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Katarina Wolfkostin (born October 9, 2004) is an American ice dancer. With her skating partner, Jeffrey Chen, she is the 2021 U.S. junior national champion, the 2021 French JGP champion, the 2020 U.S. junior national silver medalist, and the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics bronze medalist.

Katarina Wolfkostin
Wolfkostin/Chen at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Katarina Patricia Wolfkostin
Country represented	United States
Born	(2004-10-09) October 9, 2004 (age 18) Ann Arbor, Michigan
Home town	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Residence	Novi, Michigan
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Partner	Jeffrey Chen
Former partner	Howard Zhao John Carlson
Coach	Charlie White Greg Zuerlein
Former coach	Igor Shpilband Pasquale Camerlengo Adrienne Lenda Natalia Deller Anjelika Krylova Marina Zoueva Oleg Epstein Yaroslava Nechaeva
Former choreographer	Igor Shpilband Pasquale Camerlengo Anjelika Krylova Marina Zoueva
Skating club	Peninsula FSC
Training locations	Canton, Michigan
Former training locations	Novi, Michigan Detroit, Michigan
Began skating	2009
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	180.46 2022 CS Budapest Trophy
Short dance	72.37 2022 CS Budapest Trophy
Free dance	108.09 2022 CS Budapest Trophy
Medal record Representing  United States Figure skating: Ice dance Winter Youth Olympics 2020 Lausanne Ice dance

Personal life

Katarina Wolfkostin was born on October 9, 2004 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She likes art, music, and drawing animals and fantasy creatures. She has two older siblings, Kelman and Sierre. She has three cats, a corn snake, and two pet cockatiels named Chika and Shirley.[1]

Career

Early career

Wolfkostin began skating in 2009, when she was five.[2] She started ice dancing when she was nine, training in Canton, Michigan with Marina Zoueva. Wolfkostin and her first partner, John Carlson, placed eighth at the 2016 U.S. Championships in the intermediate division.[3][4] She teamed up with Howard Zhao in the 2016–17 season. Coached by Anjelika Krylova and Pasquale Camerlengo, Wolfkostin/Zhao were the 2017 U.S. national intermediate champions and the 2018 U.S. national novice champions in ice dance.[5] Wolfkostin/Zhao placed fourth in the advanced novice division at the 2018 Mentor Toruń Cup.[6]

2018–2019 season

Wolfkostin/Zhao placed tenth at their first-ever Junior Grand Prix event, 2018 JGP Czech Republic. They won the bronze medal at the 2018–19 Pacific Coast Sectionals to advance to the 2019 U.S. Championships, where they finished ninth. Wolfkostin/Zhao split following the end of the season.

2019–2020 season

Wolfkostin began skating with Jeffrey Chen in 2019 and he moved to train with her coaches, Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo, in Novi, Michigan.[1] They placed fifth in their international debut at 2019 JGP France. Wolfkostin/Chen improved to fourth at 2019 JGP Russia, after placing second in the free dance. They won the inaugural U.S. Ice Dance Final to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Championships.[1] Wolfkostin/Chen won their first international medal at the 2019 Golden Spin of Zagreb, earning the silver medal behind Ushakova/Nekrasov of Russia.

Wolfkostin/Chen were named as the sole ice dance entrant on the U.S. team for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.[7] They were fifth after the rhythm dance, before placing third in the free dance, to win the bronze medal overall behind Russians Khavronina/Cirisano and Tyutyunina/Shustitsky.[8] Their medal was the first won by Team USA at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.[9][10] Wolfkostin/Chen were drawn as part of Team Determination for the team event, alongside singles skaters Cha Young-hyun of South Korea and Nella Pelkonen of Finland and pairs skaters Brooke McIntosh / Brandon Toste of Canada. They placed fourth in the free dance segment to help Team Determination finish fourth, after losing the tie-breaker.

