Chafik Besseghier (born 11 October 1989) is a French

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

. He is a two-time

International Cup of Nice The International Cup of Nice (french: Coupe Internationale de Nice) is an annual international figure skating competition usually held in October or November in Nice, France. It was continuously held from 1995 to 2017 (except 2005) for 22 years. Th ...

champion and the 2016 and 2018 French national champion. He has won a total of fourteen senior international medals and finished in the top ten at three ISU Championships ( 2014 Worlds, 2013 Europeans, 2017 Europeans).

Personal life

Chafik Besseghier was born in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, France. His parents are from

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , religi ...

, close to Oran, and he has two siblings. On 14 February 2020, Besseghier married Ukrainian-Turkish ice dancer Alisa Agafonova.

Career

Early years

Besseghier began skating at a relatively late age, almost 13, in August 2002. Within a year, he had landed all the double jumps, and was landing triples by the end of his second year. Training in

, he competed mostly domestically before making his

ISU Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Grand Prix of Figure Skating (titled the ISU Junior Series in the 1997–98 season) is a series of international junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of me ...

debut in 2008. In the 2009–2010 season, Besseghier won the bronze medal at the

Crystal Skate of Romania The Crystal Skate of Romania is an annual senior-level international figure skating competition, held in Romania. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, and sometimes ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred t ...

and

2010 Triglav Trophy The 2010 Triglav Trophy was held between March 31 and April 4, 2010. It was an international figure skating competition held annually in Jesenice, Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr ...

2010–2011 season

In 2010, he was invited to his first senior Grand Prix event, the

2010 Trophée Éric Bompard The 2010 Trophée Éric Bompard was the final event of six in the 2010–11 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris on 25–28 ...

. After landing his first quadruple-triple jump combination in the short program, he was in fourth place, with the second-highest technical score. He made several mistakes in the free skate and placed fifth overall.

2011–2012 season

Prior to the 2011–2012 season, Besseghier spent several months working with Yuka Sato and Jason Dungjen at the Detroit Skating Club in

Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bi ...

. He was the silver medalist at the

2011 Coupe de Nice Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''E ...

, where he won the free skate. Besseghier again competed at the

Trophée Éric Bompard The Grand Prix de France is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It was previously known as the Grand Prix International de Paris (1987–1993), Trophée de France ...

, coming in ninth. Competing with

tendinitis Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder ( rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow ( tennis e ...

in his knee, he won the bronze medal at the 2012 French Championships and placed 12th in his European Championship debut. At the end of the season, he moved from Grenoble to Paris.

2012–2013 season

Besseghier was awarded a silver medal at the 2013 French Championships and placed ninth at the 2013 European Championships.

2013–2014 season

Besseghier injured his ankle in October 2013 at the Master's de Patinage. He withdrew from his two Grand Prix assignments, the

2013 NHK Trophy The 2013 NHK Trophy was the fourth event of six in the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo on November 8–10. Medals were ...

and

2013 Trophée Éric Bompard The 2013 Trophée Éric Bompard was the fifth event of six in the 2013–14 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy in Paris on November 1 ...

. Besseghier placed 12th at the 2014 European Championships in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. After scoring well at the International Challenge Cup, he was selected for his first

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. Setting personal best scores in both programs, he finished ninth overall at the event in Saitama, Japan.

2014–2015 season

Besseghier was selected to compete at two Grand Prix events, the 2014 Skate America and

2014 Trophée Éric Bompard The 2014 Trophée Éric Bompard was the fifth event of six in the 2014–15 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Meriadeck Ice Rink in Bordeaux on November 21–23. Meda ...

. He finished 7th and 9th at the two events, respectively. He withdrew from the 2015 Europeans and placed 18th at the 2015 Worlds.

2015–2016 season

In late August 2015, Besseghier began visiting Russian coach Elena Buianova in Moscow, although Annick Dumont remained his main coach. He began the 2015–16 season by winning gold at the Lombardia Trophy and

, before winning the French national title in December. Besseghier withdrew from the 2016 European Championships after rupturing a ligament in his right ankle. He placed 20th at the 2016 World Championships in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

. He trained under Dumont in Champigny-sur-Marne until the end of the season.

2016–2017 season

Besseghier changed coaches ahead of the 2016–2017 season, deciding to rejoin

Stanick Jeannette Stanick Jeannette (born 6 March 1977) is a French former competitive figure skater. He is a two-time (2001, 2003) European bronze medalist, the 2000 Trophée Lalique silver medalist, and a two-time (2000, 2001) French national champion. Person ...

. He placed 9th at the 2017 European Championships in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four ri ...

, Czech Republic, and 17th at the 2017 World Championships in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland. Due to his world result, France qualified a spot in the men's event at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of S ...

, South Korea.

2017–2018 season

Besseghier was hospitalised from 29 September to 2 October due to a

pneumothorax A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve ...

involving detachment of the pleura. He withdrew from his Grand Prix assignments.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''GP:

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

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

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Besseghier, Chafik 1989 births Living people French male single skaters Sportspeople from Grenoble French sportspeople of Algerian descent Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of France Competitors at the 2011 Winter Universiade