Denys Strekalin

Denys Strekalin (born 31 March 1999) is a Ukrainian-born pair skater who competes for France. With his partner, Océane Piegad, he is the 2024 French national silver medalist.

Denys Strekalin
Cléo Hamon and Denys Strekalin at the 2020 European Championships
Born	(1999-03-31) 31 March 1999 (age 26) Simferopol, Ukraine
Hometown	Paris, France
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	France (since 2016)  Ukraine (2012–15)
Discipline	Pair skating (since 2016) Men's singles (2012–15)
Partner	Océane Piegad (2022–24) Cléo Hamon (2016–22)
Coach	Laurent Depouilly Nathalie Depouilly Dominique Deniaud
Skating club	Club Olympique Courbevoie
Began skating	2005
Medal record
Representing  France French Championships 2020 Dunkirk Pairs 2021 Vaujany Pairs 2018 Nantes Pairs 2019 Vaujany Pairs 2024 Vaujany Pairs

With his former skating partner, Cléo Hamon, he is a two-time French national champion (2020, 2021), 2018 Volvo Open Cup champion, and has competed in the final segment at three World Junior Championships (2017–2019).

Career

In Ukraine

Strekalin began learning to skate in 2006.^[1] Competing in men's singles, he placed seventh at the Ukrainian Junior Championships in 2013 and 2015.^[2] He also trained in pair skating with Sofiia Nesterova.^[1]

Partnership with Hamon

Early seasons

In August 2016, Strekhalin teamed up with Cleo Hamon to compete for France in pairs.^[1] Coached by Mehdi Bouzzine in Courbevoie, they made their international debut in February 2017, placing seventh in junior pairs at the Bavarian Open. In March, they placed fourteenth at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.^[3]

In September 2017, Hamon/Strekalin debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series, placing eighth in Riga, Latvia. In December, appearing on the senior level, they won silver at the French Championships, behind Lola Esbrat / Andrei Novoselov. In March, they finished eleventh at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Competing in the 2018 JGP series, Hamon/Strekalin placed sixth in Linz, Austria, and fifth in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Making their senior international debut, the pair took gold at the Volvo Open Cup in November 2018. In March 2019, they finished ninth at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

2019–20 season

After placing eighth at the 2019 JGP United States, Hamon/Streklain debuted on the senior Challenger series with a seventh-place finish at the 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy. They would go on to place tenth at the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup and ninth at their first European Championships.^[4] Hamon/Strekalin also won the French senior national title for the first time, due to the absence of James/Cipres from the competition season. They finished the season at the 2020 World Junior Championships, where they placed fifth.^[5] Hamon/Strekalin were scheduled to participate in the 2020 World Championships in Montreal, which would have been their senior World debut, but these were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6]

2020–21 season

With the pandemic ongoing, Hamon/Strekalin began the new season at the 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where only pairs training in Europe competed.^[7] They were fourth after the short program, and after the top-ranked Hase/Seegert withdrew, they placed third in the free and won the bronze medal.^[8]

Hamon/Strekalin were scheduled to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2020 Internationaux de France, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.^[9]

In February, they won their second straight National title.^[10] Later that month, they competed at the International Challenge Cup, placing fifth. On 1 March they were named to the team for the 2021 World Championships.^[11] They placed twentieth in their World Championship debut.^[12] Hamon/Strekalin finished the season at the 2021 World Team Trophy, where they finished fifth in both segments, and Team France finished in fifth place overall.^[13][14][15]

2021–22 season

Hamon/Strekalin began the season at the 2021 Lombardia Trophy, where they finished in fourth place.^[16]

They were originally scheduled to compete at the Nebelhorn Trophy, where the final Olympics spots would be decided, but were later replaced by Coline Keriven / Noël-Antoine Pierre. It was later announced that Hamon would be taking a break from figure skating due to health issues from burnout, and that had been the reason for them being replaced at the Nebelhorn Trophy.^[17]

