| Darya Grimm | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Darya Grimm and Michail Savitskiy at the2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | (2006-11-13)13 November 2006 (age 18) Wuppertal, Germany | ||||||||||||||||
| Hometown | Oberstdorf, Germany | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft5+1⁄2 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Germany | ||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Ice dance | ||||||||||||||||
| Partner | Michail Savitskiy | ||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Matteo Zanni Barbora Řezníčková Katharina Müller Maurizio Margaglio Neil Brown | ||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | EC Oberstdorf | ||||||||||||||||
| Began skating | 2010 | ||||||||||||||||
| Medal record | |||||||||||||||||
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Darya Grimm (born 13 November 2006) is a Germanice dancer. With her skating partner,Michail Savitskiy, she is a two-timeWorld Junior bronze medalist (2024,2025), a two-timeJunior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist (2023–24,2024–25), a four-timeISU Junior Grand Prix gold medalist, and a four-timeGerman junior national champion (2022–25).
Grimm was born on 13 November 2006 inWuppertal, Germany.
Grimm competed initially inwomen's singles figure skating, twice standing on the German national novice podium with bronze in 2018 and silver in 2019.[1] However, by the end of the2018–19 season, she found herself losing interest in the discipline, later saying "I didn't really have the feeling for singles anymore and girls started doingquads. I said right away, 'I'm not doing this' and a lot of people told me I should do ice dance."[2]
In September 2019, Grimm formed an ice dance partnership withMichail Savitskiy. They began training inOberstdorf, coached by formerSoviet ice dancersRostislav Sinicyn andNatalia Karamysheva.[2]
With the onset ofCOVID-19 pandemic having cancelled international junior competitions in the2020–21 season, Grimm/Savitskiy had the opportunity to make theirISU Junior Grand Prix debut in the fall of 2021. Given two assignments, they placed sixth at both the2021 JGP France inCourchevel and the2021 JGP Austria inLinz. They went on to place fourth at both theIce Challenge and theEgna Dance Trophy, and won the German junior national title.[3]
Their national title earned Grimm/Savitskiy the German berth at the2022 World Junior Championships. The championships could not be held as scheduled inSofia in early March, and as a result were rescheduled forTallinn in mid-April.[4] The championships were further upended whenVladimir Putin ordered aRussian invasion of Ukraine. As a result of the invasion, theInternational Skating Union banned all Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in competitions, which had a significant impact on the junior dance field.[5] In the leadup, Grimm briefly tested positive for COVID, but only lost a few training days.[2] Competing in Tallinn, Grimm/Savitskiy placed an unexpected fourth in the rhythm dance.[6] Seventh in the free dance, they were fifth overall.[7] Reflecting on their result, Savitskiy noted "I don't think many people expected that and it was a surprise for us as well, but of course we are very happy."[2]
Beginning theJunior Grand Prix at the2022 JGP Latvia inRiga, Grimm/Savitskiy were the pre-event favourites in light of their Junior World result, but were narrowly second in the rhythm dance. They decisively overtook CanadiansGauthier/Thieren in the free dance, taking the gold medal. This was their first international win, and the first Junior Grand Prix gold for a German dance team since2002.[8] At theirsecond event inGdańsk, they took the silver medal behind reigning World bronze medalistsBashynska/Beaumont, despite Grimm falling in the free dance. Their results qualified them for theJunior Grand Prix Final.[9] They finished fifth in both segments and overall at the Final.[10][11]
After winning their second German junior title, Grimm/Savitskiy won the gold medal at theBavarian Open's junior event.[12] Both dealt with illness in the leadup to the2023 World Junior Championships inCalgary. They finished narrowly sixth in the rhythm dance with a new personal best score of 65.67, 0.14 behind the fifth-place French teamFradji/Fourneaux.[13] However, they had to withdraw before the free dance, citing Grimm having come down with suspectedfood poisoning. She said that they were "really upset, but we don't want to risk our health," and so "with an amazing rhythm dance and a sixth-place, we are finishing our season."[14]
Grimm and Savitskiy encountered difficulties in the leadup to the beginning of theJunior Grand Prix, with him falling ill shortly before the 2023 JGP Austria. Despite this, they won both segments of the competition and took the gold medal.[15] They competed next at the 2023 JGP Poland, facing off against the Ukrainian teamPinchuk/Pogorielov, who had also won a gold medal at their prior event. Shortly prior to departing for the event inGdańsk, Savitskiy cut his hand in practice, impeding their performance ability. Both they and the Ukrainians struggled in the free dance, with Grimm/Savitskiy coming third in that segment, but their first-place in the rhythm dance secured them another gold medal and a second consecutiveJunior Grand Prix Final. Grimm said they were "relieved" by the result.[16]
