Matej Silecky (born April 15, 1994) is an American figure skater and documentary film director.

Early life and education

Matej was born on April 15, 1994, and was raised in

Verona, New Jersey Verona is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 14,572, an increase of 1,240 (+9.3%) from the 2010 United ...

and

Kyiv, Ukraine Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. He is a 2015 graduate of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

where he received the Charlene Conrad Liebau Library Prize for Undergraduate Research for ''The Post-Soviet Development of Elite-Level Athletics in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan''.

Figure Skating Career

Matej competed in singles and pairs and was the 2012 U.S. Collegiate Figure Skating Championships Junior Men's Champion. He left competitive skating due to a shoulder injury sustained during the 2015 – 2016 season. At that time, he was partnered with Elizaveta Usmantseva, competing in Senior Pairs at the 2016 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. After a six-year hiatus from competitive skating, Matej and his partner, Kate Finster, competed at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Championship Pairs, where they placed 7th.

Competitive Programs

Professional Skating

In 2017 - 2018, Matej joined

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

Dancing On Ice (series 10) The tenth series of ''Dancing on Ice'' debuted on ITV on 7 January 2018. It was the first series since the show had ended in 2014 and featured a new set and ice rink, a new panel of judges, and a new logo. After the tenth series, the live tour ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He was partnered with

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

actress

Brooke Vincent Brooke Levi Vincent (born 4 June 1992) is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Sophie Webster in the ITV soap-opera ''Coronation Street'', which she played from 2004 to 2019. Early life Vincent was born in Audenshaw, Greater Manch ...

, and they finished as Runners-up in the series. In 2019 – 2020, Matej was a skating professional in

Dancing on Ice (Netherlands and Belgium) ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British made dance competition television series franchise produced around the world. The format, devised by London Weekend Television and Granada Television for ITV, has been a prime-time hit in eight countries, including ...

, where he and his partner, Olympic gold medalist in snowboarding,

Nicolien Sauerbreij Nicolien Sauerbreij (, born 31 July 1979) is a Dutch professional snowboarding, snowboarder. She won seven FIS Snowboard World Cup, World Cup races and ranked first in the parallel giant slalom standings of the 2007–08 FIS Snowboard World Cup, ...

, made the semifinals. He also skated in the first ice skating event in Nepal, Skate Nepal, led by Dawa Steven Sherpa, as part of the

Visit Nepal 2020 Visit Nepal 2020, also known by the initialism VNY 2020, was a tourism advertising campaign released by the Government of Nepal as an extension of Visit Nepal campaigns of 1998 and 2011. The campaign was coordinated by Suraj Vaidya. The folkloric ...

campaign, at

Gokyo Lakes Gokyo Lakes are oligotrophic lakes in Nepal's Sagarmatha National Park, located at an elevation of . They were named after Gokyo Ri peak. These lakes are the world's highest freshwater lake system comprising six main lakes, of which Thonak La ...

(4750 m) on February 14, 2020, along with Elizabeth Putnam,

Patrick Chan Patrick Lewis Wai–Kuan Chan (born December 31, 1990) is a Canadian former competitive figure skater. He is a Figure skating at the 2018 Winter Olympics – Team event, 2018 Olympic gold medallist in the team event, Figure skating at the 2014 ...

Jeremy Abbott Jeremy Abbott (born June 5, 1985) is a former American Figure skating, figure skater. He is the 2008 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time (2007, 2011) Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Four Conti ...

, Sergei Voronov and others.

Film career

Whilst recovering from an injury, Matej established a production company, Kitsune Tale Productions, and made the documentary, ''Baba Babee Skazala randmother Told Grandmother' about Ukrainian children torn from their homes in the crush between the Nazi and Soviet fronts in World War II. In 2022, Matej played the role of Ice Skater in the independent feature film '' Goodbye, Petrushka''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silecky, Matej 1994 births Living people