Nico Steffen, Switzerland; Credit: Ali Sahib, Chronicle.lu

From Friday 14 to Sunday 16 March 2025, Luxembourg hosted the 45th edition of the "Coupe du Printemps" international figure skating competition at the Kockelscheuer ice rink.

The Coupe du Printemps is organised by the Union Luxembourgeoise de Patinage (ULP) and the Club Hiversport Luxembourg Figure Skating Section at Kockelscheuer. This year, 117 athletes from 23 countries participated in the competition: France; Finland; Belgium; Netherlands; Italy; Great Britain; Switzerland; Luxembourg; Andorra; Spain; Estonia; Armenia; Czech Republic; Lichtenstein; Austria; Ukraine; Kazakhstan; Germany; Mexico; Portugal; Romania; Brazil; Slovakia.

Mara Wagner, a member of the Coupe du Printemps organising committee, explained to Chronicle.lu the level of competition: "It's very special to us because it's the only figure skating competition that our skaters also have to do here in Luxembourg. Otherwise, they have to go to different countries. At the same time, it's also our national championship and the competition has developed into an inter-club competition, which means it is a lower-level event and more accessible to a wider range of skaters who are not yet competing at the international level. This provides a valuable experience for our own skaters as well as those from nearby countries."

The competition featured participants across four categories for both men and women. The largest group was in the Junior Women category (16-18 years), with 26 skaters competing. Finland’s Karina Innos took the title with a score of 140.42. Another highly contested category was Basic Novice Women (girls aged 12-15), where 25 skaters competed. France’s Lola Wang secured first place with 37.57 points, narrowly edging out Charlotte Brands from the Netherlands by just 0.17 points.

"It's just also as a training and for others it's a big competition in their series of competition that they do during the season. Before it was also that you could collect points or qualify for world championships, but for example, now it's just too close as well. So all the qualifications have been done,” noted Mara Wagner.

In the senior categories, Estonia’s Eva-Lotta Kiibus claimed victory in the women’s competition with 157.53 points, while in the men’s event, France’s François Pitot dominated with a score of 235.46 points, finishing 57 points ahead of silver medallist Corentin Spinar (France).

Luxembourg’s skaters competed in four categories: Advanced Novice Women, Basic Novice Women, Basic Novice Men and Junior Women. The highest placements were in the Advanced Novice Women category, where Caroline Toft finished ninth with 79.66 points and Alison June Morgan placed thirteenth with 74.80 points in a field of 20 skaters. In the Basic Novice Men category, where only three skaters competed, Luxembourg’s Grégoire Flego took first place with 27.41 points, while Sébastien Berg finished third with 25.12 points.

Mara Wagner also shared insights with Chronicle.lu about the current state of Luxembourg’s national figure skating team: "We have a national team as well. There we have older ones, so Junior Women's, which is Dita Giltaire and Eliska Phillipe. They competed also today. And then after that we have novice advanced girls, that's Julie Straus, Caroline Toft and Alison June Morgan. They're very young, but they're really competitive and in the national team. So they're growing quite fast. And then we have many basic novice skills also coming up. And we even have filled it up. We have two boys even and then we have six, seven girls in it as well. At the top we have least amount of skaters. But that's normal as well because figure skating is a quite young sport."

IK