Partnership with Piegad

2022–23 season

On 31 January 2022 Strekalin announced that he had formed a new partnership with former singles skater Océane Piegad.^[18] Coached by Laurent Depouilly, Nathalie Depouilly, and Dominique Deniaud, the pair made their competitive debut at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they finished in eleventh place, and then competed at the 2022 Master's de Patinage, winning the silver medal.^[19]

Invited to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2022 Grand Prix de France, they finished seventh of seven teams at the event. They went on to place fourth at the 2022 Bavarian Open and seventh at the 2023 International Challenge Cup.^[19]

2023–24 season

Piegad/Strekalin began the season with a tenth-place finish at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy, before coming seventh at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy.^[19] Appearing on the Grand Prix at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, they finished fifth.^[20]

2024-25 season

Piegad/Strekalin were assigned to the 2024 Grand Prix de France.^[21] They withdrew from the competition on September 17.^[22] On September 23, they announced their spilt due to injury.^[23]

Programs

With Piegad

Season	Short program	Free skating
2023–2024 [24]	Le bal des fiancailles (Piano Trio No. 2) by Franz Schubert Le cotege (Danse macabre) by Camille Saint-Saëns (from Les Noces de Feu) choreo. by Guillaume Cizeron	Silhouette by Aquilo Nuvole Blanche by Ludovico Einaudi choreo. by Guillaume Cizeron
2022–2023 [25]	I Feel Like I'm Drowning by Two Feet choreo. by Pierre-Loup Bouquet, Brooke Appleyard	To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra Experience by Ludovico Einaudi choreo. by Pierre-Loup Bouquet, Brooke Appleyard

With Hamon

Season	Short program	Free skating
2021–2022 [26]	Kill of the Night by Gin Wigmore	Mais je t'aime by Grand Corps Malade, Camille Lellouche
2020–2021 [27]		The Fifth Element by Éric Serra Diva Dance (from The Fifth Element) by Éric Serra
2019–2020 [28]	Bang Bang by Asaf Avidan choreo. by Leonie Corbin	Notre-Dame de Paris by Riccardo Cocciante, Luc Plamondon choreo. by Fabian Bourzat, Silvia Fontana
2018–2019 [1]		Deep Shadow by T.T.L. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 The Hanging Tree performed by L.E.J The Mockingjay Theme choreo. by Leonie Corbin
2017–2018 [29]	I Want You Back performed by Tony Succar, Tito Nieves choreo. by Leonie Corbin
2016–2017 [3]		Interstellar by Hans Zimmer choreo. by Leonie Corbin

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Pairs with Piegad for France

International [19]
Event	22–23	23–24	24-25
Europeans		12th
GP France	7th	5th	WD
CS Finlandia		7th
CS Golden Spin	WD
CS Lombardia Trophy		10th
CS Nebelhorn Trophy	11th
CS Warsaw Cup	WD
Bavarian Open	4th
Challenge Cup	7th
Trophée Nice		2nd
National [19]
French Nationals		2nd
Master's de Patinage	2nd	WD
TBD = Assigned

Pairs with Hamon for France

International[30]
Event	16–17	17–18	18–19	19–20	20–21	21–22
Worlds				C	20th
Europeans				9th
GP France					C	WD
CS Finlandia Trophy				7th
CS Lombardia Trophy						4th
CS Nebelhorn Trophy					3rd	WD
CS Warsaw Cup				10th
Challenge Cup					WD
Volvo Open Cup			1st
International: Junior[30]
Junior Worlds	14th	11th	9th	5th
JGP Austria			6th
JGP Czech Rep.			5th
JGP Latvia		8th
JGP Poland		15th
JGP United States				8th
Bavarian Open	7th
Tallinn Trophy		2nd
National[30]
French Champ.		2nd	2nd	1st	1st
French Junior	1st	1st	1st	1st
Masters		1st J			1st
Team events
World Team Trophy					5th T 5th P
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled T = Team result; P = Personal result. Medals awarded for team result only.

Men's singles for Ukraine

National[2]
Event	2012–13	2014–15
Ukrainian Junior Champ.	7th	7th