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Tomáš Verner (; born 3 June 1986) is a former Czech figure skater. He is the 2008 European champion, a medalist at two other European Championships (
2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...
silver, 2011 bronze), and a ten-time (2002–2004, 2006–2008, 2011–2014) Czech national champion. He has won six senior Grand Prix medals, including the 2010 Cup of Russia title.


Personal life

Tomáš Verner was born on 3 June 1986 in Písek, Czech Republic. He moved to the capital,
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, when he was 12 years old. His father is a doctor. He has an older brother, Miroslav, who formerly competed internationally in junior
pair skating 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 ...
, and a younger sister, Kateřina, who is a gymnast. He was in relationship for four years with figure skater Nathalie Péchalat. In March 2020, he married Thai figure skater . They are expecting their son in September 2020. Verner studied physical education and sports at
Charles University ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , underg ...
in Prague, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2010. He then studied sports marketing and management at the University of Prague. He speaks Czech, German, and English and also knows some Russian.


Career


Early career

Verner started skating at the age of five. He also did athletics and played football before choosing to focus on skating. At the age of 12, he moved from Písek, where he was born, to
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
where his talent was spotted by coach Vlasta Kopřivová. He won his first national title in the 2001–02 season, and later that year represented the Czech Republic at the European Championships, where he finished 14th, and at the World Championships, where he failed to qualify for the free skate. Over the next four years, Verner finished as high as 10th place at Europeans and 13th at Worlds. He missed much of the 2004–05 season after he twisted his ankle and tore part of the muscle from the bone. He trained in Prague and also traveled regularly to
Oberstdorf Oberstdorf (Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns. At the&nb ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
to train with Michael Huth. During summers, he would also spend a few weeks training in Leppävirta,
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...
.


2006–2007 season

In 2007, Verner improved significantly upon his previous results. At the European Championships in Warsaw, he led after the short program before finishing with the silver medal behind Brian Joubert. He was the first Czech male single skater to medal at the European Championships since 1992. At the 2007 World Championships in Japan, he finished fourth overall. Having popped a triple axel and made an error on a spin, he was in ninth place after the short but moved up to fourth after the long program, landing a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination and a further quadruple toe loop.


2007–2009 seasons

In 2008, Verner became the first Czech male to win Europeans since Petr Barna's victory for
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
in 1992. He was fourth after the short program at the 2008 World Championships but finished 15th after popping several jumps in his long program. Verner's 2008–09 Grand Prix assignments were the Cup of China and the Cup of Russia. He finished third and second, respectively, qualifying for the Grand Prix Final where he finished 4th. At the 2009 Europeans, Verner scored a personal best in the short program and was in second place, but made several mistakes in his long program which dropped him to 6th place overall. He finished fourth at the 2009 World Championships.


2009–2010 season

Verner began the 2009–10 season with a silver medal at the
2009 Trophée Eric Bompard 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the Brahmi numerals, beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshat ...
. He finished fifth at the 2010 Skate America. While at Skate America, he became ill with
H1N1 flu In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus ...
, from which he was unable to fully recover during the rest of the season. Verner was first alternate for the Grand Prix Final, and eventually filled the slot left open by the injured Brian Joubert; he came in sixth. He was second to Michal Březina at the Czech Championships, dropped to 10th at Europeans and struggled at the Olympics, finishing 19th. Verner decided not to compete at the World Championships because he felt unprepared for the event.


2010–2011 season

Before the start of the 2010–11 season, Verner changed coaches, and began training with Robert Emerson in Richmond Hill, near
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
. Whereas in Europe, he typically trained his program in parts, with full run-throughs only before a competition, his new coach requires complete run-throughs in everyday training. Verner won the bronze at
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 wer ...
, his first Grand Prix event of the year. At the 2010 Cup of Russia, Verner set a new personal best in the long program and beat
Patrick Chan Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. He is a 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, 2014 Olympic silver medallist in the men's and team events, a three–time World c ...
and
Jeremy Abbott Jeremy Abbott (born June 5, 1985) is a former American figure skater. He is the 2008 Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time (2007, 2011) Four Continents bronze medalist, and a four-time (2009, 2010, 2012, 2014) U.S. national champion. He repr ...
to win his first senior Grand Prix title. He was the only person to beat Patrick Chan in international competition during the 2010–2011 season. He qualified for the 2010–2011 Grand Prix Final, where he finished fifth in the short program and fourth in the free skate for fifth place overall. His next event was the Czech national championships, which he won for the first time in three years. Verner was fifth in the short program at the 2011 Europeans following a fall on his triple Axel, but finished second in the free skate to move up to third overall. The bronze medal was his first podium finish at the Europeans since winning the event in 2008. Following the European Championships, Verner and a number of other elite skaters performed in a show in North Korea, an event which was sanctioned by the Czech skating association and the ISU but resulted in some criticism in the Czech Republic. Verner finished 12th at the 2011 World Championships.


2011–2014

Verner withdrew from the 2011 Nebelhorn Trophy due to a back injury. He was not fully recovered by the Grand Prix series. He finished 5th at the 2011 NHK Trophy and withdrew from his second assignment, the 2011 Rostelecom Cup. At the Czech Championships, Verner was second behind Michal Březina after the short program but won the free skate and took his eighth national title. He finished 5th at the 2012 European Championships and 16th at the 2012 World Championships. Verner was 11th at the 2013 European Championships and 21st at the World Championships. In June and July 2013, he trained at the IceDome camp in Oberstdorf, working with Vlasta Kopřivová, Michael Huth, and
Rostislav Sinicyn Rostislav Sinicyn (russian: Ростислав Александрович Синицын, also romanized as Sinitsyn; born 18 October 1955) is an ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With his wife Natalia Karamyševa (Karamysheva), Sinicy ...
. He received no Grand Prix assignments for the 2013–2014 season. In August 2013, Verner announced that he would return to Oberstdorf full-time to work with Michael Huth as his coach. In October, he won gold at the 2013 Ondrej Nepela Memorial after placing second in the short program and first in the free skate. Verner went on to compete at the Cup of Nice, which he also won. In December, Verner competed at the Czech Championships where he won his tenth title, twenty-eight points ahead of second-place finisher, Michal Březina, securing himself a spot at his third Olympics. He finished 11th at the
2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...
in Sochi. Although he initially intended to retire in February 2014, Verner decided to compete at the