Natalia Kaliszek (; born 17 May 1996) is a retired Polish ice dancer. With her skating partner, Maksym Spodyriev, she has won medals on the ISU Challenger Series, including gold at the 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy, and eight Polish national titles. They have represented Poland at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics, as well as the European and World championships. At the junior level, they placed in the top ten at the 2015 Junior Worlds.
Personal life Natalia Kaliszek was born on 17 May 1996 in Toruń, Poland. She has two siblings, Michał and Anna, both of whom have competed in figure skating. In May 2022 she married Miłosz Wąsik, they have a baby born at the beginning of 2023.
Early career Natalia Kaliszek competed in ladies' singles as a child. In 2007, she teamed up with her brother, Michał Kaliszek, to compete in pair skating. In 2009, they appeared at two ISU Junior Grand Prix events, placing thirteenth and eighteenth.
In 2010, the two switched to ice dancing at the suggestion of Sylwia Nowak-Trębacka. In the 2011–2012 season, the Kaliszeks received two JGP assignments, finishing eleventh at both, and debuted on the senior level at the Pavel Roman Memorial, where they placed fifth. They were sent to the 2012 World Junior Championships in Minsk, Belarus, but were eliminated after the preliminary round. They trained in Toruń and ended their partnership after the 2012–2013 season.
In 2013, Kaliszek teamed up with Russian ice dancer Yaroslav Kurbakov. The two were coached by Nowak-Trębacka and represented Poland. They placed ninth and thirteenth at their JGP assignments and second at the Polish Junior Championships. They parted ways at the end of the season.
Partnership with Spodyriev
2014–2015 season In 2014, Kaliszek began competing with Ukrainian ice dancer Maksym Spodyriev for Poland, coached by Nowak-Trębacka in Toruń. The two made their international debut at the Volvo Open Cup, where they took the junior silver medal. Switching to the senior level, they placed sixth at a Challenger Series (CS) event, the Warsaw Cup, before winning gold at the Santa Claus Cup. They won the Polish national title at the Four Nationals in December 2014 and took bronze the following month at the Toruń Cup.
Kaliszek/Spodyriev were selected to represent Poland at the European Championships, held in late January 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. Ranked fifteenth in the short dance, they qualified to the free dance, where they placed fourteenth and rose to fourteenth overall. In early March, they made their second and final appearance on the junior level, competing at the World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia; they placed tenth in the short dance, sixth in the free dance, and seventh overall. Later in March, they traveled to Shanghai, China, for the World Championships but were eliminated after placing twenty-fourth in the short dance.
2015–2016 season Kaliszek/Spodyriev competed in three 2015–16 Challenger Series competitions. After placing seventh at the Nebelhorn Trophy, they won bronze at the Mordovian Ornament and silver at the Warsaw Cup. They finished third in the Challenger Series ranking.
Kaliszek/Spodyriev placed eleventh at the 2016 European Championships in Bratislava, having ranked eleventh in both segments. At the 2016 World Championships in Boston, they placed fourteenth in the short dance, sixteenth in the free dance, and sixteenth overall. At the end of May 2016, it was announced that the International Skating Union had chosen the foxtrot portion of their short dance to become a pattern dance.
2016–2017 season Starting their season on the Challenger Series, Kaliszek/Spodyriev placed fourth at the 2016 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial and fifth at the 2016 CS Finlandia Trophy, in early October. During training in early November, they had a fall related to poor rink conditions in Toruń, which resulted in her blade cutting two of his fingers. Later in the same month, they debuted on the Grand Prix series, having received invitations to two events. The duo finished fifth at the 2016 Cup of China and seventh at the 2016 NHK Trophy.
In January 2017, Kaliszek/Spodyriev finished 8th at the European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic. In March, they placed fifteenth in the short, thirteenth in the free, and fourteenth overall at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. Due to their result, Poland qualified a spot in the ice dancing event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
2017–2018 season Kaliszek/Spodyriev began the season with a tenth-place finish at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy, the first of two Challenger events the team would take on that year. On the Grand Prix, they placed ninth at Skate Canada and eighth at the Internationaux de France. Following the end of the Grand Prix, they won gold at the 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy, followed by a bronze medal at the Santa Claus Cup. They repeated as champions at the Polish Figure Skating Championships for the fourth consecutive time and were named to Poland's Olympic team, as well as to the European and World championships.
Competing at the 2018 European Championships, Kaliszek/Spodyriev placed tenth. Competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics ice dance event, they placed fourteenth in the short dance. Kaliszek/Spodyriev were one of three teams in the competition whose rhumba pattern dance made use of the song "Despacito", along with South Koreans Yura Min / Alexander Gamelin and the Chinese team of Wang Shiyue / Liu Xinyu. The effect of the song's ubiquity was heightened further because Kaliszek/Spodyriev and the Min/Gamelin skated consecutively and attracted comments on social and entertainment media. The duo qualified for the free dance, placing fifteenth and fourteenth overall. They concluded the season at the 2018 World Championships in Milan, Italy, where they placed seventeenth.
2018–2019 season The 2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy marked Kaliszek/Spodyriev's first event of the new season, placing eighth. On the Grand Prix, they placed sixth at Skate America and fifth at the Rostelecom Cup. Following the Grand Prix, they competed at the 2018 Warsaw Cup, winning the silver medal behind Tiffany Zahorski / Jonathan Guerreiro. They went on to compete in two more Challenger events, winning the bronze medal at the Tallinn Trophy and silver at Golden Spin. In December, Kaliszek/Spodyriev won their fifth national title.
