Michal Březina
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Michal Březina (; born 30 March 1990) is a retired Czech
figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...
. He is the 2013 European bronze medalist, 2011
Skate America Skate America is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The first Skate America was in held in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, as a test event fo ...
champion, 2009 World Junior silver medalist and four-time Czech national champion. He also won the 2014-15 ISU Challenger Series. Michal represented the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
at the
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
,
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
,
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
, and
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 ...
.


Personal life

Michal Březina was born on 30 March 1990 in
Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...
. He is the son of Edita Březinová and Rudolf Březina, a figure skating coach. His younger sister,
Eliška Březinová Eliška Březinová (born 19 February 1996) is a Czech figure skater. She is the 2019 EduSport Trophy champion, the 2014 New Year's Cup champion, the 2015 Santa Claus Cup champion, a two-time 2021 Four National Figure Skating Championships, Fou ...
, competes in ladies' single skating. At the age of 18 he intended to study sports at university and eventually become a skating coach. Březina was the
best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usuall ...
at the wedding of
Anna Cappellini Anna Cappellini (born 19 February 1987) is an Italian ice dancer. With partner Luca Lanotte, she is the 2014 World Figure Skating Championships, 2014 World champion, the 2014 European Figure Skating Championships, 2014 European champion, the 2015 ...
and
Ondřej Hotárek Ondřej Hotárek (born 25 January 1984) is a Czech-Italian pair skater and coach who began competing for Italy in 2006. He competed with Valentina Marchei until the end of their partnership in 2018. With former partner Stefania Berton, he is the ...
in the summer of 2015. On 19 May 2015, Brezina announced his engagement to his girlfriend, fellow figure skater, Danielle Montalbano. They were married on 10 June 2017. The couple have two children: a daughter, Naya Rose (born 2020) and a son, Noah Michal (born 2022).


Career


Early years

Březina was initially interested in ice hockey after watching the
1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...
, but his father advised him to learn to skate first, and after a few months, he dropped hockey to focus on figure skating. Březina first landed a triple Salchow at the age of 12, and a triple Axel at 15. In practice, he has worked on a quad
toe loop Toes are the digits of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plantigrade''; ...
and quad Salchow. He trained in his hometown of
Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...
with coach Petr Starec and in
Oberstdorf Oberstdorf (Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in German ...
, Germany with Karel Fajfr.


2007–2008 season

Březina won the 2007 Nebelhorn Trophy over compatriot and reigning champion,
Tomáš Verner Tomáš Verner (; born 3 June 1986) is a former Czech Republic, Czech Figure skating, figure skater. He is the 2008 European Figure Skating Championships, 2008 European champion, a medalist at two other European Championships (2007 European Figur ...
. Two weeks later, he won his first Junior Grand Prix medal, a silver, in
Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...
. Březina placed sixteenth at his first
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 ...
. He missed training time because of a broken wrist but was able to compete at the World Junior Championships, where he was fifth.


2008–2009 season

Březina won both his junior Grand Prix events but was forced to miss the Junior Grand Prix Final and the Czech national championships due to a right knee injury that required surgery. He returned in time for the 2009 Europeans, where he finished tenth, and then set a new personal best at the 2009 Junior Worlds to win the silver medal behind
Adam Rippon Adam Richard Rippon (born November 11, 1989) is a retired American competitive Figure skating, figure skater and media personality. He is the Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2018 Olympic bronze medalist in the team eve ...
.


2009–2010 season

Březina debuted on the senior Grand Prix circuit, finishing fourth at the 2009 Skate Canada International. He won the bronze medal at 2009 NHK Trophy and defeated
Tomáš Verner Tomáš Verner (; born 3 June 1986) is a former Czech Republic, Czech Figure skating, figure skater. He is the 2008 European Figure Skating Championships, 2008 European champion, a medalist at two other European Championships (2007 European Figur ...
to win the Czech Championship. He finished 4th at the 2010 European Championships. At the
2010 Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...
in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
he came in tenth. Competing at his first senior
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 ...
, he earned a fourth-place finish with a new personal best score of 236.06.


