2025-26 German Figure Skating

[Jumping_Bean]

The German Skating Union has also released a complete list of JGP assignments - Just took them almost until Senior Test Skates this time around. I've updated the corresponding post on the first page.

Some interesting updates:
Sevastianova / Gneiding have been released and will compete at JGP Gdansk (and they are also taking part in the Senior Test Skates? Maybe? They are in Oberstdorf).
Edler / Hörmann have to do another monitoring session before their JGP assignment.
It has not been decided yet if Kruk / Eisenhaber, Genrikh Gartung and Soner Öztürk will compete at the 5th or 7th JGP.
They've scrapped the idea of giving the best-performing male skater a second JGP assignment, except for Genrikh, and they all get one (apart from Richard von Göler).

 

[threeleftfeet]

came across this footage. Hope i have shared it correctly. Enjoy alexia kruk jan eisenhaber
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNXhDkbNHp0/?igsh=MWJ5Y3Y1M3prY2I0Nw==

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Senior Test Skates are currently ongoing and we get to enjoy some sneak peeks: They had a media training day on the 14th, and photo shoots (for the website and competition posters), as well as the Pairs SP and the Rhythm Dance, yesterday.

Janse van Rensburg / Steffan and Hase / Volodin:


Group photo:

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Only the women:


And some costume previews for the Senior women:


Six (!) women are taking part here:
Sarah Pesch (2024/25 Nationals Silver)
Ina Jungmann (2024/25 Junior Nationals Bronze)
Elisabeth Jäger (2024/25 Nationals 4th)
Anna Grekul (2024/25 Nationals Bronze)
Olesya Ray (2023/24 Junior Nationals Gold)
Julia Grabowski (2024/25 Junior Nationals Silver)

Pictures from the Short are also already up here:

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Damen | Eislauffotos.de

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Damen - Eiskunstlauf Fotografien seit 2008 von allen großen weltweiten Veranstaltungen im Eiskunstlauf mit aktuellen Fotos von WMs, EMs, ISU Championships …

eislauffotos.de

 

[Jumping_Bean]

And the Ice Dancers:


Four Ice Dance teams are at Test Skates:
Schubert / Remeshevskiy
Karl / Hoferichter
Matthei / Liebers
Janse van Rensburg / Steffan

RD Pictures also here:

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Rhythmus Tanz | Eislauffotos.de

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Rhythmus Tanz - Eiskunstlauf Fotografien seit 2008 von allen großen weltweiten Veranstaltungen im Eiskunstlauf mit aktuellen Fotos von WMs, EMs, ISU Championships …

eislauffotos.de

Unfortunately, German pairs are plagued by bad luck - Neither Roscher / Schuster nor Hocke / Kunkel were able to show their programs here, as both Luis and Robert are injured (training pics here).
Hase / Volodin didn't have to skate alone, though, as Team Savin is currently in Oberstdorf and Yuna Nagaoka / Sumitada Moriguchi took the opportunity to get feedback for their programs before the Olympic Qualification competition.

SP Pictures here:

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Paare | Eislauffotos.de

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Paare - Eiskunstlauf Fotografien seit 2008 von allen großen weltweiten Veranstaltungen im Eiskunstlauf mit aktuellen Fotos von WMs, EMs, ISU Championships …

eislauffotos.de

Be sure to check out the DEU IG stories before they expire as well.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

And the 5 Men:



Kai Jagoda
Arthur Mai
Nikita Starostin
Alexander Vlascenko
Luca Fünfer

SP pictures here:

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Herren | Eislauffotos.de

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Short / Herren - Eiskunstlauf Fotografien seit 2008 von allen großen weltweiten Veranstaltungen im Eiskunstlauf mit aktuellen Fotos von WMs, EMs, ISU Championships …

eislauffotos.de

Genrikh is also in the video, but is not taking part in the monitoring due to a training camp. He showed his Senior programs at Junior Test Skates.

Updates from Hella's Facebook about the women:
Apparently, only Elisabeth Jäger was able to do a jump combination in the Short, and Julia Grabowski was unable to present her Short program due to injury.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

The partnered disciplines did their Frees yesterday:

Matthaei / Liebers won the RD, so they were last to skate in the Free Dance, but no results were officially published.
Pictures here:

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Free / Eistanz | Eislauffotos.de

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Free / Eistanz - Eiskunstlauf Fotografien seit 2008 von allen großen weltweiten Veranstaltungen im Eiskunstlauf mit aktuellen Fotos von WMs, EMs, ISU Championships …

eislauffotos.de

Pairs:


And FS pictures:

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Free / Paare | Eislauffotos.de

Saison 2025 - 2026 / Senioren-Testskate Oberstdorf 14.-17.08.2025 / Free / Paare - Eiskunstlauf Fotografien seit 2008 von allen großen weltweiten Veranstaltungen im Eiskunstlauf mit aktuellen Fotos von WMs, EMs, ISU Championships …

eislauffotos.de

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Sara Kishimoto will switch federations from Japan to Germany to skate with Michail Savitskiy. They will make the official announcement soon, though not too sure if Sara has gotten the release.

This is Savitskiy's last year at juniors but with him partnering with Sara, they'd be country locked this year. So when they debut, they will skate seniors.

