Michal Březina

Michal Březina

Březina at the 2009 Junior World Championships.
Personal information
Full name Michal Březina
Country represented  Czech Republic
Born 30 March 1990 (1990-03-30) (age 21)
Brno
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Coach Petr Starec
Karol Divín
Karel Fajfr
Former coach Alena Knothová
Choreographer Pasquale Camerlengo
Frank Dehne
Former choreographer Hana Charvátová
Skating club TJ Stadion Brno
Current training locations Brno, Oberstdorf, Andalo
Began skating 1997
World standing 6 (As of 16 June 2011 (2011 -06-16))[1]
Season's bests 6 (2010–2011)[2]
9 (2009–2010)[3]
23 (2008–2009)[4]
ISU personal best scores
Combined total 236.06
2010 Worlds
Short program 81.75
2010 Worlds
Free skate 154.31
2010 Worlds

Michal Březina (Czech pronunciation: [ˈmɪxal ˈbr̝ɛzɪna]; born 30 March 1990 in Brno, Czech Republic) is a Czech figure skater. He is the 2011 Skate America champion, the 2009 World Junior silver medalist, and the 2010 Czech national champion.

Contents

Career

Although his father is a former figure skater, Březina was initially interested in playing hockey following the 1998 Olympics. His father advised him to learn to skate first, and after a few months, Březina dropped hockey to focus on figure skating.[5]

Březina first landed a triple Salchow at the age of 12, and a triple Axel at 15.[5] In practice, he has worked on a quad toe loop and quad Salchow.[5] He has trained in his hometown of Brno with coach Petr Starec and in Oberstdorf, Germany with Karel Fajfr.[6][7][8] He currently trains mainly in Oberstdorf.[9]

Březina won the 2007 Nebelhorn Trophy over compatriot and reigning champion, Tomáš Verner. Two weeks later, he won his first Junior Grand Prix medal, a silver, in Chemnitz. Březina placed 16th at his first European Championships. He missed training time because of a broken wrist, but was able to compete at the World Junior Championships, where he was 5th.[10]

In the 2008-09 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 knee injury that required surgery. He returned in time for the 2009 Europeans, where he finished 10th, and then set a new personal best at the 2009 Junior Worlds, finishing second behind Adam Rippon.

In 2009-10, 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 to win the Czech Championship. He finished 4th at the 2010 European Championships.[11] At the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver he came in 10th. Competing at his first senior World Championships, he earned a fourth place finish with a new personal best score of 236.06.

During the 2010-11 Grand Prix season, Březina was forced to withdraw from the 2010 Cup of China after undergoing surgery for a varicose vein in his abdomen.[12][9] He later withdrew from the 2010 Trophée Eric Bompard 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 8th overall following the free skate. At the 2011 World Championships, he successfully landed two quads, a Salchow and a toe loop, 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.[13][14]

Březina experienced some boot problems during the off-season.[8] He began the 2011–2012 season 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.[15] Březina elected to do so, and was assigned to 2011 Skate America, 2011 Trophée Eric Bompard, and 2011 Cup of Russia.[8] 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. Brezina won the bronze medal in France which qualified him for the Grand Prix Final.[16] He then placed fourth in Cup of Russia. He was sixth at the Grand Prix Final.

Personal life

Březina intends to study sports at university and to eventually become a skating coach.[5] He is dating ice dancer Allison Reed.[17] His younger sister, Eliska Březinova, is also a competitive skater in singles skating.[18][9]

Programs

Season Short program Free skate Exhibition
2011–2012 Japanese Kodo Drums
choreographed by Pasquale Camerlengo		 The Untouchables
by Ennio Morricone
choreo. by Pasquale Camerlengo[8]		 All That You Are
by Goo Goo Dolls
2010–2011 Japanese Kodo Drums
choreographed by Pasquale Camerlengo[6]		 An American in Paris
by George Gershwin		 Feeling Good
by Michael Bublé
2009–2010 Puttin' On the Ritz
by Irving Berlin		 An American in Paris
by George Gershwin		 Feeling Good
by Michael Bublé
2008–2009 Sing, Sing, Sing
by Louis Prima		 Latin Dance Selections
by Safri Duo		 Singin' in the Rain
by Nacio Herb Brown
performed by Arthur Freed

