International Skating Union. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "ISU World Championships 2024 – Pairs". International Skating Union. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "Nebelhorn Trophy 2024 - Pairs". German Ice Skating Union. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ a b "POL–Ioulia Chtchetinina/Michal Wozniak". SkatingScores.com.
- ^ @AnythingGOE (October 18, 2024). "🇮🇹 Lucrezia Beccari / Matteo Guarise have withdrawn from Skate Canada" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @AnythingGOE (October 21, 2024). "🇵🇱 Ioulia Chtchetinina / Michal Wozniak have been assigned to Skate Canada" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @lucreziabeccari (October 19, 2024). "Hello everyone 👋🏻" – via Instagram.
- ^ Slater, Paula (October 27, 2024). "Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps defend Skate Canada title". Golden Skate. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
- ^ "Ioulia Chtchetinina / Michal Wozniak: 2024/2025". International Skating Union. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "Anna HERNIK / Michal Wozniak: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
- ^ "Michal Wozniak: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
- ^ "POL–Anna Hernik/Michal Wozniak". SkatingScores.com.
- ^ "POL–Michal Wozniak". SkatingScores.com.
- ^ "Michael Wozniak / Ioulia Chtchetinina". RinkResults.com. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
- ^ "Couple Records Ioulia Chtchetinina/Michal Wozniak (POL)". International Skating Union.
External links
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