Peter Liebers (born 16 April 1988) is a German former competitive figure skater. He is the

2015 Winter Universiade The 2015 Winter Universiade, the XXVII Winter Universiade, was a multi sport winter event held in Granada, Spain and Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia. On 14 March 2009, FISU announced that the host would be Granada because they were the only bid. On 25 J ...

champion, the

2010 Nebelhorn Trophy The 2010 Nebelhorn Trophy took place between September 23 and 26, 2010 at the Eislaufzentrum Oberstdorf.http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100925&content_id=15065688&vkey=ice_news The competition is held annually in Oberstdorf, Germ ...

bronze medalist, the 2012

Ice Challenge The Icechallenge (formerly known as the Leo-Scheu-Gedächtnislaufen or Leo Scheu Memorial) is an annual international figure skating competition organized by the Grazer Eislaufverein and sanctioned by the Austrian Figure Skating association and th ...

champion, and a six-time German national champion. He placed eighth at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and as high as sixth at the European Championships (2014 and 2015).

Personal life

Peter Liebers was born on 16 April 1988 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. He is the son of

Mario Liebers Mario Liebers (born 1 January 1960) is a German former competitive figure skater who represented East Germany. He is the 1977 Blue Swords champion, the 1978 Prize of Moscow News bronze medalist, and a five-time East German national silver meda ...

and the younger brother of Martin Liebers, both of whom competed internationally in figure skating. He speaks German and English. In the summer of 2014, he married German former competitive figure skater Denise Zimmermann. On May 1, 2015, Zimmermann gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Emil.

Career

Early years

Liebers began skating in 1994. He won the 2002 German junior national title and competed in four seasons of the

ISU Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

series. He finished 13th at the 2006 World Junior Championships but, while practicing following the event, he broke his left leg when he hit a rut in the ice. As a result, he missed the 2006–07 season and had a metal insert in his leg until March 2007, returning to the ice in May.

2007–08 to 2012–13

In 2008, Liebers finished 13th in his debut at the European Championships and 32nd at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. The next season, he competed at two senior

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

events and won his first German senior national title. In the 2010–11 season, Liebers won bronze at the

and competed at two Grand Prix events. He finished 11th at the 2011 Europeans and 15th at the 2011 Worlds. In June 2011, Liebers broke his sacrum while working on a new program in Toronto, Canada. He won the silver medal at the

2011 NRW Trophy The 2011 NRW Trophy was an international figure skating competition during the 2011–2012 season. An annual event organized by the Skating Union of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eislauf Union and the Interna ...

and bronze at the 2012 Coupe Internationale de Nice. Liebers finished tenth at the 2013 European Championships and eleventh at the 2013 World Championships. It was the best World result of his career and qualified a spot for Germany in men's singles at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

2013–14 season

Liebers placed a career-best sixth at the 2014 European Championships in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. In February 2014, he was training six to seven hours a day. At the Olympics in Sochi, he represented Germany in the team event short program and then finished eighth in the separate men's event. In March, he competed in Saitama, Japan at the 2014 World Championships, where he placed 14th.

2014–15 season

Having fallen and broken his left shoulder while working on a modified spin, Liebers underwent an operation in the second half of August 2014. Estimated to lose up to eight weeks following the operation, he withdrew from the 2014 Cup of China. He later withdrew from his second Grand Prix assignment, the

2014 NHK Trophy The 2014 NHK Trophy was the final event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Namihaya Dome in Osaka on November 28–30. Medals were awarded in t ...

, and the German Championships. In January 2015, he took bronze at the

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and finished sixth at the European Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. The following month, he won gold at the

Winter Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

in Granada, having climbed from fourth in the short program to finish ahead of

Takahiko Kozuka is a former competitive Japanese figure skater. He is the 2011 World silver medalist, a two-time Grand Prix Final medalist, a two-time Four Continents medalist, and the 2010–11 Japanese national champion. He is also the 2006 World Jun ...

and

Artur Gachinski Artur Andreyevich Gachinski (russian: Артур Андреевич Гачинский; born 13 August 1993) is a Russian former figure skater. He is the 2011 World bronze medalist, the 2012 European silver medalist, the 2010 World Junior bro ...

2015–16 season

Liebers began his season on the ISU Challenger Series (CS), placing 5th at the

2015 Nebelhorn Trophy The 2015 Nebelhorn Trophy was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2015–16 season. Part of the 2015–16 ISU Challenger Series, it was held on September 24–26, 2015 at the Eislaufzentrum Oberstdorf. Medals were awarded in ...

. He dropped out of his next CS event, the 2015 Finlandia Trophy, due to an adductor strain and later withdrew from his GP assignments, the 2015 Skate Canada International and the 2015 Rostelecom Cup, and the German Championships for the same reason. On 20 December 2015, the

Deutsche Presse-Agentur Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is ava ...

reported that Liebers had ended his season, the injury being more serious than initially thought. As a result of a gap in the acetabulum, caused by a fall, he underwent an arthroscopic operation on 23 February 2016 and was expected to rest for six weeks.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men ...

Seasons: 2007–2008 to present

Seasons: 1999–2000 to 2005–2006

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liebers, Peter German male single skaters 1988 births Living people Figure skaters from Berlin Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Germany Universiade medalists in figure skating Universiade gold medalists for Germany Competitors at the 2015 Winter Universiade