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

I can see a similar situation to Pirihara for them...

 

[Jumping_Bean]

I can see a similar situation to Pirihara for them...

In terms of Sara having to give up Japanese citizenship if she wants to become a German citizen, which is a difficult decision to make, of course. In terms of residency requirments and (preferential) treatment of athletes when the timeframe is tight, she'd have a easier path than Yuka.

It's even quite conceivable that both Sara and Grigorii could have German citizenship before the 2030 Olympics, if they were to start residing in Germany soon. Apparently, Michail wants to train in Oberstdorf under Sinicyn again, which would be a big change for Sara who has been at IAM for a long time, so let's just wait and see how this works out.

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

In terms of Sara having to give up Japanese citizenship if she wants to become a German citizen, which is a difficult decision to make, of course. In terms of residency requirments and (preferential) treatment of athletes when the timeframe is tight, she'd have a easier path than Yuka.

It's even quite conceivable that both Sara and Grigorii could have German citizenship before the 2030 Olympics, if they were to start residing in Germany soon. Apparently, Michail wants to train in Oberstdorf under Sinicyn again, which would be a big change for Sara who has been at IAM for a long time, so let's just wait and see how this works out.

Yeah I meant in terms of giving up Japanese citizenship

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Minni und Niki at Test Skates:





Other pairs update - Almost one month after Annika's and Robert's accident, they are back to training triple throws Giving me hope that they will be able to attend the Nebelhorn Trophy and Skate America.

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

Minni und Niki at Test Skates:





Other pairs update - Almost one month after Annika's and Robert's accident, they are back to training triple throws Giving me hope that they will be able to attend the Nebelhorn Trophy and Skate America.

Not Robert posting that he's not actually allowed to do that yet

 

[Jumping_Bean]

More Hase/Volodin:
Interview:

Thread 'Germany’s Hase and Volodin gear up for Olympic season'

Aug 24, 2025

Germany’s Minerva Fabienne Hase and Nikita Volodin kicked off their Olympic season in style, debuting their new programs at the Oberstdorf test skates. The Free Skate? Judges called it “a bit magical.” The pair has leveled up big time — think a level-four triple twist, a throw triple flip, and way more speed.

Off the ice, Volodin passed his German language and citizenship exams, clearing the last big hurdle before Milano Cortina 2026. “Now we can focus completely on training,” Hase said.

Next up: the Nebelhorn Trophy in September, a new Challenger event in Tbilisi, and then the Grand...

• gsk8
• Replies: 17
• Forum: 2025-26 Figure Skating archives

• 
• 

SP preview:


And updates about Hocke/Kunkel:
They are back in Bergamo and starting to train pairs elements again.

And they did a little interview with Anything GOEs:

A to Z with Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel - Anything GOEs

Germany's Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel answers our series of 26 questions based on the alphabet.

anythinggoe.com

The German fed also released an article about the Olympic Qualifier:

DEU nominiert Genrikh Gartung für Olympia-Qualifikation in Peking

Die Deutsche Eislauf-Union e.V. ist nationaler Spitzenverband für Eiskunstlaufen, Eistanz und Synchroneiskunstlaufen und einer von nur 7 olympischen Wintersportverbänden.

www.eislauf-union.de

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

Fingers crossed for Robert's hands I'd love to see them at Nebelhorn

 

[paulusfr]

New Hocke/Kunkel interview: https://www.rbb24.de/sport/beitrag/...unfall-hand-verletzung-olympia-interview.html
A few details on the accident

Annika Hocke: We wanted to warm up and were skating hand in hand. We were going fast and quite close to the boards. Unfortunately, I tripped over the toe pick. Then I crashed into the boards and Robert into me. Somewhere along the way, my blades hit Robert’s hands.
Robert Kunkel: At first, I couldn’t even really assess it, because I didn’t want to look. I only noticed the blood running down my arms the whole time.
...
Kunkel: We thought maybe something needed to be stitched or stapled, and then after a few days it would be okay again. The first shock was in the Italian hospital, when they discovered that the tendon in the right middle finger was half severed.
A few days later we were at the Charité in Berlin, and the doctor said it might be so deep that they would have to move skin from one finger to another, and it could take nine weeks to heal. But in the end, everything went really well.

a program reveal

Hocke: We have an emotional short program to a beautiful song by Lady Gaga: Hold My Hand. We first heard it at the Holiday on Ice show. It was staged with amazing lights, and it grabbed us right away. We’ve known since the year before last that we wanted to skate to it. The program is very powerful and tells a beautiful story. Hopefully, the audience will connect with it too.

Also, looks like a TV story on the German pairs is in the works:

https://x.com/ger_fs_updates/status/1961774263775424536

Spoiler

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Nikita Volodin is now a German citizen:

Pirouette Newsflash: Volodin eingebürgert

Paarläufer Nikita Volodin hat die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft erhalten. /Pair skater Nikita Volodin has received German citizenship.

steady.page

Congratulations, Nikita! (And Minerva, too )

 

[DemTuppesSeine]

Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaah

 

[FlossieH]

Excellent news. I am really pleased for them.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Happy Nikita and Minerva:



And Nikita Starostin's 4S as a bonus: