Natalia Kaliszek
Kaliszek and Spodyriev in 2018
Born	(1996-05-17)17 May 1996 (age 28) Toruń, Poland
Height	1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Poland
Partner	Maksym Spodyriev
Coach	Sylwia Nowak-Trębacka Anastasia Vykhodtseva
Skating club	MKS Axel Toruń
Began skating	2000
Retired	2022

Natalia Kaliszek (pronounced[naˈtaljakaˈliʂɛk]; born 17 May 1996) is a retired Polishice dancer. With her skating partner,Maksym Spodyriev, she has won medals on theISU Challenger Series, including gold at the2017 CS Tallinn Trophy, and eightPolish national titles. They have represented Poland at the2018 and2022 Winter Olympics, as well as theEuropean andWorld championships. At the junior level, they placed in the top ten at the2015 Junior Worlds.

Natalia Kaliszek was born on 17 May 1996 inToruń, Poland.^[1] She has two siblings, Michał and Anna, both of whom have competed in figure skating. In May 2022 she married Miłosz Wąsik,^[2] they have a baby born at the beginning of 2023.^[3]

Natalia Kaliszek competed inladies' singles as a child. In 2007, she teamed up with her brother, Michał Kaliszek, to compete inpair skating. In 2009, they appeared at twoISU Junior Grand Prix events, placing thirteenth and eighteenth.

In 2010, the two switched toice dancing at the suggestion ofSylwia Nowak-Trębacka.^[4] In the 2011–2012 season, the Kaliszeks received two JGP assignments, finishing eleventh at both, and debuted on the senior level at thePavel Roman Memorial, where they placed fifth. They were sent to the2012 World Junior Championships inMinsk, Belarus, but were eliminated after the preliminary round. They trained inToruń^[5] and ended their partnership after the 2012–2013 season.^[6]

In 2013, Kaliszek teamed up with Russian ice dancer Yaroslav Kurbakov. The two were coached by Nowak-Trębacka and represented Poland. They placed ninth and thirteenth at their JGP assignments and second at the Polish Junior Championships. They parted ways at the end of the season.

In 2014, Kaliszek began competing with Ukrainian ice dancerMaksym Spodyriev for Poland, coached by Nowak-Trębacka inToruń.^[7] The two made their international debut at theVolvo Open Cup, where they took the junior silver medal. Switching to the senior level, they placed sixth at aChallenger Series (CS) event, theWarsaw Cup, before winning gold at theSanta Claus Cup. They won the Polish national title at theFour Nationals in December 2014 and took bronze the following month at theToruń Cup.

Kaliszek/Spodyriev were selected to represent Poland at theEuropean Championships, held in late January 2015 inStockholm, Sweden. Ranked fifteenth in the short dance, they qualified to the free dance, where they placed fourteenth and rose to fourteenth overall. In early March, they made their second and final appearance on the junior level, competing at theWorld Junior Championships inTallinn, Estonia; they placed tenth in the short dance, sixth in the free dance, and seventh overall. Later in March, they traveled toShanghai, China, for theWorld Championships but were eliminated after placing twenty-fourth in the short dance.

Kaliszek/Spodyriev competed in three2015–16 Challenger Series competitions. After placing seventh at theNebelhorn Trophy, they won bronze at theMordovian Ornament and silver at theWarsaw Cup. They finished third in the Challenger Series ranking.^[8]

Kaliszek/Spodyriev placed eleventh at the2016 European Championships inBratislava, having ranked eleventh in both segments. At the2016 World Championships inBoston, they placed fourteenth in the short dance, sixteenth in the free dance, and sixteenth overall. At the end of May 2016, it was announced that theInternational Skating Union had chosen the foxtrot portion of their short dance to become apattern dance.^[9]

Starting their season on theChallenger Series, Kaliszek/Spodyriev placed fourth at the2016 CS Ondrej Nepela Memorial and fifth at the2016 CS Finlandia Trophy, in early October. During training in early November, they had a fall related to poor rink conditions in Toruń, which resulted in her blade cutting two of his fingers.^[10] Later in the same month, they debuted on theGrand Prix series, having received invitations to two events.^[11] The duo finished fifth at the2016 Cup of China and seventh at the2016 NHK Trophy.

In January 2017, Kaliszek/Spodyriev finished 8th at theEuropean Championships inOstrava, Czech Republic. In March, they placed fifteenth in the short, thirteenth in the free, and fourteenth overall at the2017 World Championships inHelsinki, Finland. Due to their result, Polandqualified a spot in the ice dancing event at the2018 Winter Olympics inPyeongchang, South Korea.

