Rebecca Ghilardi (born 10 October 1999) is an Italian

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 ...

. With her skating partner, Filippo Ambrosini, she a two-time

European Championship 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 ...

medalist, four-time

ISU Grand Prix The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating (known as ISU Champions Series from 1995 to 1997) is a series of senior international figure skating competitions organized by the International Skating Union. The invitational series was inaugurated in 1995, in ...

medalist, six-time

ISU Challenger Series The ISU Challenger Series is a series of international figure skating competitions. Established by the International Skating Union in the 2014–15 figure skating season, 2014–15 season, it is a group of senior-level events ranked below the ISU ...

medalist, the 2024 Italian national champion, and a six-time Italian national silver medalist (2019-23 and 2025). The pair represented Italy at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Career

Early years

Ghilardi began learning to skate in 2007. Competing in ladies' singles, she became the Italian novice silver medalist in March 2013 and earned the junior silver medal in December of the same year. She was coached by Tiziana Rosaspina. Ghilardi last appeared in ladies' singles in December 2015. In 2016, she teamed up with Filippo Ambrosini to compete 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 ...

2016–2017 season

Making their international debut, Ghilardi/Ambrosini won the bronze medal at the

2016 CS Lombardia Trophy The 2016 CS Lombardia Trophy was a senior international figure skating competition held in September 2016 in Bergamo, Italy. It was part of the 2016–17 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' sin ...

in September. They took bronze at the

International Cup of Nice International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

a month later. In December, they became the Italian national bronze medalists. They placed fourteenth in the short program, eleventh in the free skate and eleventh overall at the 2017 European Championships, which took place in January 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. They trained under Rosanna Murante and Tiziana Rosaspina in

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

2017–2018 season

Ghilardi/Ambrosini placed eighth at the 2017 CS Warsaw Cup in November. The following month, they repeated as national bronze medalists. They won silver at the

Toruń Cup Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

in January and bronze 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 ...

in February.

2018–2019 season

Ghilardi/Ambrosini competed at several Challenger events at the beginning of the season, including taking the silver medal at the 2018 CS Inge Solar Memorial. They won the silver medal as well as the Italian Championships and were sent to the

2018 European Championships The 2018 European Championships were the first edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Berlin, Germany, and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom (with Edinburg ...

, where they finished in ninth place. At their first

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, they finished nineteenth among the nineteen competitors.

2019–2020 season

Ghilardi/Ambrosini made 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

2019 Internationaux de France The 2019 Internationaux de France was the third event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Patinoire Polesud in Grenoble, France from November 1–3. Medal ...

, where they placed eighth. They then placed seventh at the

2019 Rostelecom Cup The 2019 Rostelecom Cup was the fifth event of the 2019–20 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at Megasport Sport Palace in Moscow, Russia from November 15–17. Medals wer ...

. After taking silver at the Italian Championships, they finished the season at the 2020 European Championships, placing eighth. They had been assigned to compete at the

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 ...

, but these were cancelled as a result of the

coronavirus 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 ...

2020–2021 season

With the pandemic continuing to affect events, Ghilardi/Ambrossini started their season off 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 ...

, which was only attended by pairs teams training in Europe. They were third after the short program, and after the withdrawal of

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, the leaders after that segment, they narrowly won their first Challenger Series title over silver medalists Hocke/ Kunkel. They were scheduled to compete on the

at the 2020 Internationaux de France, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic. They placed seventeenth at the 2021 World Championships in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

2021–2022 season

Ghilardi/Ambrosini began the season at the

2021 CS Lombardia Trophy The 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy Memorial Anna Grandolfi was held on September 10–12, 2021 in Bergamo, Italy. It was part of the 2021–22 ISU Challenger Series. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, and ice danc ...

, winning the bronze medal. They had initially been assigned to compete on the

at the

2021 Cup of China 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, but following the event's cancellation, they were reassigned to a special home

2021 Gran Premio d'Italia The 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia was a figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU), organized and hosted by the Italian Ice Sports Federation (), and the third event of the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Sk ...

