Isabella Gamez Explained

Isabella Gamez
Also Known As:Gámez
Country: (2018–)
Birth Date:February 1, 1999
Birth Place:Cape Coral, Florida
Partner:Alexander Korovin
Formerpartner:David-Alexandre Paradis
Tòn Cónsul
Griffin Schwab
Coach:Dmitri Savin
Marina Zoueva
Formercoach:Ian Connolly
Sylvie Fullum
Bruno Marcotte
Todd Sand
Jenni Meno
John Nicks
Choreographer:Marina Zoueva
Ilia Tkachenko
Massimo Scali
Formerchoreographer:John Kerr
Julie Marcotte
Phillip Mills
Christine Fowler-Binder
Former Skating Club:Los Angeles FSC
Florida Everblades FSC
Currenttraininglocations:Montclair, New Jersey
Manila, Philippines
Formertraininglocations:Estero, Florida
Montreal, Canada
Aliso Viejo, California
Beganskating:2005
Combined Total:147.07
Combined Date:2023 Worlds
Sp Score:53.29
Sp Date:2023 Worlds
Fs Score:93.78
Fs Date:2023 Worlds

Isabella Gamez (born February 1, 1999) is a Filipina pair skater who competes for the Philippines with her partner Alexander Korovin. Gamez and Korovin are the first pair from Southeast Asia and the Philippines to qualify and compete in the final segment of the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships.[1] They are the first international medalists for the Philippines in pairs skating,[2] and two-time Philippine National Champions for pairs skating bringing attention to the sport in the tropical country.

With her former skating partner, David-Alexandre Paradis, Isabella competed in the final segment at the 2020 Four Continents Championships. They were the first figure skating pairs team to represent the Philippines at International Skating Union competitions starting in 2019.

Competing for Spain with her former skating partner, Tòn Cónsul, she is the 2018 Spanish Junior National champion and finished 13th at the 2018 World Junior Championships.

Personal life

Gamez was born on February 1, 1999, to Filipino parents, Gerardo Alisangco Gamez and Maria Victoria Webb Ramirez. Both parents were born and raised in Quezon City.[3] Gamez is the grandniece of former Philippines Olympics basketball player, Senator Freddie Webb on her mother's side.[4] Her paternal grandfather is Dr. Gilberto Gamez, former Dean of University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines. She grew up regularly spending time in Manila, maintaining a close tie to her Philippine roots and both sides of her family living there.[5] In addition to figure skating, Gamez is a scuba diver, who spends time in Anilao, Mabini, Batangas. She also enjoys painting and baking.

Career

Early career

Gamez started as a singles skater before switching to pairs starting as a novice. Gamez teamed up with Griffin Schwab in pairs from the 2015–16 season. They earned the novice silver medal in their first season at the 2016 U.S. Championships.

In 2017, Gamez teamed up with Spanish skater Tòn Cónsul to represent Spain for juniors pairs. They competed at two Junior Grand Prix events, finishing 11th in Zagreb and 13th in Gdańsk. Gamez/Cónsul then won the 2018 Spanish junior national title and the 2018 Mentor Toruń Cup. They ended the season with a 13th-place finish at the 2018 World Junior Championships.

2019–2020 season

Gamez began representing the Philippines in a new senior pair with Canadian skater David-Alexandre Paradis. Gamez/Paradis competed at three Challenger Series events, becoming the first Filipino and Southeast Asian pair to compete in an International Skating Union competition. They then finished seventh at Volvo Open Cup. Gamez/Paradis also earned the technical minimums for the 2020 Four Continents Championships to become the first Filipino and Southeast Asian pair to compete at an ISU Championship. They finished ninth at Four Continents. Gamez/Paradis concluded their season with an 11th-place finish at the Challenge Cup.

Gamez and Paradis split due to travel restrictions and inability to train together during the COVID-19 pandemic.[6] Paradis retired from pairs skating to focus on his coaching career.

2020–2021 and 2021–2022 seasons

In August 2021, the Philippine Skating Union announced that Gamez had teamed up with Russian skater Alexander Korovin to represent the Philippines. Korovin and Gamez were paired by 2014 Winter Olympics Pairs Champion Maxim Trankov and Olympic, World Championship Coach Marina Zoueva. They met and began training together in early 2021. For the 2021–2022 season, Gamez and Korovin focused on their training at Hertz Arena with Coach Marina Zoueva and her team in Estero, Florida.

2022–2023 season

The Gamez/Korovin pair made their debut at the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy, where they placed ninth after two years of inactivity.[6] [7] The pair shared before their international debut, Hurricane Ian devastated Southwest Florida affecting their training venue and practice schedule a week before Finland.[5] In their second competition together, Gamez and Korovin achieved a historical milestone for the Philippines. They won the first-ever medal for Philippine pairs skating in an international competition, a silver medal at the Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur in Nice, France.[8] They competed at the 2022 CS Warsaw Cup placing 11th, and withdrew from the Golden Spin of Zagreb due to injury. Gamez/Korovin continued the season to become the first senior pairs team to win the Philippine Figure Skating Championships, bringing awareness to the pairs discipline in the tropical country as the only competitors in December 2022. They qualified and competed at the 2023 Four Continents Championships in Colorado Springs placing ninth. They competed at the Challenge Cup in Tilburg, Netherlands, where they placed 6th and earned the technical minimums to become the first Southeast Asian and Philippine pairs team to qualify and compete at the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan.[1] They competed in the final segment at the 2023 World Figure Skating Championships ending a five-year drought for the Philippines at the World Figure Skating Championships, wherein the last Philippine skater to compete was Michael Christian Martinez in 2017.

