Denys Strekalin (born 31 March 1999) is a Ukrainian-born

pair skater Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

who competes for France. With his partner,

Océane Piegad Océane Manon Mathilde Piegad (born 12 August 2003) is a French figure skating, figure skater who currently competes in pair skating, pairs. With her partner, Denys Strekalin, she is the 2024 French Figure Skating Championships, French national s ...

, he is the 2024 French national silver medalist. With his former skating partner, Cléo Hamon, he is a two-time French national champion (2020, 2021), 2018

Volvo Open Cup The Volvo Open Cup is an annual international figure skating competition held in Riga, Latvia. In some years, the event is part of the ISU Challenger Series. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance ...

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. Competing in men's singles, he placed seventh at the Ukrainian Junior Championships in 2013 and 2015. He also trained in

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating ...

with

Sofiia Nesterova Sofiia Nesterova (; born 21 August 2003) is a retired Ukrainian pair skater. With her former partner, Artem Darenskyi, she is a two-time Ukrainian Figure Skating Championships, Ukrainian national senior champion. The pair has competed in the fina ...

Partnership with Hamon

Early seasons

In August 2016, Strekhalin teamed up with Cleo Hamon to compete for France in pairs. Coached by Mehdi Bouzzine in

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is a suburb of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the ci ...

, they made their international debut in February 2017, placing seventh in junior pairs at the

Bavarian Open The Bavarian Open is an international figure skating competition held in February at the Eissportzentrum Oberstdorf in Oberstdorf, Germany. It is organized by the Skating Union of Bavaria. Since 2011, it has been sanctioned by the Deutsche Eisla ...

. In March, they placed fourteenth at the 2017 World Junior Championships in

Taipei , nickname = The City of Azaleas , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Taiwan#Asia#Pacific Ocean#Earth , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country ...

, Taiwan. In September 2017, Hamon/Strekalin debuted on the

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 figure skating competition, junior-level competitions organized by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded ...

(JGP) series, placing eighth in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

, Latvia. In December, appearing on the senior level, they won silver at the

French Championships The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...

, behind Lola Esbrat /

Andrei Novoselov Andrei Alexandrovich Novoselov (born 24 November 1989) is a Russian pair skater. Competing for France with Lola Esbrat, he has won three international medals and is the 2018 French national champion. Earlier, he represented Russia with Tatiana ...

. In March, they finished eleventh at the 2018 World Junior Championships in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, Bulgaria. Competing in the 2018 JGP series, Hamon/Strekalin placed sixth in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

, Austria, and fifth in

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

, Czech Republic. Making their senior international debut, the pair took gold at the

in November 2018. In March 2019, they finished ninth at the 2019 World Junior Championships in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, 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 The 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy was held in October 2019 in Espoo. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The Internationa ...

. They would go on to place tenth at the

2019 CS Warsaw Cup The 2019 CS Warsaw Cup was held in November 2019 in Warsaw, Poland. It was part of the 2019–20 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance Ice dance (sometime ...

and ninth at their first

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. Hamon/Strekalin also won the French senior national title for the first time, due to the absence of

James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...

/ Cipres from the competition season. They finished the season at the 2020 World Junior Championships, where they placed fifth. Hamon/Strekalin were scheduled to participate in the 2020 World Championships in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, which would have been their senior World debut, but these were canceled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

2020–21 season

With the pandemic ongoing, Hamon/Strekalin began the new season at the

2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held in September 2020 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was part of the 2020–21 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dance. On Augus ...

, where only pairs training in Europe competed. They were fourth after the short program, and after the top-ranked

Hase The Hase () is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ems, but part of its flow goes to the Else, that is part of the Weser basin. Its source is in the Teutoburg Forest, south-east of Osnabrück, on the north slope ...

/ Seegert withdrew, they placed third in the free and won the bronze medal. Hamon/Strekalin were scheduled to make their

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

debut at the 2020 Internationaux de France, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. In February, they won their second straight National title. Later that month, they competed at the

International Challenge Cup The International Challenge Cup (formerly known as the Ennia Challenge Cup and the Aegon Cup) is an annual figure skating competition generally held in the Netherlands during the last week in February. Although the competition had been held for ...