, held in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. They placed fifth. They were fifth as well at their second Grand Prix, the

2021 Internationaux de France The 2021 Internationaux de France was the fifth event in the 2021–22 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Patinoire Polesud in Grenoble on November 19–21. Medals w ...

. They placed fourth at the

Budapest Trophy The Budapest Trophy is an annual senior-level international figure skating competition held in Budapest, Hungary. In most years, the event is part of the ISU Challenger Series. Medals may be awarded in men's singles, women's singles, pair skati ...

. At the Italian championships, Ghilardi/Ambrosini won the silver medal. Later, they were named to their first

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

team. Competing first at the

2022 European Championships The 2022 European Championships were the second edition of the European Championships (multi-sport event), European Championships. It was a multi-sport event which took place in Munich, Germany from 11 to 21 August 2022. The event started three d ...

, Ghilardi/Ambrosini placed fourth in the short program. They were fifth in the free skate and dropped to fifth overall. Ghilardi said it was an emotional moment for them to have made the final group of the free skate alongside the elite Russian teams. Competing at the

in the pairs event, Ghilardi/Ambrosini placed sixteenth in the short program after Ghilardi fell twice, one of those being on her triple Salchow attempt. They were the final team to qualify for the free skate. They moved up to fourteenth overall in the free. The team was scheduled to finish the season at the 2022 World Championships, but withdrew after Ghilardi tested positive for COVID.

2022–2023 season

Ghilardi/Ambrosini won gold at the 2022 CS U.S. Classic in their first major competition of the season and their second ever Challenger title. On the

, they placed fourth 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 ...

, 5.01 points back of bronze medalists Hocke/ Kunkel. Despite missing the podium at their first event, they remained in contention to make the

Grand Prix Final The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final – originally known as the Champions Series Final – is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU). It is the culminating event of the Grand Prix Series. Meda ...

heading into their second, the

2022 Grand Prix of Espoo The 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo was the sixth event of the 2022–23 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Espoo Metro Areena in Espoo, Finland, from November 25-27. Medal ...

. In a relatively weak field, Ghilardi/Ambrosini set a new personal best in the short program (67.31), leading that segment by over four points. They won the free skate as well, setting a new personal best in total score (189.74), and taking the gold medal over Germans Efimova/ Blommaert by almost twenty points. This was the first Grand Prix win for an Italian pair since

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, and qualified them to the Grand Prix Final, to be held on home ice in

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. They finished fifth at the Final. After winning their fifth consecutive national silver medal, Ghilardi/Ambrosini competed at the 2023 European Championships in

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

. With Russian pairs banned from competing due to the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, the podium at the European Championships was considered far more open than in recent seasons. Ghilardi and Ambrosini both made errors in the short program, finishing fifth in that segment. They went on to win the free skate, rising to second overall. With their compatriots, Italian national champions

Conti Conti is an Italian surname. Geographical distribution As of 2014, 63.5% of all known bearers of the surname ''Conti'' were residents of Italy (frequency 1:756), 11.8% of the United States (1:24,071), 9.2% of Brazil (1:17,439), 6.3% of Argentina ...

/ Macii, taking the gold medal in an historic first for their country, Italian pairs had the top two places on the podium. These were only the second and third pairs medals for Italian teams in the nearly century-old European pairs competition.

2023–2024 season

Ghilardi/Ambrosini began the season with a fifth-place finish at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy. They won a silver medal in their second Challenger appearance of the season, the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy, before winning the Diamond Spin. They started the

at the 2023 Cup of China, placing second in the short program. They were second as well in the free skate despite Ghilardi falling on her triple Salchow attempt, and won the silver medal. Ghilardi said afterward that it "was hard today, and we are proud of our performance, and how we pushed until the end of the program." At the

2023 NHK Trophy The 2023 NHK Trophy was the sixth event of the 2023–24 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Towa Pharmaceutical Ractab Dome in Osaka, Japan, from November 24–26. ...

, they placed fourth in the short program after both made jump errors, but rose in the free skate to win the bronze medal. Ghilardi/Ambrosini finished the Grand Prix with the same placements as fellow Italian team Beccari/ Guarise and Hungarians

Pavlova Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert. Originating in either Australia or New Zealand in the early 20th century, it was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova.Boylen, Jeremy (reporter) (20 August 2004)Pavlova''George Negus Tonight'', Au ...

