Daniel Grassl

Daniel Grassl
Grassl at the 2019 World Junior Championships
Personal information
Country represented	Italy
Born	(2002-04-04) 4 April 2002 (age 19) Merano, Italy
Home town	Merano
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Coach	Lorenzo Magri, Giorgia Carrossa, Eva Martinek
Former coach	Ludmila Mladenova
Choreographer	Benoît Richaud
Skating club	Young Goose Academy
Training locations	Egna, Italy
Began skating	2009
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	269.00 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia
Short program	95.67 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia
Free skate	173.54 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy
Medal record Representing  Italy Figure skating: Men's singles World Junior Championships 2019 Zagreb Men's singles

Daniel Grassl (born 4 April 2002) is an Italian figure skater. He has won ten senior international medals, including gold at four ISU Challenger Series events (2018 CS Inge Solar Memorial – Alpen Trophy, 2019 CS Asian Open Trophy, 2019 CS Ice Star, 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy) and is a four-time Italian national champion (2019–2022). He placed sixth at the 2019 European Championships and won bronze at the 2019 World Junior Championships.

Career[]

Early years[]

Grassl began learning to skate in 2009.^[1] His first coach was Ludmila Mladenova in Merano.^[2] He competed internationally in the advanced novice ranks from the 2012��2013 season through 2014–2015.

Making his junior international debut, Grassl won the bronze medal at the Lombardia Trophy in September 2015.^[3] He won his first Italian national junior title in December of the same year.

2016–2017 season[]

During the season, Grassl trained in Egna, Italy, coached by Lorenzo Magri.^[4] In August 2016, he competed at his first ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) assignment, in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains. After finishing 7th in France, he had the same result at his next JGP event, in Yokohama, Japan. In December, he repeated as Italy's national junior champion.

In February 2017, Grassl won silver at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Erzurum, Turkey.

2017–2018 season[]

Coached by Magri,^[5] Grassl began his season on the JGP series, placing 6th in Brisbane, Australia, and then 7th in Egna, Italy. His senior international debut came in late October 2017, at the Golden Bear of Zagreb in Croatia; ranked first in both segments, Grassl outscored British champion Graham Newberry by 13.33 points for the gold medal. During his time in Croatia, he was the youngest skater ever to land a quad lutz. In November, he stepped onto two more senior international podiums, taking gold at the Ice Challenge in Austria (27.33 points ahead of silver medalist Javier Raya from Spain) and then bronze at the Merano Cup in Italy (where he finished behind Newberry and Raya).

2018–2019 season[]

In August, Grassl won bronze at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Slovakia. In October, he received the senior gold medal at the Golden Bear of Zagreb after becoming the first European to land a quad loop in international competition. In December, he outscored Matteo Rizzo by 4.48 points to become the Italian national senior champion.

Grassl next competed at his first European Championships, where he placed ninth in the short program and fifth in the free skate, for sixth place overall. As Rizzo won the bronze medal at Europeans, he was assigned to Italy's lone men's place at the 2019 World Championships, while Grassl was sent to the 2019 World Junior Championships.^[6] He placed third in the short program, winning a bronze small medal, despite a minor error on his triple Axel.^[7]

2019–2020 season[]

Grassl began his season on the Junior Grand Prix in Poland, where he won the bronze medal.^[8] His second event was the Italian JGP event, held in his home rink, where he won the gold medal, qualifying to the Junior Grand Prix Final.^[9] Moving to the senior level Challenger series, Grassl won both the Asian Open and the Ice Star.

At the JGP Final in Torino, Grassl was the lone Italian skater to qualify at either senior or junior level. Two days before the competition was to begin, his right skate broke, which he attempted to remedy with tape. This proved inadequate in skating the short program, where he placed fifth after missing the second part of his jump combination.^[10] Grassl then replaced his skates with only a day's preparation, and struggled in the free skate, finishing last among the competitors.^[11] Shortly afterward, he won his second consecutive Italian national title.

Returning to the European Championships, Grassl placed eleventh in the short program with multiple errors.^[12] Staging a comeback in the free skate, he was second in that segment with a new personal best score, and rose to fourth place overall, under two points short of the silver medal.^[13]

Grassl placed sixth in the short program at the 2020 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.^[14] Grassl attempted the quad flip in competition for the first time in the free skate, underrotating both it and his quad Lutz, as well as a triple Axel. He placed third in the segment, winning a small bronze medal, and was fourth overall, 1.74 points behind bronze medalist Petr Gumennik.^[15] Grassl was scheduled to make his senior World Championship debut in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.^[16]

2020–2021 season[]

Grassl won the 2020 CS Budapest Trophy, and was assigned to make his Grand Prix debut at the 2020 Internationaux de France, but this event was also cancelled as result of the pandemic.^[17]

Grassl won his third consecutive Italian national title in December, soon after which he tested positive for COVID-19, as a result of which he was off the ice for a month and a half due to quarantine and subsequent concerns about the condition of his heart.^[18] Grassl was assigned to compete at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, where he placed twelfth.^[19] Grassl and Matteo Rizzo's placements qualified two berths for Italian men at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.^[20] They were both subsequently named to the Italian team for the 2021 World Team Trophy.^[21] Rizzo later withdrew due to a positive COVID test, as a result of which Grassl was the lone Italian man in the competition. He was tenth in the short program and seventh in the free skate, while Team Italy finished in fourth place.^[22][23][24]

2021–2022 season[]

Grassl began the Olympic season at the 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy on home soil. Fifth after the short program, he won the free skate and took the gold medal.^[25] He then made his senior Grand Prix debut at the 2021 Skate America, where he placed seventh.^[26] His second Grand Prix assignment was initially the 2021 Cup of China, but following that event's cancellation he was reassigned to a special home 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia in Turin.^[27] Grassl was second in the short program with a new personal best, dropping to third in the free skate to take the bronze medal overall. This was his first Grand Prix medal at the senior level, and he was the lone Italian medalist at the event.^[28] Afterward he expressed a desire to "thank those people in the crowd who supported me."^[29]

Records and achievements[]

• At the age of 15, Grassl became the youngest person to land a quad Lutz jump in international competition (2017 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb). His record was broken by Stephen Gogolev in 2018.
• The first European skater to have completed a quad loop in international competition. He landed the jump in his free skate at the 2018 Golden Bear of Zagreb.

Programs[]

Competitive highlights[]

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results[]

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Current ISU world bests highlighted in bold and italic.

Senior level[]

Junior level[]

References[]