Michel Tsiba, born on 12/21/1997 and Daria Danilova, born on 08-09-2002, decided in May of 2018 to team up and represent the Netherlands in pair skating.
Michel came in contact with the sport because his sister was practicing figure skating and as a little boy he always went her to the rink. After a while he wanted to get into action himself, only in ice hockey. Michel was disappointed when he was told at the ice hockey club that he first had to learn how to skate, at the figure skating club he could learn this the fastest, after he learned to skate at the figure skating club he could return to the ice hockey and immediately join a team. He certainly got the hang of skating, but there was no question of returning to ice hockey. Michel grows into one of the Elite figure skaters in the Netherlands, and in 2018 makes the decision to compete in the discipline pair skating with Daria Danilova with the goals of competing at the Olympic Games.
Daria Danilova started her career at the age of 3 in Moscow, this happened because a ice rink opened near her house. She immediately fell in love with the sport. As a young talent, she made a lot of progress, she was scouted in 2017 by the successful coaching team of Nina Mozer, making the switch to pair skating in 2017. Unfortunately not everything went to plan with her first partner, after that she received an offer for a try out training with Michel. After the try out they were determined, this is our future, we are going to bring The Netherlands back to the top of figure skating!
Practice
Michel & Daria train 6 times a week, 50-6 hours a day, of which 2 ice session, 2 off ice session and 1 off ice practice such as hiphop, ballet, fitness, athletics or yoga.
Competitions
Highlights so far: Michel Tsiba is a 6-times Dutch Champion in solo (2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2018) and 3-times Dutch Champion in pair skating (2019, 2020 and 2022). After Tsiba & Danilova teamed up in the summer of 2018, they quickly got positive results, they took part in their first ISU competition, the Golden Spin in Zagreb, which they immediately won, after which they also won the Dutch Championship in 2019. In the 2019-2020 season, they made their debut in the senior category, where they competed in the European Championship in Graz, Austria and managed to place 16th. Then they qualified for the World Championships in Montreal, Canada, they would make history by being the first Dutch pair to represent the Netherlands at a World Figure Skating Championships, unfortunately this party was canceled due to the Corona virus. A year later, this became a reality when they competed in the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, Sweden. The following year, they finished 9th at the 2022 World Championships in Montpellier, France.
Future
Michel & Daria's main goal is to compete with the world's best at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan, Italy. Michel & Daria are developing excellently into a pair that belongs to the world top. Due to their good performances, including a 9th place at the World Championship in 2022, they are allowed to participate in the prestigious Senior Grand Prix competitions for the first time this season.
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