, placing fifth. On 1 March they were named to the team for the 2021 World Championships. They placed twentieth in their World Championship debut. 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.

2021–22 season

Hamon/Strekalin began the season at the 2021 Lombardia Trophy, where they finished in fourth place. They were originally scheduled to compete at the

Nebelhorn Trophy The Nebelhorn Trophy is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the German Ice Skating Union () and held in Oberstdorf, Germany. The competition debuted in 1969 and is na ...

, where the final Olympics spots would be decided, but were later replaced by

Coline Keriven Coline Keriven (born 28 August 2000) is a retired French pair skater. With her former skating partner, Noël-Antoine Pierre, she is a four-time French Figure Skating Championships, French national medalist (2018, 2020–22) and the 2018 Volvo Ope ...

/ 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.

Partnership with Piegad

2022–23 season

On 31 January 2022 Strekalin announced that he had formed a new partnership with former singles skater

. Coached by

Laurent Depouilly Laurent Depouilly (; born 26 October 1963 in Asnières-sur-Seine) is a French figure skater. He is the 1986 French national champion. He represented France at the 1984 Winter Olympics, where he placed 15th. He is married to Nathalie Depouilly ...

, Nathalie Depouilly, and Dominique Deniaud, the pair made their competitive debut at the

2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy was held on September 21–24, 2022, in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was the third event of the 2022–23 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entrie ...

, where they finished in eleventh place, and then competed at the 2022 Master's de Patinage, winning the silver medal. Invited to make their

debut at the

2022 Grand Prix de France The 2022 Grand Prix de France was the third event of the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Angers IceParc in Angers from November 4–6. Medals were award ...

, 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 The International Challenge Cup (formerly known as the Ennia Challenge Cup and the Aegon Cup) is an annual figure skating competition generally held in the Netherlands during the last week in February. Although the competition had been held for ...

2023–24 season

Piegad/Strekalin began the season with a tenth-place finish at the

2023 CS Lombardia Trophy The 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy Memorial Anna Grandolfi was held on September 8–10, 2023, in Bergamo, Italy. It was part of the 2023–24 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...

, before coming seventh at the

2023 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy was held on October 6–8, 2023, in Espoo, Finland. It was part of the 2023–24 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. Entries The International ...

. Appearing on the

at the

2023 Grand Prix de France The 2023 Grand Prix de France was the third event of the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Angers IceParc in Angers from November 3–5. Medals were awarde ...

, they finished fifth.

2024–25 season

Piegad/Strekalin were assigned to the

2024 Grand Prix de France The 2024 Grand Prix de France was the third event of the 2024–25 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Angers IceParc in Angers from November 1–3. Medals were award ...

. They withdrew from the competition on September 17. On September 23, they announced their spilt due to injury.

Partnership with Wessenberg

2025–26 season

In June 2025, it was Strekalin announced that he had teamed up with American-born figure skater, Megan Wessenberg, and they would split their time between training in France with

Bruno Massot Bruno Massot (born 28 January 1989) is a French-German pair skating coach and former competitor. Competing with Aljona Savchenko for Germany, he is the 2018 Olympic Champion, the 2018 World Champion, a two-time European silver medalist, and t ...

and the United States with

Stefania Berton 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. Bert ...

and

Rockne Brubaker Rockne Lee Brubaker, II (born June 21, 1986) is an American former competitive pair skater. With Keauna McLaughlin, he is the 2010 Four Continents silver medalist, the 2007 World Junior champion, and a two-time (2008–2009) U.S. national cha ...

Programs

With Piegad

With Hamon

Competitive highlights

''GP:

; CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

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 men ...

Pairs with Piegad for France

Pairs with Hamon for France

Men's singles for Ukraine

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strekalin, Denys 1999 births French male pair skaters Living people Sportspeople from Simferopol Ukrainian emigrants to France Ukrainian male single skaters Ukrainian male pair skaters 21st-century French sportsmen