Figure Skating - Team DELLA MONICA Nicole / GUARISE Matteo

DELLA MONICA / GUARISE
Teamed up in 2011. Made their Olympic debut together at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (16th) and moved up to a top-10 finish at PyeongChang 2018. They have won seven consecutive National Championships (2016-22), after three silvers (2013-15).

MILESTONES
First Italian pair skaters to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (2017-18 placing 5th). (IFS Magazine, Oct 2019, isuresults.com)

INJURIES
Della Monica: Knee injuries forced her to retire in 2010, but returned the following year. In 2019, she dislocated her shoulder and had surgery.
Guarise: Competed at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games with a meniscus knee injury that required surgery following the Games. He cracked ribs in a heavy collision with pair skater Vanessa James (then FRA, now CAN) during the warm-up for the short program at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2019. (isuresults.com; IFS Magazine, Oct. 2019)

RETIREMENT
Della Monica announced her retirement from competing at Rostelecom Cup 2021 following this season while Guarise still keeps his options open. (Pirouette Magazine, Dec 2021)

SUCCESS ON ROLLER SKATES
Guarise is the World roller pair skating champion in 2008, with partner Sara Venerucci, before switching to figure skating in 2010. (isuresults.com)

COVID-19
Thought about retiring when the pandemic hit in 2020. "I think in the end we managed the challenges very well, even if it was really hard because we were thinking many times to quit, to not keep going because it was really hard physically and mentally." (Della Monica, isu.org, 18 Jun 2021)

FINANCIAL STRUGGLES
Have struggled with financing their skating before joining the Italian state police in 2018. “We have always been struggling. We have lived together for many years because we needed to share apartments because of money problems." (Della Monica, IFS Magazine, Oct 2019)

FORMER PARTNERS
Della Monica: Yannick Kocon (12th at Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games)
Guarise: Sara Venerucci (roller skating, 1st at 2008 World Artistic Roller Skating Championships)

FORMER COACHES
Among other coaches, they worked with 1984 Olympic pair skating champion Oleg Vasiliev (RUS).

© Data by Sports Data Warehouse