Sophie Joline von Felten (born April 19, 2009) is a Swiss figure skater who currently competes for the United States. She is the 2025 U.S. Junior champion and a three-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist. She has represented the United States at the World Junior Championships two times (2025, 2026).
In 2024, she became the first junior woman to land a triple Axel at the U.S. Championships. Additionally, she was the first U.S. woman to land a quadruple Salchow in competition at any level, and the third U.S. woman to land any quadruple jump.
Personal life Sophie was born in Zürich, Switzerland on April 19, 2009, the only child of Daniel and Inna von Felten. Her mother, who is originally from Russia, was a competitive pairs figure skater as a child. Von Felten played competitive tennis until the age of 10.
Von Felten is fluent in English, German, Swiss German, and Russian. She is in the process of obtaining a green card with the eventual goal of gaining U.S. citizenship.
Career
Skating for Switzerland
Early years Von Felten began skating at three years old after her mother took her to a rink in Paris. One of her early coaches was Yulia Lavrenchuk.
2022–23 season: Junior international debut Splitting her time between training under Patrick Addeo in Luzern, Switzerland and Rafael and Vera Arutyunyan in Irvine, California, United States, Von Felten made her junior international debut for Switzerland on the 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix series. She finished twenty-fifth at 2022 JGP Latvia and twenty-third at 2022 JGP Poland.
She subsequently went on to finish eighth on the junior level at the 2022 NRW Trophy before closing her season with a silver medal at the 2023 Swiss Junior Championships.
Following the season, Von Felten made the decision to permanently remain in the United States with her mother and ultimately begin representing the country. Her father continues to live in Lucerne and supports her skating from afar.
Skating for the United States
2023–24 season Prior to the season, Von Felten moved to Norwood, Massachusetts to train under Olga Ganicheva and Alexey Letov at the Skating Club of Boston. After competing in several U.S. domestic competitions in the fall, Von Felten made her national debut in January at the 2024 U.S. Junior Championships where she finished in ninth place.
2024–25 season: Junior Grand Prix gold Von Felten made her junior international debut for the United States at 2024 Cranberry Cup, where she placed sixth. She then went on to compete on the Junior Grand Prix series, winning the gold medal at 2024 JGP Slovenia. The following week, she placed thirteenth at 2024 JGP China.
In January, Von Felten won the national title at the 2025 U.S. Junior Championships. Her free skate at the event included two cleanly landed triple Axels and an attempted quadruple Salchow that was deemed as landed on the quarter.
Selected to compete at the 2025 World Junior Championships, Von Felten concluded her season by finishing the event in eighteenth place.
2025–2026 season: Two Junior Grand Prix medals
Before start of the season, Von Felten joined the Skating Club of Boston's junior Theatre On Ice team, Act I of Boston, to engage in performance skating, aiming to improve her presentation skills when competing. She also worked with choreographer, Adam Solya, to create a short program in dedication of the skaters that lost their lives in the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision as two of her former training mates, Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, were among the victims.
Von Felten's first international event of the season was the 2025 Cranberry Cup, where she won the gold medal in the junior category. She then went on to win bronze at both of her assigned Junior Grand Prix events in Turkey and Poland. Following the latter event, it was announced that former ice dancers, Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov had joined Von Felten's coaching team.
In January, Von Felten made her senior national debut at the 2026 U.S. Championships. She placed tenth in the short program after falling on an under-rotated triple Axel and sixth in the free skate after successfully landing two clean triple Axel jumps to finish sixth overall.
Selected to compete at the 2026 World Junior Championships, Von Felten placed eighth in the short program which included a triple Axel-triple toe combination. Although the triple toe was deemed under rotated, she became the first junior woman to successfully backload a triple axel in the short program. She went on to place fourteenth in the free skate segment and twelfth overall.
In May, it was announced that Von Felten had changed skating clubs, electing to continue her training at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury, Connecticut under Vladimir and Elena Petrenko.
2026–27 season: Senior debut Von Felten opened her season in September by finishing 4th at the 2026 CS Nepela Memorial in her senior debut. In an interview after the event with Eurosport, she was happy with her performance and only had 1 week of preparation before the event.
Programs
Competitive highlights Skating for the United States
Skating for Switzerland
Detailed results Skating for the United States
Senior level
Junior level
Skating for Switzerland Junior level
References
External links
Sophie Joline von Felten at U.S. Figure Skating (for the United States) (for Switzerland)