Kaliszek/Spodyriev began the season with a tenth-place finish at the2017 CS Finlandia Trophy, the first of twoChallenger events the team would take on that year. On theGrand Prix, they placed ninth atSkate Canada and eighth at theInternationaux de France. Following the end of the Grand Prix, they won gold at the2017 CS Tallinn Trophy, followed by a bronze medal at theSanta Claus Cup. They repeated as champions at thePolish Figure Skating Championships for the fourth consecutive time and were named toPoland's Olympic team, as well as to the European and World championships.

Competing at the2018 European Championships, Kaliszek/Spodyriev placed tenth. Competing at the2018 Winter Olympicsice dance event, they placed fourteenth in the short dance. Kaliszek/Spodyriev were one of three teams in the competition whoserhumbapattern dance made use of the song "Despacito", along with South KoreansYura Min /Alexander Gamelin and the Chinese team ofWang Shiyue /Liu Xinyu. The effect of the song's ubiquity was heightened further because Kaliszek/Spodyriev and the Min/Gamelin skated consecutively and attracted comments on social and entertainment media.^[12][13] The duo qualified for the free dance, placing fifteenth and fourteenth overall. They concluded the season at the2018 World Championships inMilan,Italy, where they placed seventeenth.

The2018 CS Nebelhorn Trophy marked Kaliszek/Spodyriev's first event of the new season, placing eighth. On theGrand Prix, they placed sixth atSkate America and fifth at theRostelecom Cup. Following the Grand Prix, they competed at the 2018Warsaw Cup, winning the silver medal behindTiffany Zahorski /Jonathan Guerreiro. They went on to compete in two moreChallenger events, winning the bronze medal at theTallinn Trophy and silver atGolden Spin. In December, Kaliszek/Spodyriev won their fifth national title.

Competing in the rhythm dance at the2019 European Championships, they placed fourth and were the only team to receive a perfect score on the Tango Romanticapattern dance.^[14] They placed fifth in the free dance and fifth overall.^[15] They placed eleventh at the2019 World Championships.^[16]

Thepattern dance based on Kaliszek and Spodyriev's 2015–16 "Tea for Two" short dance, formally known as the Tea Time Foxtrot, was adopted for use in the junior international competitive season. Kaliszek and Spodyriev spent much of the preseason teaching the dance at seminars for junior dance teams.^[17][18]

Beginning the season at the 2019Shanghai Trophy, they won the bronze medal there before winning silver at the2019 CS Ice Star.^[16] On theGrand Prix, they placed sixth at the2019 Internationaux de France.^[19] At the2019 Rostelecom Cup, they placed fourth in the rhythm dance despite a serious error on the Finnstep pattern dance, exiting hold midway through.^[20] They remained in fourth place overall following the free dance.^[21]

Polish champions again, Kaliszek/Spodyriev, finished the season at the2020 European Championships, where they placed ninth.^[22] They had been assigned to compete at theWorld Championships inMontreal, but these were cancelled as a result of thecoronavirus pandemic.^[23]

With the pandemic limited international opportunities, Kaliszek/Spodyriev won the Four National Championships again before competing at the2021 World Championships inStockholm, where they placed twelfth.^[24] This qualified one berth for a Polish dance team at the2022 Winter Olympics.^[25]

Kaliszek/Spodyriev began the new season on theGrand Prix at2021 Skate America, where they finished eighth. They withdrew from several other events, including the2021 Rostelecom Cup, before winning the Polish national title again. They were named to thePolish Olympic team for the second time and then competed at the2022 European Championships, finishing fourteenth.^[26]

Competing at the2022 Winter Olympics in thedance event, Kaliszek/Spodyriev were fifteenth in the rhythm dance. Kaliszek fell at the end of their program, as a result of which they placed last in the free dance and dropped to seventeenth overall.^[27]

Spodyriev's native country, Kaliszek and Spodyriev's club welcomed many refugee Ukrainian skaters, notably fellow ice dancersOleksandra Nazarova andMaksym Nikitin.^[28] The duo were scheduled to compete at the2022 World Championships, but withdrew after a positive COVID test.^[29]

On July 16, they announced their retirement from competitive figure skating.^[30]

GP:Grand Prix; CS:Challenger Series; JGP:Junior Grand Prix

Media related toNatalia Kaliszek at Wikimedia Commons

• Natalia Kaliszek / Maksym Spodyriev official website(in Polish and English)
• Natalia Kaliszek / Maksym Spodyriev at theInternational Skating Union
• Natalia Kaliszek atOlympedia
• Natalia Kaliszek atOlympics.com
• Natalia Kaliszek at thePolski Komitet Olimpijski (archive)(in Polish)

• Polish female ice dancers
• Polish female pair skaters
• 1996 births
• Living people
• Sportspeople from Toruń
• Figure skaters at the 2018 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Poland
• 21st-century Polish sportswomen

• CS1: unfit URL
• CS1 Polish-language sources (pl)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from December 2021
• Pages using infobox figure skater with unknown parameters
• Pages with Polish IPA
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Articles with Polish-language sources (pl)
• PKOl profile using new ID in template