Nicholas Vrdoljak or Nikola Vrdoljak (born July 11, 1996) is a Croatian

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, with its introduction occurring at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic d ...

. He has competed at one World and two European Championships, qualifying to the free skate at the 2016 European Championships.

Personal life

Vrdoljak was born on July 11, 1996, in

Hinsdale, Illinois Hinsdale is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County. It is one of the wealthiest communities in Illinois. Hinsdale is a western suburb of Chicago with a population of 17,395 ...

, United States. His parents are from

Split, Croatia Split (, ), historically known as Spalato (; ; see #Name, other names), is the List of cities and towns in Croatia, second-largest city of Croatia after the capital Zagreb, the largest city in Dalmatia and the largest city on the Croatian coast ...

. His father died in 2007. Growing up in a family of auto enthusiasts, he enjoys building, tuning, and racing

muscle cars A muscle car is an American-made two-door sports coupe with a powerful engine, marketed for its performance. In 1949, General Motors introduced its 88 with the company's OHV Rocket V8 engine, which was previously available only in its lux ...

. Vrdoljak attend
College of DuPage
majoring in Automotive Technology.

Career

Vrdoljak began learning to skate in 2004. He became the 2009 U.S. national juvenile champion and 2013 U.S. national novice bronze medalist. He placed 5th in the junior ranks at the 2014 U.S. Championships. He made no international appearances for the United States. Vrdoljak debuted internationally for Croatia in September 2015, placing 8th at a

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 ...

event in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

. Making his first senior-level appearance, he placed 10th at the

2015 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb The 2015 Golden Spin of Zagreb was the 48th edition of the annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Zagreb, Croatia. It was held at the Dom sportova in December 2015 as part of the 2015–16 ISU Challenger Series. Medal ...

in December. In January, he competed at the 2016 European Championships in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, Slovakia; he qualified to the free skate and finished 21st overall. Vrdoljak placed 26th at the 2017 European Championships 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, and 34th at the 2017 World Championships in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, Finland.

Programs

Competitive highlights

''CS: Challenger Series; JGP:

For Croatia

United States

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrdoljak, Nicholas 1996 births American people of Croatian descent Croatian male single skaters Living people Sportspeople from Hinsdale, Illinois