Katharina Müller (born 12 September 1995) is a retired German competitive

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

. With her skating partner Tim Dieck, she is a two-time German national champion and has won many senior international medals, including two silver medals on the

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 figure skating season, 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU ...

and three gold medals at the German

NRW Trophy The NRW Trophy (also known as the NRW Summer Trophy or the NRW Autumn Trophy) is an annual international figure skating competition organized by the Skating Union of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 2007, it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eisla ...

. They have represented Germany at the European and

World The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

championships.

Personal life

Katharina Müller was born on 12 September 1995 in

Nizhnevartovsk Nizhnevartovsk ( rus, Нижневартовск, p=nʲɪʐnʲɪˈvartəfsk) is a city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug–Yugra, Russia. Since the 1960s, the Western Siberian oil boom has led to Nizhnevartovsk's rapid growth from a small settlem ...

, Russia. She moved with her family to Germany in 1999. As of 2017, she is studying teaching, English, and sports science at

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...

Competitive career

Early career

Müller began skating in 2000 in

Bielefeld Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region () of Detmold (region), Detmold and the L ...

. She took up ice dancing in 2009, teaming up with Justin Gerke. The two were coached by Vladimir Tsvetkov in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. They parted ways after the 2012–13 season, Gerke having decided to retire from competition.

2014–15 season

Vitali Schulz arranged a tryout between Müller and Tim Dieck. They teamed up in April 2014, coached by Schulz und James Young in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

. Assigned to two Junior Grand Prix events, they placed eighth in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, Slovenia, and seventh in

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...

, Japan. After winning the 2015 German junior national title, they were sent to the 2015 World Junior Championships in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, Estonia; ranked thirteenth in the short dance, they qualified for the final segment and finished twelfth overall.

2015–16 season

Competing in the Challenger Series (CS), Müller/Dieck finished tenth in September at the 2015 Nebelhorn Trophy – their first senior international – and eighth the following month at the 2015 Mordovian Ornament. In November, they won bronze at the 2015 NRW Trophy before appearing at their third CS event, the 2015 Tallinn Trophy, where they placed fifth. They were awarded the silver medal at the German Championships in December, having finished second to

Lorenz Lorenz is an originally German name derived from the Roman surname Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum". Given name People with the given name Lorenz include: * Prince Lorenz of Belgium (born 1955), member of the Belgian royal family by h ...

/ Polizoakis, and took bronze at the Toruń Cup. Müller/Dieck were included in Germany's team to the 2016 European Championships in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, Slovakia, but were eliminated after placing twenty-third in the short dance. In spring 2016, Müller/Dieck began training under Marina Zueva in

Canton, Michigan Canton Township (commonly known simply as Canton) is a charter township in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. A western Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Canton is located roughly west of downtown Detroit, and e ...

, in addition to Schulz and Young in Dortmund.

2016–17 season

Müller/Dieck competed at two Challenger events, placing twelfth at the 2016 CS U.S. Classic and ninth at the 2016 CS Nebelhorn Trophy. They won gold at the

for the first time, and were the German national silver medalists for the second consecutive year

2017–18 season

Competing three times on the Challenger series, Müller/Dieck were fifth at the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup, sixth at the 2017 CS Ice Star, and eleventh at the 2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb. They won the silver medal at the German championships for the third consecutive year.

2018–19 season

Again competing on the Challenger series three times, Müller/Dieck were seventh at both the

2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held in September 2018 at the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf. It is part of the 2018–19 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...

and the 2018 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb and ninth at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy. They were invited to make their

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

debut, placing seventh at the

2018 Skate America The 2018 Skate America was the first event of six in the 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington on October 19–21. ...

and tenth at the

2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki The 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki was held in Helsinki, Finland, from November 2–4. It was the third event of the 2018–2019 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, 2018–19 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational ...

champions for the second time, they then won their fourth consecutive silver medal at the German championships.

2019–20 season

Müller/Dieck's three Challenger competitions for the year were the 2019 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial, the

2019 CS Ice Star The 2019 CS Ice Star was held in October 2019 in Minsk, Belarus. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of single skating, men's singles, ladies' singles, and ice dance. Entries The Internati ...

and the 2019 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, where they placed eighth, sixth and sixth, respectively. They did not return to the

, but won the inaugural Denis Ten Memorial Challenge and the Open d'Andorra, followed by becoming German national champions for the first time. Müller/Dieck attended the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

for the first time in four seasons, placing thirteenth. They were supposed to make their

World Championship 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 ...

debut at the 2020 edition in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, but these were cancelled as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2020–21 season

Despite the continued limitations of the pandemic on international competition, Müller/Dieck won their first Challenger medal, a silver at the 2020 CS Budapest Trophy, as well as their third gold medal at the

. Repeating as German national champions, they went on to make their World Championship debut at the 2021 World Championships in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, where they came in eighteenth. This result

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

a berth for a German ice dance team at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

2021–22 season

Müller/Dieck began the season at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, winning the silver medal. Dieck noted that it was "always special to win a medal in Germany", while Müller said "we were not competing for an Olympic spot here, but it was important to us for our national qualification and to prove that we are ready and want to go to the Olympic Games." They came ninth at the

2021 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy was held on October 7–10, 2021 in Espoo, Finland. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, pairs, an ...

. Initially assigned to the

2021 Cup of China 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

on the

, upon its cancellation Müller/Dieck were reassigned to the

2021 Gran Premio d'Italia The 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia was a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Italian Ice Sports Federation (), and the third event of the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Sk ...

. They finished in eighth place. They were sixth at the

2021 CS Cup of Austria The 2021 CS Cup of Austria by Icechallenge was held on November 11–14, 2021 in Graz, Austria. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, and ice dance. Entri ...

and second at the Open d'Andorra. Despite losing the German national title to rivals Janse van Rensburg/ Steffan, Müller/Dieck were named to the German Olympic team. They first competed at the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The event started three d ...

, finishing in twelfth place. Müller/Dieck began the

as the German entries in the rhythm dance segment of the Olympic team event, where they finished tenth among ten. In the dance event, they were twenty-first in the rhythm dance, missing the cut for the free dance. The team encountered new difficulties following the Olympics, as

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

's invasion of Ukraine and resultant tensions between Russia and Germany resulted in their being unable to return to their Moscow training location. Müller ultimately announced her retirement from competitive ice dance in December 2023.

Coaching career

Following her retirement, Müller moved to

Egna Neumarkt (, ; ) is a (municipality) and a village in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about south of the city of Bolzano. It is one of ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). Geography As of 30 November 2010, it had a population of ...

, Italy to coach at the Young Goose Academy, alongside Matteo Zanni and Barbora Řezníčková. Her current and former students include: * Olexandra Borysova / Aaron Freeman * Angelina Kudryavtseva / Ilia Karankevich * Kateřina Mrázková / Daniel Mrázek * Anna Šimová / Kirill Aksenov * Myroslava Tkachenko / Riccardo Pesca * Aneta Václavíková / Ivan Morozov

Programs

With Dieck

With Gerke

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix''

With Dieck

With Gerke

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Katharina 1995 births Living people People from Nizhnevartovsk German female ice dancers Russian emigrants to Germany Competitors at the 2017 Winter Universiade Competitors at the 2019 Winter Universiade Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Germany 21st-century German sportswomen