Schaller/Mayr: Harmony right from the start
Neo-pair skaters Sophia Schaller and Livio Mayr are making amazing progress within a short time. Already in their first season they managed to qualify for the European Championships in Finland.
Livio Mayr already wanted to pair skate with Sophia Schaller five years ago. But it is only now that the two Salzburgers have found their way together. The fact that the two harmonize well is no coincidence.
"Why not," thought Sophia Schaller when she was asked if she wanted to pair skate with Livio Mayr. That was in March 2022, and just one month later, after their first pair skating attempt together, it was clear that it could work. After less than a year, it's clear: It works pretty well. Earlier than planned, in mid-October, the two ran their first competition. The duo from Salzburg managed to meet the technical limit for the World Championships in the free skate right away. In December, they managed to reach the European Championship limit in Zagreb. At the state championships in St. Pölten, Schaller/Mayr won the title with an excellent performance.
Sophia has been one of the best Austrian figure skaters for years. The 22-year-old has been on the podium six times in a row at state championships. Livio, 25, switched to pairs skating five years ago. Even then, he wanted to skate with Sophia. But she still wanted to stick to singles.
Livio's luckless partnership
Livio finally left Salzburg for Canada, where he lived and trained from then on. He competed with three partners from America in the past years. The partnership with Chloe Choinard from Canada was rather unhappy. Livio: "Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong." The first Corona lockdown followed the first day of training together. In training for the first scheduled competition in September 2021, Chloe tore her meniscus. The season was over. The partnership ended a few months later.
"Most of my happiness now is with Sophia," Livio says. "I knew she was one of my best options." Livio is now benefiting from his experiences with his previous partners. The duo trains in Salzburg with Violett Ivanoff, Julia and Severin Kiefer. Whenever it suits, Schaller/Mayr practice in Oakville, Canada with the coaching team of renowned pairs coach Bruno Marcotte. "That gets us quite a bit," Sophia says. Japanese runners-up Riku Miura and Ryūichi Kihara are her training partners there.
Sophia and Livio harmonize well together. The two have known each other from a young age, trained for a long time in the same ice rink and with the same coach. Sophia: "We have similar techniques in jumping and skating." Livio sees the interpersonal aspect as a great strength of the duo. "We communicate very well with each other, we can address what bothers us and what we like."
Sophia's desire to learn
Of the specific pair skating elements, Sophia found the throws the most difficult at the beginning. With the lifts, on the other hand, she had no fear. "The twist is very complex, but it's fun to work on." The death spiral also takes a lot of practice time, she said.
For the short time Sophia and Livio have been skating together, they've already made it surprisingly far. "I figured it could work well," Livio says, "but no one expected it to work this well."
After their first season, Sophia and Livio want to see where they stand and where the journey might take them. Austria's parade ice skating duo Miriam Ziegler and Severin Kiefer, who ended their careers last year, have made it to several top ten finishes at European and World Championships. Livio: "That's certainly a goal to aim for."
Sophia will let her singles career be to concentrate fully on pairs skating. "It's a lot of fun for me and it's nice not to be alone."
https://skateaustria.at/news/schaller-mayr-harmonie-auf-anhieb
Both were able to show their outstanding performance qualities, Steffie with a very sassy and dynamic skate, and Luc with amazing posture and great extension. Is it just wishful thinking on my part, or is his 2A getting bigger? It almost looked like a popped 3A. But trixel or no trixel, Luc is such a wonderful skater, I could watch him for hours. 
I'm looking forward to the FS today.
youtu.be
) I just checked the results page and Giorgia and Luc won the FS and a silver medal overall. What a start to their pair skating career. 
so happy for them!
in Abu Dhabi!
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sport.orf.at
today for Tobia at the Triglav Trophy 
Fun facts with Maurizio
skateaustria.at