Wolfkostin/Chen placed fourth in the rhythm dance and second in the free dance to win the silver medal at the 2020 U.S. Championships, behind Nguyen/Kolesnik.[11] Assigned to compete at their first World Junior Championships, they placed seventh.[12]

2020–2021 season

The season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with domestic competitions initially changed to a virtual format, leading up to the 2021 U.S. Championships. Wolfkostin/Chen placed first in the rhythm dance and first in the free dance in both rounds of the 2020 Virtual ISP Points Challenge,[13][14] and second in the free dance at the 2020 Virtual U.S. Championship Series.[15] Wolfkostin/Chen then competed at the 2021 U.S. Championships, after Chen was medically cleared to skate after a second opinion was obtained following a knee injury, originally thought to be an incapacitating ACL tear. Despite the injury, they placed first in both the rhythm dance and the free dance, earning them the gold medal for the national title.[16][17][18]

2021–2022 season

Returning to international competition for the first time in over a year, Wolfkostin/Chen began on the Junior Grand Prix by competing at the first French JGP of 2021, in Courchevel. They placed first in both segments, easily winning the gold medal.[19] At their second event, 2021 JGP Slovenia, they placed third in the rhythm dance but made up ground in the free dance, placing second in that segment and placing second overall.[20] Assigned to their first senior event just a few weeks later, Wolfkostin/Chen placed ninth at the 2021 CS Cup of Austria.[21] Their JGP results had qualified them for the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final, but it was subsequently cancelled as a result of travel restrictions prompted by the Omicron variant.[22]

Rather than seeking to defend their national junior title, Wolfkostin/Chen opted to compete as seniors at the 2022 U.S. Championships. They finished in sixth place overall, notably beating former national pewter medalists Carreira/Ponomarenko.[23]

Due to the pandemic, the 2022 World Junior Championships could not be held as scheduled in Sofia in early March, and as a result were rescheduled for Tallinn in mid-April.[24] Due to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the International Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating, which had a significant impact on the field of figure skating and ice dance.[25] Wolfkostin/Chen were considered frontrunners for the title, however, following a fall in the beginning of the rhythm dance they placed ninth in that segment, 6.40 points behind third-place Bashynska/Beaumont of Canada. [26] Wolfkostin/Chen mounted a comeback in the free dance, placing second in that segment with a score within 0.04 points of their personal best, which raised them to fourth place overall. They finished 0.37 points back of bronze medalists Bashynska/Beaumont.[27]

2022–2023 season

Wolfkostin and Chen announced in May that they would be leaving coach Igor Shpilband to train at the new Michigan Ice Dance Academy in Canton, Michigan, under coaches Greg Zuerlein, Tanith Belbin White, and Olympic champion Charlie White.[28]

The team debuted new senior programs at the 2022 Lake Placid Ice Dance International, where they won the bronze medal. Shortly afterward they appeared on the Challenger series at the 2022 CS U.S. Classic, finishing sixth. [29] At their second Challenger, the 2022 CS Budapest Trophy, Wolfkostin/Chen won the bronze medal, setting three new personal bests in the process.[30] In November they were invited to make their senior Grand Prix debut, finishing in eighth place at the 2022 Grand Prix de France.[31]

Programs

With Chen

Season	Rhythm dance	Free dance
2022–2023 [32]	Samba: Lagoa by Watazu Rhumba: Summer in the Ends by Juls, Jaz Karis & George the Poet Rhumba: Hot Oil, No Sweat by Brent Lewis Samba: Magalenha by Sérgio Mendes choreo. by Charlie White, Tanith Belbin White, Greg Zuerlein	Light of Love Dog Days Are Over by Florence + the Machine choreo. by Charlie White, Tanith Belbin White, Greg Zuerlein
2021–2022 [33]	Blues: Speechless/Human Nature (Immortal version) Diamonds Are Invincible Blues: Human Nature March: Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson choreo. by Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo	Rain, In Your Black Eyes by Ezio Bosso choreo. by Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo
2020–2021	Foxtrot: Everything Old is New Again (from The Boy from Oz) performed by Peter Allen, Carole Bayer Sager	Exogenesis: Symphony Part III by Muse
2019–2020 [2]	Foxtrot: Everything Old is New Again (from The Boy from Oz) performed by Peter Allen, Carole Bayer Sager	How Will I Know performed by Sam Smith by George Merrill, Shannon Rubicam Fire on Fire (from Watership Down) by Sam Smith

With Zhao

Season	Rhythm dance	Free dance
2018–2019 [34]	Tango: Cirque du Soleil Tango: Differente by Gotan Project	Doctor Zhivago by Maurice Jarre
2017–2018		La La Land
2016–2017		Mary Poppins

Competitive highlights

JGP: Junior Grand Prix. Pewter medals (4th place) awarded only at U.S. national, sectional, and regional events.

