Stefania Berton

Stefania Berton
Berton and Hotárek in 2012
Born	(1990-07-19) 19 July 1990 (age 34) Asiago, Italy
Hometown	Milan
Height	1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Italy
Coach	Franca Bianconi, Karel Fajfr
Skating club	Sesto Ice Skate Milano
Began skating	1994
Medal record Representing  Italy Figure skating: Pairs European Championships 2013 Zagreb Pairs

Stefania Berton (born 19 July 1990) is an Italian competitive pair skater. With partner Ondřej Hotárek, she is the 2013 European bronze medalist, the 2013 Skate Canada International champion, and a three-time Italian national champion. Berton/Hotárek are the first Italian pair skaters to win European and Grand Prix medals.

Berton previously competed as a single skater and ice dancer.

Personal life

Stefania Berton was born 19 July 1990 in Asiago, Italy.^[1] In January 2012, she became a member of the sports group of the Italian police.^[2][3] She became engaged to American pair skater Rockne Brubaker on 2 February 2013.^[4] The couple married on June 5, 2015 in Wisconsin.^[5]

Career

As a singles skater, Berton won the silver medal at the 2007 Italian Nationals and placed 6th at the 2006 Junior Grand Prix Final. As an ice dancer, she competed on the novice level with Marco Fabbri.^[6]

Partnership with Hotarek

Berton and Hotárek at the Skate Canada podium.

Berton teamed up with Ondřej Hotárek to compete in pair skating in early 2009.^[7] They won the silver medal at 2010 Italian Nationals and were selected to compete at the World Championships. They placed 11th in their debut at the event.

During the 2010–11 season, Berton/Hotárek won silver at the Nebelhorn Trophy and also debuted on the Grand Prix circuit, finishing sixth at Cup of Russia. They won their first Italian national title and were sent to the 2011 European Championships. They placed fourth in the short program and fifth in the free program, setting personal bests in both, and finished fifth overall with their best combined total to date, 164.83 points.

Berton/Hotárek began the 2011–12 season at the 2011 Ondrej Nepela Memorial, where they won the silver medal. In the Grand Prix season, they placed 4th at 2011 NHK Trophy and then won bronze at 2011 Rostelecom Cup, making them the first Italian pair to medal on the Grand Prix circuit.^[8] At the 2012 European Championships, they placed 4th, historically the highest Italian result in pairs.^[9]

In the 2012–13 season, Berton/Hotárek were assigned to the 2012 Skate Canada International and 2012 Trophée Eric Bompard.^[10] After taking bronze at both events, they won bronze at the 2013 European Championships, becoming the first Italian pair skaters to medal at Europeans.^[11][12]

Berton/Hotárek started the 2013–14 Grand Prix season at the 2013 Skate America and finished 5th. They won their first GP title at the 2013 Skate Canada and then finished 4th at the 2014 European Championships, behind Vera Bazarova / Yuri Larionov. Berton/Hotárek finished 11th in the pairs event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.^[1]

For the 2014-15 season, Berton/Hotarek were assigned to 2014 Skate America and the 2014 Rostelecom Cup.^[13] On 2 July 2014, La Gazzetta dello Sport reported that their partnership had ended.^[14][15] In August 2014, Berton said she had not wanted to split from Hotarek and that she was searching for a partner to continue her competitive career.^[16][17]

Programs

With Hotarek

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2013–2014 [18]	The Mask by Randy Edelman	Dracula by Philip Glass	Nessun Dorma by Luciano Pavarotti
2012–2013 [3][19][20]	Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones	Poeta en el viento by Vicente Amigo	Dirty Dancing
2011–2012 [7]	Harlem Nocturne by Earle Hagen, Dick Rogers Demasiado Corazon by Willy DeVille choreo. by Pasquale Camerlengo	Adagio in G minor for Organ and Strings by Remo Giazotto, Tomaso Albinoni choreo. by Anjelika Krylova	Caruso by Lucio Dalla, Luciano Pavarotti
2010–2011 [21]	Invierno Porteno by Ástor Piazzolla	Romeo and Juliet (1968 film) by Nino Rota	Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers
2009–2010 [22]	Caos Calmo by Buonvino	Notre Dame de Paris (1999 TV movie) by Riccardo Cocciante	Romeo and Juliet (1968 film) by Nino Rota

Single skating

Season	Short program	Free skating
2008–2009 [6]	Jalousie Tango by Jacob Gade	Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV series) by Carl Davis
2007–2008 [23]	Ca va by Roger Waters	Les Retrouvailles by Yann Tiersen
2006–2007 [24]	Preludium and Allegro on a theme of Paganini by Fritz Kreisler	Rain by Ryuichi Sakamoto

Competitive highlights

Pair skating with Hotárek

Berton/Hotárek at the 2011 Rostelecom Cup

Berton/Hotárek at the 2010 World Championships.

