Michal Češka (born 2 September 1992) is a Czech

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 partner

Cortney Mansour Cortney Mansour or Mansourová (born December 15, 1994) is a Canadian-Czech ice dancer. With Michal Češka, she has won four international medals and three national titles. The two have reached the final segment at three ISU Championships. Ea ...

, he has won three international medals and reached the free skate at three ISU Championships.

Personal life

Michal Češka was born on 2 September 1992 in

Děčín Děčín (; german: Tetschen, 1942–1945: ''Tetschen–Bodenbach'') is a city in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 47,000 inhabitants. It is the 7th largest municipality in the country by area. Administrative parts D ...

. His father is a former figure skater. His younger brother plays ice hockey.

Early career

Češka began skating at age four and switched from

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

ice dancing 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 ...

when he was about fifteen. He began competing with Karolína Procházková in 2007. In 2010, they were selected for their first World Junior Championships and finished 26th at the event in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

, Netherlands. Procházková/Češka's luggage containing their skates did not arrive in time at the 2011 Junior Worlds in

Gangneung Gangneung () is a municipal city in the province of Gangwon-do, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658 (as of 2017).Gangneung City (2003)Population & Households. Retrieved January 14, 2006. Gangneung is the economic ...

, South Korea, forcing them to withdraw. They placed 21st at the 2012 World Junior Championships in

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...

, Belarus and 23rd at the 2013 World Junior Championships in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, Italy. They were coached by

Rostislav Sinicyn Rostislav Sinicyn (russian: Ростислав Александрович Синицын, also romanized as Sinitsyn; born 18 October 1955) is an ice dancer who competed for the Soviet Union. With his wife Natalia Karamyševa (Karamysheva), Sinicy ...

and

Natalia Karamysheva Natalja Germanovna Karamyševa (russian: Наталья Германовна Карамышева, also romanization of Russian, romanized as Natalia Karamysheva) is a former Soviet Union, Soviet Ice dancing, ice dancer who works as a coach and cho ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Partnership with Mansour

2013–14 season

In mid-2013, Češka teamed up with Canada's

to compete for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

, following a tryout in Europe. They were coached by Carol Lane, John Lane, and

Juris Razgulajevs Juris Razgulajevs, sometimes spelled ''Yuri Razguliaiev'', (born March 20, 1973) is a Canadian ice dancing coach and former competitor who represented the Soviet Union, Latvia, Uzbekistan, and Japan. He is the 1991 World Junior champion with ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

, Ontario, Canada. Making their international debut, Mansour/Češka placed 12th at a Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

in September 2013 and tenth the following month at JGP

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 ...

in the Czech Republic. The duo finished 13th at the 2014 World Junior Championships in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) 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 parts of the country. ...

, Bulgaria, after placing 14th in both segments.

2014–15 season: Senior debut

Mansour/Češka advanced to the senior level in the 2014–15 season. Competing in the Challenger Series, they placed ninth at the

2014 CS Nebelhorn Trophy The 2014 Nebelhorn Trophy was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2014–15 season. Part of the 2014–15 ISU Challenger Series, it was held on 24–27 September 2014 at the Eislaufzentrum Oberstdorf. Medals were awarded in ...

and tenth at the

2014 CS Skate Canada Autumn Classic The 2014 Skate Canada Autumn Classic was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2014–15 season. A part of the 2014–15 ISU Challenger Series, the inaugural edition of the annual event was held on 15–16 October 2014 in Barr ...

. Ranked 19th in the short dance and 15th in the free, they finished 17th at the 2015 European Championships in Stockholm, Sweden.

2015–16 season

Mansour/Češka placed sixth at two Challenger Series events in the first half of October, the

2015 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy The 2015 Ondrej Nepela Trophy was the 23rd edition of an annual senior international figure skating competition held in Bratislava, Slovakia. A part of the 2015–16 ISU Challenger Series, it was held on October 1–3, 2015 at the Ondrej Nepela ...

and

2015 CS Finlandia Trophy The 2015 Finlandia Trophy was a senior international figure skating competition in the 2015–16 figure skating season, 2015–16 season. A part of the 2015–16 ISU Challenger Series, the 20th edition of the annual event was held on October 9– ...

. Deciding to change coaches, they joined

Igor Shpilband Igor Yuryevich Shpilband (russian: Игорь Юрьевич Шпильбанд, born July 14, 1964) is an American ice dancing coach and former competitor for the Soviet Union. He is the 1983 World Junior champion with former partner Tatiana Gl ...

Novi, Michigan Novi ( ) is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 66,243, an increase of 20% from the 2010 census. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Novi is located about northwest of the city of ...

at the end of the month. The duo won gold at the

Pavel Roman Memorial The Pavel Roman Memorial ( cs, Memoriál Pavla Romana) is an international ice dancing competition organized by the Czech Skating Association. Named after Pavel Roman, the competition is held annually in Olomouc, Czech Republic The Czech R ...

and then finished 13th at the 2016 European Championships in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...

after placing 14th in the short and 13th in the free. Ranked 24th in the short, they did not qualify for the free dance at the 2016 World Championships.

2016–17 season: Grand Prix debut

In July 2016, Mansour/Češka received their first

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 ...

assignment, replacing

Federica Testa Federica Testa (born 27 August 1993) is an Italian-born former competitive ice dancer who is best known for her partnership with Lukáš Csölley for Slovakia. Together, they won four ISU Challenger Series medals and three Slovak national titl ...

/ Lukas Csolley at the

2016 Trophée de France The 2016 Trophée de France was the fourth event of six in the 2016–17 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris on November 11–13. Medals ...

Programs

With Mansour

With Procházková

} , * Spanish medley

Results

''GP:

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

With Mansour

With Procházková

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ceska, Michal 1992 births Czech male ice dancers Living people People from Děčín Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of the Czech Republic