Katarina Wolfkostin

Katarina Wolfkostin (born October 9, 2004) is an American ice dancer, who competes with Dimitry Tsarevski

Wolfkostin and her former partner Jeffrey Chen were the 2021 U.S. junior national champions, the 2021 French JGP champions, the 2021 JGP Slovenia silver medalists, the 2020 U.S. junior national silver medalists, and the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics bronze medalists.

Katarina Wolfkostin was born on October 9, 2004, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

She likes art, music, and drawing animals and fantasy creatures.

She has three cats, a corn snake, and two pet cockatiels named Chika and Shirley.

Wolfkostin began ice skating in 2009 when she was five.

She started ice dancing with a partner when she was nine, training in Canton, Michigan, with Marina Zoueva.

Wolfkostin and her first partner, John Carlson, placed eighth at the 2016 U.S. Championships in the intermediate division.

She teamed up with Howard Zhao in the 2016–17 season.

Coached by Anjelika Krylova and Pasquale Camerlengo, Wolfkostin/Zhao were the 2017 U.S. national intermediate champions, and the 2018 U.S. national novice champions, in ice dance.

Prior to this, Wolfkostin was the national champion at both the 2018 U.S. Novice Championship and the 2017 U.S. Intermediate Championship, with Howard Zhao.

Wolfkostin/Zhao placed fourth in the advanced novice division at the 2018 Mentor Toruń Cup.

Wolfkostin/Zhao placed tenth at their first-ever Junior Grand Prix event, 2018 JGP Czech Republic.

They won the bronze medal at the 2018–19 Pacific Coast Sectionals to advance to the 2019 U.S. Championships, where they finished ninth.

Wolfkostin/Zhao split following the end of the season.

Wolfkostin began skating with Jeffrey Chen in 2019, and he moved to train with her coaches, Igor Shpilband and Pasquale Camerlengo, in Novi, Michigan.

They placed fifth in their international debut at 2019 JGP France.

Wolfkostin/Chen improved to fourth at 2019 JGP Russia after placing second in the free dance.

Wolfkostin/Chen won their first international medal at the 2019 Golden Spin of Zagreb, earning the silver medal behind Ushakova/Nekrasov of Russia.

They won the inaugural U.S. Ice Dance Final to qualify for the 2020 U.S. Championships.

Wolfkostin/Chen were named as the sole ice dance entrant on the U.S. team for the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

They were fifth after the rhythm dance, before placing third in the free dance, to win the bronze medal overall behind Russian dancers Khavronina/Cirisano and Tyutyunina/Shustitsky.

Their medal was the first won by Team USA at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

Wolfkostin/Chen were drawn as part of Team Determination for the team event, alongside singles skaters Cha Young-hyun of South Korea and Nella Pelkonen of Finland and pairs skaters Brooke McIntosh / Brandon Toste of Canada.

They placed fourth in the free dance segment to help Team Determination finish fourth after losing the tie-breaker.

Wolfkostin/Chen placed fourth in the rhythm dance and second in the free dance to win the silver medal at the 2020 U.S. Championships, behind Nguyen/Kolesnik.

Assigned to compete at their first World Junior Championships, they placed seventh.

The season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with domestic competitions initially changed to a virtual format, leading up to the 2021 U.S. Championships.

Wolfkostin/Chen placed first in the rhythm dance and first in the free dance in both rounds of the 2020 Virtual ISP Points Challenge, and second in the free dance at the 2020 Virtual U.S. Championship Series.

Wolfkostin/Chen then competed at the 2021 U.S. Championships, after Chen was medically cleared to skate after a second opinion was obtained following a knee injury, originally thought to be an incapacitating ACL tear.

Despite the injury, they placed first in both the rhythm and free dance, earning them the gold medal for the national title.

Returning to international competition for the first time in over a year, Wolfkostin/Chen began on the Junior Grand Prix by competing at the first French JGP of 2021, in Courchevel.

They placed first in both segments, easily winning the gold medal.

At their second event, 2021 JGP Slovenia, they placed third in the rhythm dance but made up ground in the free dance, placing second in that segment and placed second overall.

Assigned to their first senior event just a few weeks later, Wolfkostin/Chen placed ninth at the 2021 CS Cup of Austria.

Their JGP results had qualified them for the 2021–22 Junior Grand Prix Final, but it was subsequently canceled as a result of travel restrictions prompted by the COVID-19 Omicron variant.

Rather than seeking to defend their national junior title, Wolfkostin/Chen opted to compete as seniors at the 2022 U.S. Championships.

They finished in sixth place overall, notably beating former national pewter medalists Carreira/Ponomarenko.

When the U.S. team was announced for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, Wolfkostin/Chen were named as alternates.

Due to the pandemic, the 2022 World Junior Championships could not be held as scheduled in Sofia in early March and, as a result, were rescheduled for Tallinn in mid-April.