Denys Strekalin Explained

Denys Strekalin (born 31 March 1999) is a Ukrainian-born pair skater who competes for France. With his partner, Océane Piegad, he is the 2024 French national silver medalist.

With his former skating partner, Cléo Hamon, he is a two-time French national champion (2020, 2021), 2018 Volvo Open Cup champion, and has competed in the final segment at three World Junior Championships (2017–2019).

Career

In Ukraine

Strekalin began learning to skate in 2006. Competing in men's singles, he placed seventh at the Ukrainian Junior Championships in 2013 and 2015. He also trained in pair skating with Sofiia Nesterova.

Partnership with Hamon

Early seasons

In August 2016, Strekhalin teamed up with Cleo Hamon to compete for France in pairs. Coached by Mehdi Bouzzine in Courbevoie, they made their international debut in February 2017, placing seventh in junior pairs at the Bavarian Open. In March, they placed fourteenth at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.

In September 2017, Hamon/Strekalin debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series, placing eighth in Riga, Latvia. In December, appearing on the senior level, they won silver at the French Championships, behind Lola Esbrat / Andrei Novoselov. In March, they finished eleventh at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Competing in the 2018 JGP series, Hamon/Strekalin placed sixth in Linz, Austria, and fifth in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Making their senior international debut, the pair took gold at the Volvo Open Cup in November 2018. In March 2019, they finished ninth at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

2019–20 season

After placing eighth at the 2019 JGP United States, Hamon/Streklain debuted on the senior Challenger series with a seventh-place finish at the 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy. They would go on to place tenth at the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup and ninth at their first European Championships. Hamon/Strekalin also won the French senior national title for the first time, due to the absence of James/Cipres from the competition season. They finished the season at the 2020 World Junior Championships, where they placed fifth. Hamon/Strekalin were scheduled to participate in the 2020 World Championships in Montreal, which would have been their senior World debut, but these were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2020–21 season

With the pandemic ongoing, Hamon/Strekalin began the new season at the 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where only pairs training in Europe competed. They were fourth after the short program, and after the top-ranked Hase/Seegert withdrew, they placed third in the free and won the bronze medal.

Hamon/Strekalin were scheduled to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2020 Internationaux de France, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.

In February, they won their second straight National title. Later that month, they competed at the International Challenge Cup, placing fifth. On March 1, they were named to the team for the 2021 World Championships. They placed twentieth in their World Championship debut. Hamon/Strekalin finished the season at the 2021 World Team Trophy, where they finished fifth in both segments, and Team France finished in fifth place overall.

2021–22 season

Hamon/Strekalin began the season at the 2021 Lombardia Trophy, where they finished in fourth place.

They were originally scheduled to compete at the Nebelhorn Trophy, where the final Olympics spots would be decided, but were later replaced by Coline Keriven / Noël-Antoine Pierre. It was later announced that Hamon would be taking a break from figure skating due to health issues from burnout, and that had been the reason for them being replaced at the Nebelhorn Trophy.

Partnership with Piegad

2022–23 season

On January 31, 2022, Strekalin announced that he had formed a new partnership with former singles skater Océane Piegad. Coached by Laurent Depouilly, Nathalie Depouilly, and Dominique Deniaud, the pair made their competitive debut at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they finished in eleventh place, and then competed at the 2022 Master's de Patinage, winning the silver medal.

Invited to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2022 Grand Prix de France, they finished seventh of seven teams at the event. They went on to place fourth at the 2022 Bavarian Open and seventh at the 2023 International Challenge Cup.

2023–24 season

Piegad/Strekalin began the season with a tenth-place finish at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy, before coming seventh at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy. Appearing on the Grand Prix at the 2023 Grand Prix de France, they finished fifth.

Programs

With Piegad

Season	Short program	Free skating
2023–2024	Le bal des fiancailles (Piano Trio No. 2) Le cotege (Danse macabre)	Silhouette Nuvole Blanche
2022–2023	I Feel Like I'm Drowning	To Build a Home Experience

With Hamon

Season	Short program	Free skating
2021–2022	Kill of the Night	Mais je t'aime
2020–2021	Kill of the Night	The Fifth Element Diva Dance
2019–2020	Bang Bang	Notre-Dame de Paris
2018–2019	Bang Bang	Deep Shadow The Hanging Tree The Mockingjay Theme
2017–2018	I Want You Back	Deep Shadow The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 The Hanging Tree The Mockingjay Theme
2016–2017	I Want You Back	Interstellar

Competitive highlights

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

Pairs with Piegad for France

International
Event	22–23	23–24
align=left			12th
align=left		7th	5th
align=left			7th
align=left		WD
align=left			10th
align=left		11th
align=left		WD
align=left		4th
align=left		7th
align=left			bgcolor=silver	2nd
National
align=left			bgcolor=silver	2nd
align=left		bgcolor=silver	2nd	WD
TBD = Assigned

Pairs with Hamon for France

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International
Event	16–17	17–18	18–19	19–20	20–21	21–22
align=left					C	20th
align=left					9th
align=left						C	WD
align=left					7th
align=left							4th
align=left						bgcolor=cc966	3rd	WD
align=left					10th
align=left						WD
align=left				bgcolor=gold	1st
International: Junior
align=left		14th	11th	9th	5th
align=left				6th
align=left				5th
align=left			8th
align=left			15th
align=left					8th
align=left		7th
align=left			bgcolor=silver	2nd
National
align=left			bgcolor=silver	2nd	bgcolor=silver	2nd	bgcolor=gold	1st	bgcolor=gold	1st
align=left		bgcolor=gold	1st	bgcolor=gold	1st	bgcolor=gold	1st	bgcolor=gold	1st
align=left			bgcolor=gold	1st J			bgcolor=gold	1st
Team events
align=left						5th T 5th P
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled T = Team result; P = Personal result. Medals awarded for team result only.