/ Sviatchenko, winning the tiebreaker on cumulative scores to be the sixth qualifiers to the

. They finished fifth at the Final. After winning their first Italian title, Ghilardi/Ambrosini competed at the

2024 European Championships 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

, coming fifth in the short program after losing levels on their step sequence and death spiral elements. A second-place free skate lifted them to third overall, taking the bronze medal. Ghilardi called it "the best skate of the season for sure."

2024–25 season

During the off-season, Ghilardi and Ambrosini worked with their choreographers to create a new short program to the song "

El Tango de Roxanne "Roxanne" is a song by British rock band the Police. The song was written by lead singer and bassist Sting and was released as a single on 7 April 1978, in advance of their debut album ''Outlandos d'Amour'', released on 3 November. It was wri ...

" from ''

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows an English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan ...

'', with the intention of depicting the worldwide social issue of

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...

. Beginning the season by competing on the

2024–25 ISU Challenger Series The 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series was held from September to December 2024. It was the tenth season of the ISU Challenger Series, a group of senior-level international figure skating competitions. Competitions The International Skating Union ...

, Ghilardi and Ambrosini finished sixth at the 2024 John Nicks International Pairs Competition and fourth at the 2024 Lombardia Trophy. Having initially skated to music from ''

The Phantom of the Opera The Phantom of the Opera may refer to: Novel * The Phantom of the Opera (novel), ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (novel), 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux Characters * Erik (The Phantom of the Opera), Erik (''The Phantom of the Opera''), the title char ...

'', the pair decided to return to their ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

''-themed program from the previous season following these events. Ghilardi and Ambrosini then went on to win the gold at the 2024 Diamond Spin for a second consecutive time. Going on to compete on the 2024–25 Grand Prix circuit, Ghilardi and Ambrosini placed sixth in the short program at 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 ...

, but third in the free skate, allowing them to win the bronze medal. They followed this up with a second bronze medal at the

2024 Finlandia Trophy The 2024 Grand Prix of Finland, Finlandia Trophy was the fifth event of the 2024–25 ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating: a senior-level international invitational competition series. It was held at the Helsinki Ice Hall in Helsinki, Finland, from N ...

. Although they were initially named as alternates to compete at the 2024–25 Grand Prix Final, they were later called up to compete following the withdrawal of

Deanna Stellato-Dudek Deanna Stellato-Dudek (born June 22, 1983) is an American-Canadian pair skater who currently competes with Maxime Deschamps for Canada. With Deschamps, she is the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships, 2024 World champion, the 2024 Four Contin ...

and

Maxime Deschamps Maxime Deschamps (born December 20, 1991) is a Canadian pair skater. With his skating partner, Deanna Stellato-Dudek, he is the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships, 2024 World champion, the 2024 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, 20 ...

. Despite Ambrosini dealing with a leg injury, the pair took the opportunity to compete at the event, where they finished sixth. Two weeks later, they won the silver medal at the 2025 Italian Championships behind

/ Macii. Going on to compete at the 2025 European Championships in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

, Estonia, Ghilardi/Ambrosini placed sixth in the short program and fifth in the free skate, finishing in sixth place overall. They followed up this result by winning gold at the Road to 26 Trophy in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy, a test event for the

2026 Winter Olympics The 2026 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Milano Cortina 2026, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 at sites across Lombardy and North ...

. Selected to compete at the 2025 World Championships in

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, United States, Ghilardi/Ambrosini closed the season by finishing the event in thirteenth place overall.

Programs

Pair skating with Filippo Ambrosini

Competitive highlights

Pair skating with Filippo Ambrosini

Single skating

Detailed results

Pair skating with Filippo Ambrosini

References

External links

*
Rebecca Ghilardi & Filippo Ambrosini
at SkatingScores * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghilardi, Rebecca 1999 births Italian female pair skaters Living people Sportspeople from Seriate Figure skaters from the Province of Bergamo Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for Italy European Figure Skating Championships medalists 21st-century Italian sportswomen