Ruben Blommaert (born 5 March 1992) is a Belgian-born German

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

. With his skating partner,

Alisa Efimova Alisa Borisovna Efimova (russian: Алиса Борисовна Ефимова, born 8 June 1999) is a Finnish-Russian pair skater. Competing for Germany with Ruben Blommaert, she is the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo silver medalist. Earlier in he ...

, he is the

2022 Grand Prix of Espoo The 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo was the sixth event in the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo from November 25-27. It was the repl ...

silver medalist. He also holds Belgian citizenship and competed for Belgium in single skating until 2010. Blommaert began representing Germany after teaming up with Annabelle Prölß to compete in pairs. They won the 2013 Cup of Nice and the 2013 German national title. He and his next partner,

Mari Vartmann Mari-Doris Vartmann (born 25 December 1988) is a German pair skater. With Ruben Blommaert, she won four ISU Challenger Series medals. With Aaron Van Cleave, she is the 2015 German national champion, the 2011 NRW Trophy champion, and 2010 Warsa ...

, won four

ISU Challenger Series The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. E ...

medals and the 2015 Cup of Nice. With Annika Hocke, Blommaert won silver medals at the 2017 CS Minsk-Arena Ice Star and 2017

International Cup of Nice The International Cup of Nice (french: Coupe Internationale de Nice) is an annual international figure skating competition usually held in October or November in Nice, France. It was continuously held from 1995 to 2017 (except 2005) for 22 years. Th ...

and competed at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. He competed for one season with Elena Pavlova.

Personal life

Ruben Blommaert was born on 5 March 1992 in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

, Belgium. He became a German citizen on 1 July 2014 while retaining his Belgian citizenship. He has a twin brother, Sander, who dances with the Royal Ballet in London.

Career

Blommaert began learning to skate in 1998. He competed for Belgium in

single skating Single skating is a discipline of figure skating in which male and female skaters compete individually. Men's singles and women's singles are governed by the International Skating Union (ISU). Figure skating is the oldest winter sport contested ...

until 2010, appearing at the European Championships and Junior World Championships.

Partnership with Prölß

Blommaert teamed up with Annabelle Prölß in October 2011. They won the junior pairs title at the 2012 German Junior Championships. In 2012–13, Prölß/Blommaert made their

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 ...

debut in Lake Placid, finishing 6th, and then placed 4th in Germany. They won gold medals in the junior events at the 2013 Ice Challenge and 2013 Bavarian Open. Prölß/Blommaert won gold in their senior national debut at the 2013 German Championships. They finished 7th at the 2013 World Junior Championships. In 2013–14, Prölß/Blommaert debuted on the senior international level. After finishing 4th at their first two events, they took gold at the

. They received their first senior Grand Prix assignment, the 2013 Trophée Éric Bompard, after France's

Daria Popova Daria Popova (born 28 July 1993) is a Russian former competitive pair skater. From 2011 to 2014, she competed with Bruno Massot, winning the 2014 Challenge Cup and the 2012 French national title. The pair finished in the top ten at the 2012 and ...

Bruno Massot Bruno Massot (born 28 January 1989) is a French-German pair skating coach and former competitor. Competing with Aljona Savchenko for Germany, he is the 2018 Olympic Champion, the 2018 World Champion, a two-time European silver medalist, and tw ...

withdrew.

Partnership with Vartmann

In the 2015–16 season, Blommaert started skating with

. They won the 2015 Cup of Nice. At the 2016 Europeans, they placed 4th in the short program, 8th in the free program and 8th overall. Vartmann and Blommaert started the 2016–17 season on the Challenger Series, winning bronze at both

Nebelhorn Trophy The Nebelhorn Trophy is an international senior-level figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and held annually in Oberstdorf, Germany. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014–15 season. The competitio ...

and

Finlandia Trophy The Finlandia Trophy is a senior-level international figure skating competition. Since 1995, it is held annually in Finland in Greater Helsinki region, including Helsinki, Vantaa, and Espoo. It became part of the ISU Challenger Series in the 2014� ...

. On 10 January 2017, the

Deutsche Eislauf-Union The German Ice Skating Union (german: Deutsche Eislauf-Union, DEU) is the national amateur association for figure skating and ice dancing in Germany. The various German ice sports associations constitute the membership of the DEU; individuals canno ...

announced that the two had parted ways.

Partnership with Hocke

Blommaert and Annika Hocke announced their partnership on 9 February 2017. They competed at the

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, as well as at the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and 2019 World Championships, before dissolving their partnership.

Partnership with Pavlova

Blommaert announced in July 2019 that he had formed a new partnership with Russian pair skater Elena Pavlova. Due to Pavlova's visa issues, they indicated they would initially have to split time training between Russia and Germany. The pair split after one season.

Partnership with Efimova

Blommaert formed a new partnership with

, who had previously competed with

Alexander Korovin Alexander Sergeyevich Korovin (russian: Александр Сергеевич Коровин, born 15 February 1994) is a Russian pair skater. As of October 2022, he competes with Isabella Gamez for the Philippines. Earlier in his career, he ...

for Russia. They placed 2nd at the 2022 German Championships but were not allowed compete internationally until Efimova had been released by the Russian federation. They had their international debut at the 2022 Nebelhorn Trophy, where they placed 2nd.

Programs

Pairs with Efimova

Pairs with Pavlova

Pairs with Hocke

With Vartmann

With Prölß

Single skating

Competitive highlights

''GP:

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 ...

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

Pairs with Efimova for Germany

Pairs with Pavlova for Germany

Pairs with Hocke for Germany

Pairs with Vartmann for Germany

Pairs with Prölß for Germany

Men's singles for Belgium

Detailed results

With Prölß

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blommaert, Ruben 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Bruges Belgian male single skaters German male pair skaters Naturalized citizens of Germany Belgian emigrants to Germany Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Germany