With Chen

International[21]
Event	19–20	20–21	21–22	22–23
GP France				8th
GP NHK Trophy				TBD
CS Budapest				3rd
CS Cup of Austria			9th
CS U.S. Classic				6th
Lake Placid IDI				3rd
International: Junior
Junior Worlds	7th		4th
Youth Olympics	3rd
JGP Final			C
JGP France	5th		1st
JGP Russia	4th
JGP Slovenia			2nd
Golden Spin	2nd
National[21]
U.S. Champ.	2nd J	1st J	6th
U.S. Ice Dance Final	1st J
Championship Series		2nd J
ISP Points Challenge		1st J
Team events
Youth Olympics	4th T 4th P
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Canceled event Levels: J = Junior

With Zhao

International: Junior[35]
Event	16–17	17–18	18–19
JGP Czech Republic			10th
International: Adv. novice[35]
Mentor Toruń Cup		4th
National[6]
U.S. Championships	1st I	1st N	9th J
Midwestern Sectional		1st N
Pacific Coast Sectional	1st I		3rd J
Levels: I = Intermediate; N = Novice; J = Junior

With Carlson

National[4]
Event	14–15	15–16
U.S. Championships		8th I
Pacific Coast Sectionals	7th V	4th I
Levels: V = Juvenile; I = Intermediate

Detailed results

With Chen

Senior results

2022–23 season
Date	Event	RD	FD	Total
November 4–6, 2022	2022 Grand Prix de France	7 64.18	8 100.71	8 164.89
October 14–16, 2022	2022 CS Budapest Trophy	3 72.37	3 108.09	3 180.46
September 13–16, 2022	2022 CS U.S. Classic	6 60.69	6 103.38	6 164.07
July 26–29, 2022	2022 Lake Placid Ice Dance International	1 71.92	4 103.50	3 175.42
2021–22 season
Date	Event	RD	FD	Total
November 11–14, 2021	2021 CS Cup of Austria	10 63.04	7 101.29	9 164.33

Junior results

2021–22 season
Date	Event	RD	FD	Total
April 13–17, 2022	2022 World Junior Championships	9 57.05	2 100.22	4 157.27
September 22–25, 2021	2021 JGP Slovenia	3 62.99	2 100.26	2 163.25
August 18–21, 2021	2021 JGP France I	1 64.75	1 100.26	1 165.01
2020–21 season
Date	Event	RD	FD	Total
January 11–21, 2021	2021 U.S. Championships	1 68.81	1 98.41	1 167.22
2019–20 season
Date	Event	RD	FD	Total
March 2–8, 2020	2020 World Junior Championships	7 64.77	7 94.43	7 159.20
January 20–26, 2020	2020 U.S. Championships	4 60.93	2 100.46	2 161.39
January 10–15, 2020	2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Team	–	4 90.41	4T/4P
January 10–15, 2020	2020 Winter Youth Olympics	5 57.02	3 95.41	3 152.43
December 4–7, 2019	2019 Golden Spin of Zagreb	1 66.52	2 97.29	2 163.81
November 12–16, 2019	2020 U.S. Ice Dance Final	1 66.23	2 94.68	1 160.91
September 11–14, 2019	2019 JGP Russia	6 54.91	2 93.90	4 148.81
August 21–24, 2019	2019 JGP France	4 58.90	5 89.03	5 147.93

With Zhao

Junior results

2018–19 season
Date	Event	RD	FD	Total
January 18–27, 2019	2019 U.S. Championships	9 50.07	8 77.56	9 127.63
September 26–29, 2018	2018 JGP Czech Republic	10 50.80	10 76.78	10 127.58

Novice results

2017–18 season
Date	Event	PD1	PD2	FD	Total
Jan. 30 – Feb. 4, 2018	2018 Mentor Toruń Cup	3 13.99	3 15.45	5 53.94	4 83.38
Dec. 29, 2017 – Jan. 8, 2018	2018 U.S. Championships	2 24.16	2 24.71	1 73.54	1 122.41

References

External links

• Katarina Wolfkostin / Jeffrey Chen at the International Skating Union
• Katarina Wolfkostin and Jeffrey Chen at U.S. Figure Skating
• Katarina Wolfkostin / Howard Zhao at the International Skating Union
• Katarina Wolfkostin and Howard Zhao at U.S. Figure Skating

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