Mrazek Siblings Win First Challenger at Lombardia Trophy

What changed in Bergamo

The win marks a step beyond the Challenger medals the pair had earned earlier in the season. At Lombardia Trophy, they finished first; Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud took silver, while Emily Bratti and Ian Somerville placed third. The result gives the Mrazeks a Challenger title as they continue their first Olympic cycle.

Their free dance combines “War Dance” by Mandingo with additional pieces, including “Saffron Ritual,” “Ancestral Sunset” and “Earthlight Echoes.” Matteo Zanni, who coaches the pair, choreographed the music arrangement. The program’s jungle and ritual imagery has also prompted comparisons with “Savage Rites,” the Duchesnays’ 1987–88 free dance, which was choreographed in part by Christopher Dean and also used “War Dance.”

A program with a clear lineage

Christopher Dean worked with the Mrazeks on choreography in May. The connection matters in ice dance: Dean also choreographed programs for Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay, the brother-and-sister team whose work helped make them a distinctive presence in the sport. The Mrazeks’ “War Dance” invites that comparison through its music and staging, though it remains their own program.

The siblings’ season began with a different Challenger result at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf. They won that event’s free-dance segment with 109.95 points, but finished fourth overall after a fall in the rhythm dance caused by a skirt. In Bergamo, the free dance again stood out, this time alongside a victory in the competition.

What the victory means for the pair

Katerina and Daniel are the first Czech team to win a World junior title, which they achieved in 2023. They finished 16th at their first Olympics in Milano-Cortina this February and 11th at the World Championships in Prague in March. The Lombardia Trophy win adds a senior international title to that record, while their strong free-dance scores show where their current competitive advantage is clearest.

The result also places the pair ahead of teams that had finished in front of them at the World Championships: Lopareva and Brissaud in Bergamo, and Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko at Nebelhorn. Those comparisons are limited to the events named; they do not establish a season-long ranking.

What remains undecided

One Challenger victory does not settle how the Mrazeks will fare across the rest of the season. Their Nebelhorn result showed how a rhythm-dance mistake can outweigh a winning free dance, while the Lombardia Trophy confirmed that “War Dance” can score strongly in competition. Their next performances will show whether they can pair that free-dance impact with consistency across both segments.

The broader question is whether Dean’s collaboration and the program’s historical echoes will help the siblings build on this result. For now, the concrete marker is their first Challenger win in Bergamo; what follows depends on how the programs hold up at their next competitions.

Sources

• Ice Dance – Anything GOEs — “Introducing the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Figure Skaters”
• pacodeandbulletin.gov — “Unclaimed Property Owners”
• RedCircle — “This Week in Skating Podcast”
• usfigureskating.org — “Team USA’s 2025 Grand Prix Assignments Announced – U.S. Figure Skating”