Competing in the rhythm dance at the 2019 European Championships, they placed fourth and were the only team to receive a perfect score on the Tango Romantica pattern dance. They placed fifth in the free dance and fifth overall. They placed eleventh at the 2019 World Championships.
2019–2020 season The pattern dance based on Kaliszek and Spodyriev's 2015–16 "Tea for Two" short dance, formally known as the Tea Time Foxtrot, was adopted for use in the junior international competitive season. Kaliszek and Spodyriev spent much of the preseason teaching the dance at seminars for junior dance teams.
Beginning the season at the 2019 Shanghai Trophy, they won the bronze medal there before winning silver at the 2019 CS Ice Star. On the Grand Prix, they placed sixth at the 2019 Internationaux de France. At the 2019 Rostelecom Cup, they placed fourth in the rhythm dance despite a serious error on the Finnstep pattern dance, exiting hold midway through. They remained in fourth place overall following the free dance.
Polish champions again, Kaliszek/Spodyriev, finished the season at the 2020 European Championships, where they placed ninth. They had been assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
2020–2021 season With the pandemic limited international opportunities, Kaliszek/Spodyriev won the Four National Championships again before competing at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, where they placed twelfth. This qualified one berth for a Polish dance team at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
2021–2022 season Kaliszek/Spodyriev began the new season on the Grand Prix at 2021 Skate America, where they finished eighth. They withdrew from several other events, including the 2021 Rostelecom Cup, before winning the Polish national title again. They were named to the Polish Olympic team for the second time and then competed at the 2022 European Championships, finishing fourteenth.
Competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the dance event, Kaliszek/Spodyriev were fifteenth in the rhythm dance. Kaliszek fell at the end of their program, as a result of which they placed last in the free dance and dropped to seventeenth overall.
Spodyriev's native country, Kaliszek and Spodyriev's club welcomed many refugee Ukrainian skaters, notably fellow ice dancers Oleksandra Nazarova and Maksym Nikitin. The duo were scheduled to compete at the 2022 World Championships, but withdrew after a positive COVID test.
On July 16, they announced their retirement from competitive figure skating.
Programs
With Spodyriev Season Short dance Free dance Exhibition 2021–2022 Quick Musical Doodles Glory Heart Cry Natural 2020–2021 Everybody Say Yeah Everybody Say Yeah 2019–2020 (I've Had) The Time of My Life Do You Love Me I'll Never Love Again 2018–2019 Passion for Tango Bout Time I Feel Like I'm Drowning Bout Time 2017–2018 Despacito Deja Vu Descarga En Sol Para Tito Puente Young And Beautiful Swing Break No Diggity Maple Leaf Rag Just Give Me a Reason 2016–2017 Back to the Dirty Town Sax (I've Had) The Time of My Life Do You Love Me All of Me
Just Give Me a Reason 2015–2016 Rain Waltz Tea For Two Crystallize 2014–2015 Puss in Boots Phantom of the Opera on Ice Snow
With Kurbakov Season Short dance Free dance 2013–2014 That Man Can't Smile Without You That Man La valse du mariage Luna Caliente
With Michał Kaliszek Season Short dance Free dance 2011–2012 Angelina Alegría (Cirque du Soleil) Short program Free skating 2009–2010 Cinema Paradiso 2008–2009 The Pink Panther
Competitive highlights GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
With Spodyriev International Event 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20 20–21 21–22 Olympics 14th 17th Worlds 24th 16th 14th 17th 11th C 12th WD Europeans 14th 11th 8th 10th 5th 9th 14th Cup of China 5th France 8th 6th NHK Trophy 7th Rostelecom 5th 4th WD Skate America 6th 8th Skate Canada 9th Cup of Austria WD Finlandia 5th 10th Golden Spin 2nd Ice Star 2nd Mordovian 3rd Nebelhorn 7th 8th Nepela 4th Tallinn Trophy 1st 3rd Warsaw Cup 6th 2nd WD WD Bosphorus Cup 1st Open d'Andorra 2nd Santa Claus Cup 1st 3rd Shanghai Trophy 3rd Toruń Cup 3rd 1st 1st 1st 2nd 1st Warsaw Cup 2nd International: Junior Junior Worlds 7th Volvo Open Cup 2nd National Polish Champ. 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st Four Nationals 2nd 2nd 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled
With Kurbakov International Event 2013–14 Czech Republic 13th Poland 9th Ice Star 3rd J Santa Claus Cup 3rd J Toruń Cup 2nd J National Polish Championships 2nd J J = Junior level
With Michał Kaliszek
Ice dancing International Event 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 NRW Trophy 12th Pavel Roman Memorial 5th Toruń Cup 4th International: Junior World Junior Champ. 28th Estonia 11th Poland 11th National Polish Champ. 2nd J 2nd 3rd J = Junior level
Pair skating International Event 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 Germany 18th Poland 13th Ice Challenge 4th J Nebelhorn Trophy 1st N NRW Trophy 3rd N Toruń Cup 1st N 3rd J 2nd J Warsaw Cup 3rd N 3rd J National or regional Polish Champ. 4th Polish Junior Champ. 1st N* 1st 3rd Polish Youth Olympics 1st J Mazovia Cup 1st N 1st J 2nd J International Czech Champ. 2nd J Levels: J = Junior; N = Novice * Competed unofficially.
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