Competitive highlights

Event 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12
Winter Olympic Games 10th
World Championships 4th 4th
European Championships 16th 10th 4th 8th
World Junior Championships 16th 5th 2nd
Czech Championships 1st J. 1st J. 1st J. 2nd 1st 2nd 2nd
Grand Prix Final 6th
Rostelecom Cup 4th
Skate America 1st
Cup of China WD
Trophée Eric Bompard WD 3rd
Skate Canada International 4th
NHK Trophy 3rd
Nebelhorn Trophy 1st 2nd 3rd 7th 2nd
Finlandia Trophy 4th
Bavarian Open 1st
Karl Schäfer Memorial WD
Golden Spin of Zagreb 5th 2nd
Japan Open (TE) 5th/3rd
Junior Grand Prix Final WD
Junior Grand Prix, Italy 1st
Junior Grand Prix, France 1st
Junior Grand Prix, Germany 2nd
Junior Grand Prix, Austria 7th
Junior Grand Prix, Czech Republic 16th
Junior Grand Prix, Netherlands 5th
Junior Grand Prix, Hungary 12th
Gardena Spring Trophy 3rd J. 2nd J.
European Youth Olympic Days 7th J.
Grand Prize SNP 1st
J. = Junior level; WD = Withdrew; TE = Team event (Individual result/Team result)

References

  1. ^ "ISU World Standings for Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance : Men". International Skating Union. June 16, 2011. http://www.isuresults.com/ws/ws/wsmen.htm. Retrieved June 18, 2011 2011. 
  2. ^ "ISU Judging System – Season Bests Total Scores 2010/2011 : Men". International Skating Union. April 28, 2011. http://www.isuresults.com/isujsstat/sb2010-11/sbtsmto.htm. Retrieved June 18, 2011. 
  3. ^ "ISU Judging System – Season Bests Total Scores 2009/2010 : Men". International Skating Union. March 25, 2010. http://www.isuresults.com/isujsstat/sb2009-10/sbtsmto.htm. Retrieved June 18, 2011. 
  4. ^ "ISU Judging System – Season Bests Total Scores 2008/2009 : Men". International Skating Union. April 18, 2009. http://www.isuresults.com/isujsstat/sb2008-09/sbtsmto.htm. Retrieved June 18, 2011. 
  5. ^ a b c d Mittan, Barry (July 6, 2008). "Brezina Challenges Czech's Verner". GoldenSkate.com. http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/2008/070608.shtml. Retrieved October 24, 2010. 
  6. ^ a b Flade, Tatjana (August 22, 2010). "Realistic ambitions". GoldenSkate.com. http://www.goldenskate.com/articles/2010/082210.shtml. Retrieved November 28, 2010. 
  7. ^ Luchianov, Vladislav (July 5, 2011). "Big things on the horizon for Brezina". Icenetwork. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110705&content_id=21432016&vkey=ice_news. Retrieved July 5, 2011. 
  8. ^ a b c d Flade, Tatjana (September 14, 2011). "Michal Březina on the Edge of Success". IFS Magazine. http://www.ifsmagazine.com/articles/607-michal-b-ezina-on-the-edge-of-success. Retrieved September 14, 2011. 
  9. ^ a b c Golinsky, Reut (January 3, 2012). "Michal Březina: "Since Olympics, skating moved on"". Absolute Skating. http://absoluteskating.com/index.php?cat=interviews&id=2011brezina. Retrieved January 3, 2012. 
  10. ^ "Interview with Michal Brezina, Oberstdorf, July 2008". figureskating-online. July 20, 2008. http://www.figureskating-online.com/michal-brezina.html. Retrieved July 1, 2011. 
  11. ^ Bőd, Titanilla (2010). "Michal Březina: "Practice is like competition for me"". AbsoluteSkating.com. http://absoluteskating.com/interviews/2010brezina.html. Retrieved December 22, 2010. 
  12. ^ Sarah S., Brannen; Meekins, Drew (26 October 2010). "The Inside Edge with Sarah and Drew: Brezina, Bates and regattas". Icenetwork.com. http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101026&content_id=15849272&vkey=ice_news. Retrieved 20 November 2010. 
  13. ^ Chan the man, devastation for Daisuke
  14. ^ Chan takes World title with record score
  15. ^ ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series 2011/2012
  16. ^ Tikhonova, Yulia (December 12, 2011). "Михал Бржезина: "Четверной прыжок – это не всё!" [The quad is not everything]" (in Russian). sport.ru. Archived from the original on December 16, 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/63zMj6ekf. 
  17. ^ Kany, Klaus-Reinhold (July 13, 2011). "European News: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy and More: Summer Updates". IFS Magazine. Archived from the original on January 3, 2012. http://www.ifsmagazine.com/articles/582-european-news-aliona-savchenko-and-robin-szolkowy-and-more. 
  18. ^ "Biography: Eliska BREZINOVA". International Skating Union. http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00012118.htm. Retrieved September 24, 2011. 

External links