Justin Pekarek (born August 26, 1981) is an American former competitive

ice dancer Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

. With

Jamie Silverstein Jamie Silverstein (born December 23, 1983) is an American former competitive ice dancer. With Justin Pekarek, she is the 2000 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 1999 World Junior champion, and 2000 U.S. silver medalist. With Ryan O'Meara, ...

, he is the 2000 Four Continents bronze medalist and 1999 World Junior champion.

Personal life

Pekarek was born on August 26, 1981, in

Valencia, California Valencia is an unincorporated community in northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The area, west of Interstate 5, is expanding with residential development and already includes major commercial and industrial parks. It stra ...

, the son of a

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

executive. He and ice dancer Hilary Gibbons were married in January 2008, but had divorced by November 2016. Their son, Cooper Joseph, was born on September 1, 2011. Pekarek has a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the

University of Massachusetts Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a Public university, public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of M ...

and worked in plastics design before switching to a career as a real estate broker.

Career

Silverstein and Pekarek won the 1999 World Junior and U.S. Junior titles. The next season, Silverstein and Pekarek moved up to the senior level. They won gold at the

1999 Nebelhorn Trophy The 1999 Nebelhorn Trophy took place between September 1 and 4, 1999 at the Bundesleistungszentrum Oberstdorf. It is an international senior-level figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and held annually in Oberstdorf, ...

, silver at the 2000 U.S. Championships, and bronze at the 2000 Four Continents. They announced their split on January 10, 2001. Pekarek teamed up with Hilary Gibbons for several years. They won bronze at the 2003 Karl Schäfer Memorial. Pekarek coached and competed with the

Theatre on Ice Ice Theatre (also known as Theatre on Ice, TOI, and Ballet on Ice) is a branch of figure skating that merges technical jumps and spins with choreography, ice dancing, pairs moves, synchronized skating, and theater to tell a story or act out an ...

team

Act I of Boston The Skating Club of Boston is a not-for-profit figure skating club based in Norwood, Massachusetts. Founded in 1912, it is one of the oldest skating clubs in the United States, and a founding member of U.S. Figure Skating, the governing body for ...

at the

Skating Club of Boston The Skating Club of Boston is a not-for-profit figure skating club based in Norwood, Massachusetts. Founded in 1912, it is one of the oldest skating clubs in the United States, and a founding member of U.S. Figure Skating, the governing body for ...

. He and Gibbons coached competitive ice dance teams to national titles at the juvenile, intermediate, and novice level. Pekarek retired from coaching in 2008.

Programs

(with Silverstein)

Competitive highlights

''GP:

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 ...

; JGP: Junior Series / Junior Grand Prix''

With Gibbons

With Silverstein

References

External links

Navigation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pekarek, Justin 1981 births American male ice dancers Living people Four Continents Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists People from Valencia, Santa Clarita, California Sportspeople from Santa Clarita, California