2010–2011 season

Březina was forced to withdraw from the
2010 Cup of China The 2010 Cup of China was the third event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on November 4–7. Medals were a ...
after undergoing surgery for a varicose vein in his abdomen. He later withdrew from the
2010 Trophée Eric Bompard 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...
as well. He took silver behind Verner at the Czech Championships. At the 2011 European Championships, Březina placed second in the short program but dropped to eighth overall following the free skate. At the 2011 World Championships, he successfully landed two quads, a Salchow and a
toe loop Toes are the digits of the foot of a tetrapod. Animal species such as cats that walk on their toes are described as being ''digitigrade''. Humans, and other animals that walk on the soles of their feet, are described as being ''plantigrade''; ...
, in the long program – his first quads landed in competition – but fell on two jumps toward the end of the program. He finished fourth at the event for the second straight year.


2011–2012 season

Březina experienced some boot problems during the off-season. He trained mainly in Oberstdorf. He began his
season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
at 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy where he won the silver medal. Skaters who had placed in the top six at the 2011 Worlds were given a newly introduced option of competing at three Grand Prix events. Březina elected to do so and was assigned to 2011 Skate America, 2011 Trophée Eric Bompard, and 2011 Cup of Russia. At Skate America, he won the short program by 8.39 points and placed third in the free skate to win the gold medal overall. Březina won the bronze medal in France, which qualified him for the Grand Prix Final. He then placed fourth in the Cup of Russia. He was sixth at the Grand Prix Final. At the 2012 World Championships, Březina picked up a small silver medal for the short program and finished sixth overall after the free skate. In April 2012, he changed coaches from Starec and Fajfr to Viktor Petrenko. He trained at the Ice House in
Hackensack, New Jersey Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
.


2012–2013 season

Březina finished sixth at
2012 Skate America The 2012 Hilton HHonors Skate America was the first event of six in the 2012–13 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington on October 19 ...
and won the bronze medal at the 2012 Rostelecom Cup. He withdrew from the Czech Championships due to a fever. He dislocated his shoulder during practice on 21 January at the 2013 European Championships but went on to win bronze, his first European medal.


2013–2014 season

In February 2014, Březina placed tenth at the
Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...
in
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from  – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...
, Russia. His next event was the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan. He withdrew after the short program on 26 March, having pulled ligaments in his right ankle on the triple flip take-off. His ankle was immediately put into a cast, and he recovered in two weeks. Due to the high cost of training in the United States, he decided in June 2014 to rejoin Karel Fajfr in Oberstdorf.


2014–2015 season

Březina began the season with two silver medals at his Challenger events, the
Golden Spin of Zagreb The Golden Spin of Zagreb () is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Croatian Skating Federation () and held in Zagreb, Croatia. The competition debuted in 1973, and ...
and
Nebelhorn Trophy The Nebelhorn Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the German Ice Skating Union () and held in Oberstdorf, Germany. The competition debuted in 1969 and is na ...
/ After finishing seventh at the
2014 Skate Canada International The 2014 Skate Canada International was the second 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 Prospera Place in Kelowna, British Columbia, on O ...
, he won the bronze medal at the 2014 Rostelecom Cup. He placed fifth at the 2015 European Championships and fifteenth at the 2015 World Championships.


2015–2016 season

His first event of the season was the 2015
Lombardia Trophy The Lombardia Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Italian Ice Sports Federation (). The competition debuted in 2013 in Sesto San Giovanni, and when the I ...
, which was not a Challenger event for that particular season. Following a sixth-place finish at Nebelhorn, Brezina placed eighth and seventh at these two Grand Prix assignments,
Skate Canada International Skate Canada International is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organised and hosted by Skate Canada. The first Skate Canada competition was held in 1973 in Calgary, Alberta. When ...
and the
NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Japan Skating Federation. The first NHK Trophy was held in 1979 in Tokyo. When the ISU launched the Champ ...
. He went on to place tenth at
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...
and ninth at Worlds. In the spring of 2016, Březina decided to train with Rafael Arutyunyan in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
.


2016–2017 season

Březina placed fourth at
Skate Canada International Skate Canada International is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organised and hosted by Skate Canada. The first Skate Canada competition was held in 1973 in Calgary, Alberta. When ...
and tenth at the
Cup of China The Cup of China is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Chinese Skating Association (), and part of the ISU Grand Prix Series. The first competition was held in ...
. In December 2016, he placed first in the short program at the Four Nationals; he withdrew after injuring his arm during the free skate. He placed twelfth at
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...
. Březina twisted his ankle three weeks before the 2017 World Championships in
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
. He finished eighteenth at the event in Finland, earning a spot for the Czech Republic at the
2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...
.