International[25]
Event	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14
Olympics					11th
Worlds	11th	10th	11th	10th	9th
Europeans		5th	4th	3rd	4th
GP Bompard				3rd
GP NHK Trophy			4th
GP Rostelecom		6th	3rd
GP Skate America					5th
GP Skate Canada				3rd	1st
Cup of Nice			1st
Ice Challenge	3rd
Lombardia Trophy					1st
Nebelhorn Trophy		2nd
NRW Trophy	2nd	1st		2nd
Ondrej Nepela			2nd	2nd
National[25]
Italian Champ.	2nd	1st	1st	1st	1st
Team events
Olympics					4th T

Single skating

International[26]
Event	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09
European Champ.				13th	16th
Crystal Skate					1st
Cup of Nice					3rd
International: Junior[26]
World Junior Champ.			10th	13th
JGP Final			6th
JGP Bulgaria				6th
JGP Croatia		12th
JGP Czech Republic					3rd
JGP Estonia		9th
JGP France	12th		3rd		4th
JGP Norway			2nd
JGP Romania	17th
JGP United Kingdom				7th
Gardena Trophy		5th J.
National[26]
Italian Champ.			2nd	2nd	3rd

References

1. "Stefania BERTON". Sochi2014.com. Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi. Archived from the original on 1 April 2014.
2. Flade, Tatjana (29 April 2012). "Italy's Berton and Hotarek gain ground". Golden Skate.
3. Golinsky, Reut (20 January 2013). "Stefania Berton and Ondřej Hotárek: "You connect with people's hearts and they will remember forever"". Absolute Skating.
4. Brannen, Sarah S.; Meekins, Drew (13 February 2013). "The Inside Edge: Brubaker engaged to Berton". IceNetwork.
5. Brannen, Sarah S. "The Inside Edge: Pairs skaters say 'I do' in droves". Ice Network. Ice Network. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
6. "Stefania BERTON: 2008/2009". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 November 2009.
7. "Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK: 2011/2012". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 22 May 2012.
8. Kondakova, Anna (26 November 2011). "Savchenko and Szolkowy win Cup of Russia; Italians make history". Golden Skate.
9. Bőd, Titanilla (22 March 2012). "Ondrej Hotarek: "Pairs' elements are much more suitable for me"". Absolute Skating.
10. Sciarrillo, Laura (30 November 2012). "Ondrej Hotarek tells us about the Grand Prix competitions and the start of the season". ArtOnIce.it. "Ondrej Hotarek ci racconta le gare del Grand Prix e l'inizio stagione" (in Italian).
11. Kany, Klaus-Reinhold (24 January 2013). "Volosozhar, Trankov oust rival Germans for gold". IceNetwork.
12. Bőd, Titanilla (12 March 2013). "Stefania Berton and Ondřej Hotárek: "We always have new goals and we never stop"". Absolute Skating.
13. "2014 - 2015 Grand Prix Assignments Pairs" (PDF). June 28, 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 12, 2014.
14. Buongiovanni, Andrea (2 July 2014). "Ghiaccio, Berton-Hotarek, favola finita; C'è un progetto Marchei-Hotarek" [Ice skating, Berton-Hotarek story over; Marchei-Hotarek may skate together]. La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian).
15. "Italians Berton, Hotarek end partnership". IceNetwork. 2 July 2014.
16. "Stefania Berton rompe il silenzio" (in Italian). neveitalia.it. 3 August 2014.
    • English translation: Sciarrillo, Laura (3 August 2014). "Stefania Berton breaks her silence". snowalps.com.
17. "Ghiaccio, Berton dopo l'addio di Hotarek: "A.A.A. cercasi partner"" [Ice skating: Berton searching for partner after split with Hotarek]. La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 3 August 2014.
18. "Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014.
19. "Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK: 2012/2013". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012.
20. Sciarrillo, Laura; D'Eredità, Eleonora; Castellaro, Barbara (27 August 2012). "Berton/Hotarek: we are aiming high with our interpretation". ArtOnIce.it. "Berton/Hotarek: una delle qualità su cui puntiamo è l'interpretazione" (in Italian). 20 August 2012.
21. "Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK: 2010/2011". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011.
22. "Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK: 2009/2010". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 16 July 2010.
23. "Stefania BERTON: 2007/2008". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 26 May 2008.
24. "Stefania BERTON: 2006/2007". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 2 May 2007.
25. "Competition Results: Stefania BERTON / Ondrej HOTAREK". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014.
26. "Competition Results: Stefania BERTON". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012.

External links

Media related to Stefania Berton at Wikimedia Commons

• Stefania Berton / Ondřej Hotárek at the International Skating Union
• Stefania Berton at the International Skating Union