2023–2024 season

The Gamez/Korovin pair team started their second season by competing at John Nicks Pairs Challenge in New York, NY and 2023 CS Autumn Classic International in Montreal, Canada in September 2023. They withdrew from October 2023 competitions due to a COVID-diagnosis and returned to compete at Philippine Figure Skating Championships in November 2023, where they won their second National Championship title at SM Mall of Asia in Manila, Philippines. In January 2024, they competed at the 2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai, China, where they placed 11th and competed at the 2024 World Figure Skating Championships in Montreal, Canada as the only competitors representing the Philippines at the annual event.

On March 20, 2024, Isabella Gamez was among the major Filipina athlete awardees at the inaugural Women in Sports Awards, hosted by the Philippine Sports Commission at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila. [9]

Programs

With Korovin

SeasonShort programFree skating
2023–2024
  • My Love
  • Somewhere in Time
2022–2023
  • Part 2 (Cross-Pollination)
    Part 3 (Redemption)

With Schwab

SeasonShort programFree skating
2016–2017
  • Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen
2015–2016
  • West Side Story

Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix. Pewter medals (4th place) awarded only at U.S. national, sectional, and regional events.

With Korovin for the Philippines

International
Event22–2323–24
align=left 18th 21st
align=left 9th 11th
align=left 10th
align=left 9th
align=left 11th
align=left bgcolor=silver2nd
align=left 6th
align=left John Nicks Challenge6th
National
align=left bgcolor=gold1st bgcolor=gold1st

With Paradis for the Philippines

International
Event2019–20
align=left 9th
align=left 9th
align=left 14th
align=left 11th
align=left 11th
align=left 7th

With Cónsul for Spain

International: Junior
Event2017–18
align=left 13th
align=left 11th
align=left 13th
align=left bgcolor=gold1st
National
align=left bgcolor=gold1st J
Levels: J = Junior

With Schwab for the United States

National
Event2016–17
align=left 9th J
J = Junior

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. ISU Personal best in bold.

With Korovin

2023–2024 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
March 18–24, 20242024 World Championshipsalign=center 21
49.70
align=center
-
align=center 21
49.70
January 30-February 4, 20242024 Four Continents Championshipsalign=center 12
49.79
align=center 11
93.07
align=center 11
142.86
September 14–17, 20232023 CS Autumn Classic Internationalalign=center 1037.40align=center 1085.25align=center 10122.65
September 6–7, 20232023 John Nicks Pairs Challengealign=center 8
46.73
align=center 6
91.66
align=center 6
138.39
2022-23 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
March 20–26, 20232023 World Championshipsalign=center 19
53.29
align=center 18
93.78
align=center 18
147.07
February 23–26, 20232023 Challenge Cupalign=center 6
54.74
align=center 8
95.27
align=center 6
150.01
February 7–12, 20232023 Four Continents Championshipsalign=center 10
39.69
align=center 9
73.79
align=center 9
113.48
December 7–10, 20222022 CS Golden Spin of Zagrebalign=center 14
39.71
align=center WDalign=center WD
November 17–20, 20222022 CS Warsaw Cupalign=center 11
42.94
align=center 11
84.66
align=center 11
127.60
October 4–9, 20222022 CS Finlandia Trophyalign=center 9
44.25
align=center 9
78.15
align=center 9
122.40

With Paradis

2019–20 season
DateEventSPFSTotal
February 20–23, 20202020 Challenge Cupalign=center 11
45.38
align=center 11
82.74
align=center 11
128.12
February 4–9, 20202020 Four Continents Championshipsalign=center 10
47.34
align=center 9
80.09
align=center 9
127.43
December 4–7, 20192019 CS Golden Spin of Zagrebalign=center 14
47.50
align=center 15
88.40
align=center 14
135.90
November 14–17, 20192019 CS Warsaw Cupalign=center 12
47.99
align=center 8
97.05
align=center 11
145.04
November 5–10, 20192019 Volvo Open Cupalign=center 7
44.37
align=center 7
82.42
align=center 7
126.79
October 11–13, 20192019 CS Finlandia Trophyalign=center 10
43.09
align=center 9
81.61
align=center 9
124.70

Notes and References

  1. News: Ramos . Josef . Gamez, partner make worlds. 26 February 2023 . Business Mirror . 26 February 2023.
  2. News: Carandang . Justin Kenneth . Duo of Isabella Gamez and Aleksandr Korovin claim Philippines' first int'l medal in figure skating pairs. 26 October 2022 . GMA News Online . 23 October 2022.
  3. News: Atencio . Peter . Filipina, Russian partner seek to improve further after silver-medal feat . 10 April 2023 . Manila Standard . 26 October 2022.
  4. News: Carandang . Justin Kenneth . Figure skater Isabella Gamez hopes she can represent Philippines well like her lolo Freddie Webb . 10 April 2023 . GMA News Online . 1 November 2022.
  5. News: Fil-Am pair skater, Russian partner make international debut . 10 October 2022 . CNN Philippines . 10 October 2022 . 18 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221018203841/https://www.cnnphilippines.com/videos/2022/10/10/Fil-Am-pair-skater--Russian-partner-make-international-debut.html . dead .
  6. News: Pedralvez . Bong . Fil-Am skater, Russian partner debut for PH. 13 October 2022 . Malaya Business Insight . 7 October 2022.
  7. News: Pedralvez . Bong . Fil-Am skater, Russian partner ninth in Finland . 13 October 2022 . Malaya Business Insight . 10 October 2022.
  8. News: Carandang . Justin Kenneth . Duo of Isabella Gamez and Aleksandr Korovin claim Philippines' first int'l medal in figure skating pairs. 26 October 2022 . GMA News Online . 23 October 2022.
  9. News: PH’s best gather for All-Women Sports Awards March 20 . 20 March 2024 . Philippine News Agency . 17 March 2024.