2017–2018 season

Beginning with two events on the Challenger Series, Březina placed ninth at the U.S. International Classic and sixth at the
Finlandia Trophy The Finlandia Trophy an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by Skating Finland (). The competition debuted in 1995 in Helsinki, and when the ISU launched the ISU Challenger ...
. He went on to place sixth at
Skate Canada International Skate Canada International is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organised and hosted by Skate Canada. The first Skate Canada competition was held in 1973 in Calgary, Alberta. When ...
and ninth at
NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Japan Skating Federation. The first NHK Trophy was held in 1979 in Tokyo. When the ISU launched the Champ ...
. Following an eighth-place finish at
Europeans Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common ancestry, language, faith, historical continuity, etc. There are ...
, Březina competed at his third Olympic Games in
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 Seo ...
,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
. He placed sixteenth. The season concluded at the 2018 World Championships in
Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...
,
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, where he placed tenth, setting a new personal best in the free skate.


2018–2019 season

Březina began the season with a silver medal at the 2018 U.S. International Classic, his first Challenger Series medal in four years. He followed that up with a silver medal 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. ...
event, his first Grand Prix medal since his bronze at Rostelecom four years earlier. At his second Grand Prix event, the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki, he set new personal bests in the short program and overall score to win a second silver medal. His results qualified him for the Grand Prix Final, only the second time in his career he had done so and the first time in seven years. Březina placed fourth at the Final, finishing 8.23 points behind Cha Jun-hwan after doubling a jump in his short program and falling on a quad Salchow in the free skate. At the European Championships he placed eighth in the short program and moved up to seventh overall after placing sixth in the free program. Finishing his season at the 2019 World Championships, Březina placed eighth in the short program. He remained in eighth place following the free skate, despite a single fall on a triple flip attempt.


2019–2020 season

Březina opted not to begin his season with a Challenger event, instead competing at the 2019 Shanghai Trophy, where he placed fourth. Returning to
Skate America Skate America is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by U.S. Figure Skating. The first Skate America was in held in 1979 in Lake Placid, New York, as a test event fo ...
, he placed fifth in the short program despite jump errors. After doubling numerous jumps in his free skate, he fell to eleventh place. He was ninth at the 2019 Rostelecom Cup. Competing at the 2020 European Championships, Březina placed first in the short program despite performing only a quad-double in his combination jump, winning a gold small medal. He said he was undecided about whether it would be his final competition. He fell twice in the free skate on quad Salchow attempts, placing eleventh in that segment and falling to seventh place overall. He was scheduled to compete at the 2020 World Championships 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 ...
.


2020–2021 season

Březina was assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate America but withdrew due to a fall in training. He was allowed to submit virtual competitive programs to the 2021 Four National Championships, winning the gold medal. His only live event of the season was 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 he placed nineteenth. This result qualified one berth for the Czech Republic 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 ...
in
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 ...
.


2021–2022 season

Březina opened his season with a win at the 2021 U.S. International Classic. Following the results of the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, he was announced as part of the Czech Olympic team, this time alongside his sister
Eliška Eliška is a name for Czech girls, which is rendered ''Elise'' in English, German and French. It may refer to: *Eliška Bučková (born 1989), Czech model, Czech Miss 2008 * Eliška Junková (1900–1994), Czech automobile racer *Eliška Klei ...
. Competing on the Grand Prix at the 2021 Skate America, he finished in sixth. At the
2021 Rostelecom Cup The 2021 Rostelecom Cup was the sixth event in the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Iceberg Skating Palace in Sochi on 26–28 November. Medals were awa ...
, he finished in tenth place. Discussing his results afterward, he cited his work with a mental coach as having improved his mindset, noting, "I wish I would have worked with a mental coach when I was younger. Maybe my career would have looked different." 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 ...
, Březina had a poor short program and finished in fifteenth place in that segment. He was fifth in the free skate, rising to tenth place overall. Březina began 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 ...
as the Czech entry in the men's short program of the Olympic team event. He placed seventh in the segment, securing four points for the Czech team. They ultimately did not advance to the second phase of the competition, finishing eighth. In the individual event, he placed twenty-fifth in the short program, not advancing to the free program. He announced his retirement shortly after the event.


Programs


Competitive highlights


Detailed results


Senior level


Junior level


References


External links

* *
Michal Brezina
at SkatingScores.com * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brezina, Michal 1990 births Living people Czech male single skaters Figure skaters from Brno Figure skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2014 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for the Czech Republic World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Competitors at the 2017 Winter Universiade 21st-century Czech sportsmen