Figure Skating in Austria

[Weathergal]

Nominations:

Europeans: 2025
Women: Olga Mikutina, Stefanie Pesendorfer
Men: Maurizio Zandron
Pairs: Gabriella Izzo / Luc Maierhofer

EYOF 2025
Women: Sara Höfer
Men Daniel Ruis

Universiade 2025
Women: Olga Mikutina
Men: Anton Skoficz

I clicked into the Instagram post so I could look at the photos more and see who was who because I'm not familiar with some of the skaters listed. When I did that, I noticed a post from Skate Austria about the Special Olympics Austrian Open Championships being held as part of the Austrian Championships 2025. It said 75 athletes from 6 countries participated. That is really cool!

It is awesome when any sport strives to be more inclusive.

 

[CaroLiza_fan]

I clicked into the Instagram post so I could look at the photos more and see who was who because I'm not familiar with some of the skaters listed. When I did that, I noticed a post from Skate Austria about the Special Olympics Austrian Open Championships being held as part of the Austrian Championships 2025. It said 75 athletes from 6 countries participated. That is really cool!

It is awesome when any sport strives to be more inclusive.

You might be interested to know that Corinna Huber, who we are familiar with on the international circuit, went home with two Gold Medals:

in the Senior Ice Dance with her brother Patrick
in the Special Olympics Unified Pairs Skating with her brother Dominik

Dominik Huber also won the Gold Medal in the Special Olympics Single Skating - Level 4.

I just got a shock. I knew Corinna and Patrick were twins, but I was never sure whether Dominik was older or younger than them. So I just went hunting and discovered something:

They're actually triplets!

What a talented set of skating siblings! And isn't it wonderful for all three of them to have a common interest!

CaroLiza_fan

 

[Weathergal]

You might be interested to know that Corinna Huber, who we are familiar with on the international circuit, went home with two Gold Medals:

in the Senior Ice Dance with her brother Patrick
in the Special Olympics Unified Pairs Skating with her brother Dominik

Dominik Huber also won the Gold Medal in the Special Olympics Single Skating - Level 4.

I just got a shock. I knew Corinna and Patrick were twins, but I was never sure whether Dominik was older or younger than them. So I just went hunting and discovered something:

They're actually triplets!

What a talented set of skating siblings! And isn't it wonderful for all three of them to have a common interest!

CaroLiza_fan

It is! Thanks for the info. Your detailed knowledge of skaters from small feds and the like never ceases to amaze me.

 

[text_skate]

German newspaper "Zeit" published a long story "Thin Ice", were Stefanie Pesendorfer opens up about her struggles, mentally and physically, and the darker side of figure skating
https://www.zeit.de/2026/03/eiskunstlauf-stephanie-pesendorfer-olympia/komplettansicht (this morning it was paywalled, now it's not, when I checked)

here are some excerpts (if too long, please let me know, I'll shorten them - I translated them when the article was still behind the paywall)

Instead of preparing for the 2026 Winter Olympics, the 22-year-old sits in a baggy shirt and jogging pants at the dining table of her small granny flat in her parents' house in Marchtrenk in Upper Austria and talks about her eating disorders, her panic attacks, her injuries. The physical ones that cost her a place at the Olympics. And above all, the mental ones that have been wearing her down for years.

...
‘I thought long and hard about whether I should talk about it,’ says Pesendorfer.
...

In an interview with ZEIT, she speaks in detail for the first time about something that has hardly ever been discussed outside the figure skating scene. Internally, within the Austrian association, her story has already made a difference. But Pesendorfer wants to share it further. "I know I'm not alone in this. And that many young women in top-level sport feel the same way."

...

As a child, she simply shrugged off falls and injuries. Now, movements that used to come naturally feel different, and she increasingly finds herself going through her training routines in tears. And then there's this phrase from her coaches, which she had never heard before and now hears over and over again: ‘Watch your weight.’ Until it sticks. ‘But all I heard was: you're too fat,’ says Pesendorfer.

...
Neither she nor her parents know anything about sports nutrition, and the association does not offer any structured advice at the time.
...

At 1.60 metres tall, she starves herself down to 48 kilos. This is not unusual in figure skating – but for her body, it feels like permanent calorie deprivation. ‘Every day, just Coke Zero, chewing gum and corn waffles,’ she says. "I was always tired and constantly cold, even in summer.

...

In 2018, she competed in the Junior World Championships and achieved the best Austrian result in 20 years, finishing twelfth. Shortly afterwards, she injured her back. She struggled through training sessions for weeks, but eventually had to take a break – and then competed in both junior and adult competitions, more than a dozen competitions in four months. Shortly before Christmas 2019, she suffered a breakdown. She had a high fever and had to take strong painkillers. ‘My parents had already said that it had to stop,’ says Pesendorfer.
While she was still lying in bed with chills, the answer came: the association wanted to know if she would be competing in the Junior World Championships in a few weeks. Pesendorfer pulls herself together, the adrenaline washing away her doubts. She finishes 15th – a top result.

...
But just a few months later, her career is suddenly threatened with an end. Doctors diagnose a double slipped disc, saying she narrowly escaped paraplegia.
...

‘It was hell,’ says Pesendorfer. ‘But as desperate as I was, I knew one thing: I wanted to get back on the ice.’ Four screws have stabilised her spine ever since. Months of rehabilitation followed, learning to walk again, painful physiotherapy, the first wobbly steps on thin ice. Her mother took care leave, her grandparents helped out.

...

In December 2021, she became Austrian national champion. The scene celebrated her comeback, the ‘new Steffi’. In reality, she was at the end of her tether. Emaciated, she withdrew, stopped washing her hair and hardly saw her friends anymore. ‘I just lay in bed,’ she says.

...

A therapist diagnosed depression and prescribed medication. Only now does she confide in her parents and speak to her club in Linz and the association for the first time. There, however, mental health problems are still considered by some to be an excuse for unsuccessful athletes. Something that can be trained away. Pesendorfer says these were gruelling, painful conversations.

...

In 2022, she moves to Oberstdorf in Bavaria and joins a training group. But she takes her expectations with her, and on top of that there are higher costs for ice time, the coach and living expenses. She finally loses her balance and suffers a severe panic attack in her accommodation. ‘I wanted to kill myself,’ she says. Her training partners find her and call the emergency services. A few days later, she sits in a video call with several officials in the psychiatric ward. When asked if she is ill, she replies laconically: ‘No, I'm just in the closed ward.’

...
‘I was practically still a child when I started professional sport. No one forced me to continue. But at a professional level, I was given far too little protection.’
...

The discussions she had, and ultimately her breakdown in 2022, were at least one trigger for finally addressing the mental health of female athletes, says Pesendorfer. The association has since responded by hiring a specialist psychologist and setting up contact points.

...

She qualified for the 2025 European Championships. Shortly afterwards, a fatigue fracture in her foot forces her to take another break. But this time she does not have surgery, letting her last chance to qualify for the Olympics slip away. She is giving herself time. For the first time.

Edit: typos