At the Junior Grand Prix Final inBeijing, Grimm/Savitskiy finished third in both segments and won the bronze medal.[17] They were the third German competitors to medal at the Final on the junior level, after fellow dance team Steinel/Tsvetkov and men's singles skaterStefan Lindemann, and this was the first medal win in22 years. Savitskiy said the result was an "honour."[18]
After winning a third consecutive German junior title, Grimm/Savitskiy traveled toTaipei to compete at the2024 World Junior Championships. They were second in the rhythm dance, 0.23 points ahead of IsraelisTkachenko/Kiliakov, and won a silver small medal for the segment. In the free dance, both lost levels on their twizzles, and as a result they were third in that segment, 0.78 points behind Tkachenko/Kiliakov, who overtook them for the overall silver medal. Despite this, both said it was "great" to win a bronze medal at the championship. Savitskiy suggested that while they would compete junior in the next season, they might consider trying senior events as well, adding "we aren't entirely sure yet."[19]
In late August, it was announced that due to disagreements Grimm/Savitskiy had left coachesRostislav Sinicyn andNatalia Karamysheva to train underMartin Skotnický.[20][21] In their first competition of the season, they won the bronze medal at the2024 JGP Latvia.[22] While preparing for their second Junior Grand Prix event, Grimm/Savitskiy moved fromOberstdorf toEgna, Italy, whereMatteo Zanni,Barbora Řezníčková andKatharina Müller became their new coaches. Savitskiy would later acknowledge their coaching changes to be a "mentally stressful situation."[21][23] The duo had time to adjust to their new training location and were able to better prepare for the2024 JGP Turkey inAnkara, where they won the gold medal.[21] Grimm/Savitskiy's JGP results allowed them to qualify for theJGP Final for the third consecutive year.[24] They then made their senior level debut at the2024 CS Nepela Memorial, where they finished ninth.[3]
In early November, it was reported thatMaurizio Margaglio andNeil Brown had joined Grimm/Savitskiy's coaching staff, and that the team would make frequent trips toHelsinki, Finland to work with the coaching duo.[25] Grimm and Savitskiy opted to change their rhythm dance for the Final. She explained that their first program "didn't score so well and the feedback from the judges was like, 'It's OK but it’s not groundbreaking'. So we decided to change it." They placed third in the segment at the Final.[26] Third in the free dance as well, Grimm/Savitskiy won their second consecutive Final bronze medal.[27]T Two weeks later they won their fourth consecutive national title at the2025 German Junior Championships.[3]
Savitskiy was plagued with back problems in the leadup to the2025 World Junior Championships inDebrecen, and until the week prior the team was uncertain whether they would be able to attend. Grimm/Savitskiy placed third in the rhythm dance, 0.29 points behind AmericansWolfkostin/Tsarevski in second place.[28] Third in the free dance as well, albeit further back from second, the team won their second World Junior bronze medal. Savitskiy said afterward that the "best way to describe how we feel is relief. We're definitely super happy with how the season ended, with how we delivered the final product, especially considering our not-so-good preparation."[29]
| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024–2025 [20] |
|
| |
| 2023–2024 [30] |
|
|
|
| 2022–2023 [31] |
|
| |
| 2021–2022 [32] |
|
| Season | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| CSNepela Memorial | 9th |
| Season | 2021–22 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Junior Championships | 5th | WD | 3rd | 3rd |
| Junior Grand Prix Final | 5th | 3rd | 3rd | |
| German Championships | 1st | 1st | 1st | 1st |
| JGPAustria | 6th | 1st | ||
| JGPFrance | 6th | |||
| JGPLatvia | 1st | 3rd | ||
| JGPPoland | 2nd | 1st | ||
| JGPTurkey | 1st | |||
| Bavarian Open | 1st | 1st | ||
| Denis Ten Memorial | 1st | |||
| Egna Dance Trophy | 4th | |||
| Ice Challenge | 4th | |||
| NRW Trophy | 3rd |
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | TSS | 162.49 | 2024 CS Nepela Memorial |
| Short program | TSS | 66.49 | 2023–24 Grand Prix Final |
| TES | 36.99 | 2023–24 Grand Prix Final | |
| PCS | 29.50 | 2023–24 Grand Prix Final | |
| Free skating | TSS | 101.12 | 2024 CS Nepela Memorial |
| TES | 57.72 | 2024 CS Nepela Memorial | |
| PCS | 45.86 | 2024 World Junior Championships |
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Oct 24-26, 2024 |  2024 CS Nepela Memorial | 11 | 61.37 | 8 | 101.12 | 9 | 162.49 |
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Aug 28–31, 2024 |  2024 JGP Latvia | 2 | 61.97 | 3 | 94.36 | 3 | 156.33 |
| Sep 18–21, 2024 |  2024 JGP Turkey | 3 | 60.89 | 1 | 97.31 | 1 | 158.20 |
| Dec 5–8, 2024 |  2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final | 3 | 64.84 | 3 | 97.02 | 3 | 161.86 |
| Dec 16–21, 2024 | 2025 German Championships | 1 | 69.85 | 1 | 90.68 | 1 | 160.53 |
| Feb 25 – Mar 2, 2025 |  2025 World Junior Championships | 3 | 65.42 | 3 | 98.84 | 3 | 164.26 |
