| Maria Reikdal | |
| Birth Date: | March 29, 2008 |
| Hometown: | Curitiba, Brazil |
| Height: | 154 cm |
| Coach: | Gustavo Cavalcanti |
| Skating Club: | Footwork Patinação e Dança |
| Beganskating: | 2017 |
| Fullname: | Maria Joaquina Cavalcanti Reikdal |
Maria Joaquina Cavalcanti Reikdal (pronounced as /pt/;Curitiba, born March 29 2008) is a Brazilian figure skater and artistic roller skater. She's the 2023 World Artistic Inline Skating junior champion[1] and the 2021 silver medalist,[2] the 2023 South American Inline Artistic Skating champion, four time national junior figure skating champio
Maria was put onto foster care at the age of six after neglectful and abusive behaviour from her biological family towards her and her siblings. At the orphanage, she suffered bullying from the other kids, as well as physical and verbal abuse from the carers for behaving in a feminine way despite being assigned male at birth.[5] She was adopted, along with her two siblings, by Cleber Reikdal and Gustavo Uchoa Cavalcanti on December 4, 2016.[6] A few months before her ninth birthday, she came out as a transgender girl to her family and, shortly after, started to get psychological support at the Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo's Research Institute's Transdisciplinary Ambulatory of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation (AMTIGOS).
In 2020, Reikdal managed to legally change her name and her legal sex marker at her birth certificate, after a three-year legal battle.[7] That way, she satisfied the skating federations' requirements to skate at the women's category for pre-pubescent transgender girs at the time.
Her journey gained national attention after experiencing discrimination in 2019 during the national and South American artistic roller skating championships. Maria became a symbol of the fight against prejudice and was invited to appear in a music video for singer Pabllo Vittar.[8]
Maria began skating at eight, influenced by her parents, both artistic roller skating coaches. She managed to place second on her age category, at the girls' segment, at the Brazilian Artistic Skating Championships in 2019, which would place her a spot at the 2019 South American Artistic Skating Championships, However, she was not called up for the due to her documents not being updated to reflect her name and gender. In Brazil, minors can only go through their name changed through a judge's decision,[9] thus, her family had to go to court to get authorization for her to compete.[10] Although granted permission, she faced discrimination, such as not being allowed to wear the official team outfit or use the bathroom at the event.[11] She finished 13th in the competition after falling four times during her performance.[12]
Encouraged by her father and coach, Gustavo Cavalcanti, Maria decided to focus on ice skating, training on inline skates when ice was unavailable,[13] aiming for the 2026 Winter Olympics. She won gold in the advanced novice category at the 2019 Brazilian Ice Skating Championship with a score of 50.70,a higher score than all the junior ladies' at that year.[14]
At 13, she moved to the junior category and won both the 2020[15] (which took place a year later) and 2021[16] artistic roller skatingnational championships, earning a spot on the national team for the 2021 World Championship.[17] She became the youngest skater on the national team and finished as a silver medallist at the World Artistic Skating Championship in Asuncion, Paraguay, with a total score of 102.99 points.[18] This achievement made her the first medalist from Curitiba in a World Artistic Skating Championship,[19] which earned her a special sports merit medal from the city mayor.
In December 2021, she won the junior title at the Brazilian Ice Skating Championship, landing her first triple jump, a triple Salchow, in a figure skating competition.[20]
Maria began 2022 with another national championship win in artistic roller skating,[21] earning a spot in the South American Roller Sports Game,[22] which she declined after being invited to attend an ISU training camp in Italy[23] for figure skating, in order to improve her technique and compete at the 2022 ISU Junior Grand Prix series.[24] In July 2022, she won gold at the CBDG Brazilian Championship and the Latin American Interclub Open at the junior category.
In September, she became the first Brazilian-born athlete to compete in the junior women's category in an ISU-sanctioned event and the first transgender skater to compete internationally in junior ice skating,[25] and finished 33rd in Latvia[26] and 39th in Italy.
After facing harassment and discrimination from a CBDG official,[27] Maria spent four months away from skating, returning in January 2023.[28]
In February 2023, Maria returned to roller skating competition, winning the 2023 Brazilian Artistic Roller Skating Championship and earning another spot in the South American Roller Sports Games. In April, she won her first South American title in junior inline artistic skating.[29] In July, she won another junior title at the CBDG Brazilian Championship, qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix stages in Linz and Osaka.[30] She competed in Austria, finishing 31st, and withdrew from the Japanese JGP, in order to compete at the Artistic Skating worlds.
In September 2023, Maria became the junior inline world champion at the 2023 World Artistic Skating Championship in Ibagué, Colombia, with a total score of 106.66 points.[31] In the mixed zone, she expressed gratitude for the support she received and discussed her future plans, emphasizing the ongoing challenges of dealing with prejudice in sports.[32]
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-2025 |
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| 2023-2024 |
---- ---- | Queen Orchestral Medley
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| 2022-2023 |
---- | Rio
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| 2021–2022 |
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| 2019–2020 |
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| 2018-2019 |
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| Event/Season | 21–22 | 22-23 | 23-24 | 24-25 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| International: Junior | |||||
| Austria | 31st | ||||
| Italy | 39th | ||||
| Latvia | 33rd | ||||
| Open Sul-Americano | 1st | ||||
| Open América Latina | 1st | ||||
| National | |||||
| Brazilian Champ. | 1st J | 1st J | 1st J | 1st J | |
| TBD = Assigned; WD = WithdrewLevels: J = Junior | |||||
| Event/Season | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internacionais | |||||
| World Championships | C | 2nd J | 1st J | ||
| South American Championships | WD | J | |||
| Nacionais | |||||
| Brazilian Championships | 1st E | 1st J | 1st J | 1st J | |
| TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Event cancelled;Levels: J= Junior; E=Espoire | |||||