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Gina Zehnder
Swiss ice dancer (born 2005) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gina Zehnder (born 5 August 2005) is a Swiss ice dancer. With her skating partner, Beda Leon Sieber, she is the 2023 JGP Turkey bronze medalist, and a two-time Swiss junior national champion. Zehnder/Sieber are the first Swiss ice dance team, junior or senior, to win a medal at an ISU Grand Prix event.[1]
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Personal life
Zehnder was born on 5 August 2005 in Zürich, Switzerland. She has two sisters.[2]
Career
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Early years
Zehnder began learning how to skate at age five after following her older sister into the sport. She competed as a single skater at the novice level through the 2018–19 season. In January 2019, Zehnder's coach Cornelia Leroy presented both her and her now partner, Beda Leon Sieber, with the opportunity to compete as a dance team at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics, a home event for the Swiss teenagers, and together, they chose to switch disciplines with that goal in mind.[2]
2019–20 season: Debut of Zehnder/Sieber
Zehnder/Sieber made their junior international debut as an ice dance team at the 2019 Ice Star in October, where they finished twenty-third. They gained further competitive experience at two additional international events over the fall of 2019, the 2019 Pavel Roman Memorial and the 2019 Bosphorus Cup, where they placed sixteenth and nineteenth, respectively.[3]
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In order to achieve their goal of receiving the ice dance host pick spot at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Zehnder and Sieber needed to be the top junior dance team at the 2020 Swiss Figure Skating Championships in December. Despite being newcomers to ice dance with less than a year of training together under their belts, Zehnder and Sieber won the national title by an over nine-point margin over silver medalists Alina Klein and Maxim Kobelt, and were named to the Swiss Youth Olympic team.[3]
At the Youth Olympics in January, then-14-year-old Zehnder had the honor of lighting the cauldron at the event's opening ceremony as the youngest athlete in the Swiss delegation.[4] During the ice dance competition, Zehnder and Sieber placed twelfth in both the rhythm dance and the free dance for a twelfth-place finish overall in the individual event. The duo were also included in the Mixed NOC Team Trophy, grouped into Team Motivation with Ukrainian and Italian single skaters Andrey Kokura and Alessia Tornaghi, and Russian pair team Diana Mukhametzianova/Ilya Mironov. Zehnder and Sieber placed eighth in the team ice dance event, and Team Motivation finished fifth of eight overall.[3]
Zehnder and Sieber concluded their debut season at the 2020 World Junior Championships where they placed twenty-ninth in the rhythm dance and did not advance to the final segment of competition.[3]
2021–22 season
Travel restrictions and health concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Zehnder/Sieber from competing during the 2020–21 season. The team returned to international competition in September 2021 for their ISU Junior Grand Prix debut at the 2021 JGP Russia. In Krasnoyarsk, the team placed fifteenth in the rhythm dance and fourteenth in the free dance for fourteenth-place finish overall. They replicated this placement at their next event in October, the 2021 JGP Austria.[3] Zehnder/Sieber competed at one final event in the fall in the lead up to their national championships, the 2021 Autumn Talents Cup, where they claimed their first international medal, a silver behind Ukrainian team Myroslava Tkachenko/Andrii Kapran.[5]
In November, Zehnder/Sieber defended their junior national title at the 2021 Swiss Figure Skating Championships, winning gold again by an approximately nine-point margin, this time over compatriots Kayleigh Maksymec/Maxmilien Rahier. The team was initially named to the Swiss berth at the 2022 World Junior Championships, but were forced to withdraw after Zehnder sustained a knee injury. Zehnder/Sieber ultimately concluded their season at the 2022 Egna Dance Trophy, where they finished thirteenth.[3]
2022–23 season
Zehnder's knee injury continued to impact the team's ability to train throughout 2022.[1] They finally returned to the ice in September, opting to withdraw from their Junior Grand Prix assignments due to lack of preparation time. Zehnder and Sieber opened their competitive season at the 2022 Bosphorus Cup where they placed fourth.[3] The team's only other event during the season was the 2022 Swiss Figure Skating Championships where they placed second in the junior dance category behind Milla O'Brien and Laurin Wiederkehr.[6]
2023–24 season: Junior Grand Prix bronze
Fully recovered from injury, Zehnder/Sieber returned to the Junior Grand Prix circuit for their fourth competitive season as a team. At their first assignment, the 2023 JGP Turkey, the team placed fourth in the rhythm dance, but rose to first in the free dance, ultimately placing third overall. Their bronze medal marked the first medal for a Swiss ice dance team at any ISU Grand Prix event, junior or senior.[1]
At their second JGP assignment, the 2023 JGP Poland, Zehnder/Sieber finished in fourth place. They followed up this result by winning the 2023 Swiss Open on the junior level and taking bronze at the 2023 Pavel Roman Memorial on the junior level.[3]
In late November, Zehnder/Sieber debuted on the senior international level by winning silver at the 2023 Bosphorus Cup. They then went on to win the junior national title at the 2024 Swiss Championships.[3]
Following a silver medal win on the junior level at the 2024 Ephesus Cup, Zehnder/Sieber placed fourteenth at the 2024 World Junior Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.[3]
Selected to compete at the 2024 World Championships in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Zehnder/Sieber placed thirty-second in the rhythm dance and did not advance to the free dance segment of the competition.[3]
2024–25 season
Zehnder/Sieber started the season by competing on the 2024–25 ISU Junior Grand Prix, placing fifth at 2024 JGP Turkey and at 2024 JGP Slovenia. They subsequently went on to win the silver medal on the junior level at the 2024 Budapest Trophy.[3]
Going on to compete on the senior international level, Zehnder/Sieber won the bronze medal at the 2024 Pavel Roman Memorial and finishing fourth at the 2024 Bosphorus Cup. In December, the team won their first senior national title at the 2025 Swiss Championships. The following month, Zehnder/Sieber made their European Championship debut at the 2025 European Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. The team placed twenty-third in the rhythm dance and did not advance to the free dance segment of the competition.[3]
Following a silver medal win on the junior level at the 2025 International Challenge Cup, Zehnder/Sieber placed twelfth at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.[3]
They then finished the season by placing thirtieth at the 2025 World Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.[3]
Heading into the 2025–26 figure skating season they want to improve on their technical score. “At all the big competitions, we didn’t get the levels we wanted to,” noted Zehnder. “So, I think that’s, especially during summer now, what we’re going to work on. To get better levels in the step sequences and the one-foot section.”[7]
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Programs
Ice dance with Beda Leon Sieber
Competitive highlights
Ice dance with Beda Leon Sieber
- JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
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Detailed results
Ice dance with Beda Leon Sieber
Senior level
Junior level
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References
External links
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