44 IFSMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2019Quicksteps
XBABY BOOM
Robin Szolkowy and his
wife Romy are getting
ready to welcome a
second child later this
year. The couple has one
son, Henry, 4.
Szolkowy shared the
news on Instagram on
June 15: “And guess what
this year will bring to us:
yes — a little baby boy —
a second prince!!! I can’t
wait till I can hold him! His
brother can’t wait to show
him how to run, climb
and jump!”Czech star Michal
Bįezina and his wife
Danielle Montalbano
announced they will
welcome a daughter in
February 2020.
Switzerland’s Sarah
Meier, 37, and her hus-
band Jan van Berkel
are expecting a baby in
January 2020. No sex
was announced.
The couple married in
May 2019.
Former pairscompetitors Stefania
Berton (Italy) and
Rockne Brubaker
(U.S.) welcomed a son,
Sebastian, on June 22.
It is the first child for
the couple, who married
in 2015. The new parents
both coach at the Fox
Valley Ice Arena in
Geneva, Illinois.XSECRET DIVORCE
In a recent interview on
a Russian television real-
ity show “Million Dollar
Secret,” Irina Slutskaya,
40, revealed that she
and her husband Sergei
Mikheev had quietly
divorced in 2016 after 17
years of marriage.
Slutskaya said she kept
the news private so as not
to disrupt the lives of her
two children, Artem, 11,
and Varvara, 8.
“On the question of
what caused the divorcethere is no definite answer
... I took steps forward
but he somehow slowed
down,” Slutskaya said.
In July 2018, she mar-
ried Alexei Govyrin, a
Moscow businessman. The
couple is expecting their
first child later this year.XHOMETOWN PRIDE
Daisuke Takahashi, 33,
received an honorary
award from the Okayama
Prefecture Skating
Federation during its 50th
anniversary celebrations,
which took place in his
hometown of Kurashiki
City on June 15. The
federation presented
Takahashi with the award
for his contribution to the
club’s success.
Takahashi plans to
skate internationally
this season to earn the
required minimum scores
for Championships.
His reason for not
competing at the 2019
World Championships
was that he was not ready
to go up against the
best in the world, “but
this season I have no
particular restrictions.”XOLYMPIC HONOR
At the invitation of the
International Olympic
Committee, Yuna Kim,
the 2010 Olympic cham-
pion, attended the
inauguration of Olympic
House in Lausanne,
Switzerland, on June 23.
Kim also attended the
Olympic Golden Rings
awards, a gala evening at
which television networksreceived awards for best
coverage of the 2018
Olympic Winter Games
and the 2018 Youth
Olympic Games in
Buenos Aires.
The South Korean icon
presented the award for
Best Olympic Program to
the NBC Sports Group.XTIME OUT
Reigning Canadian
champion Alaine
Chartrand said she is
stepping away from the
competitive arena for the
first half of this season.
Chartrand relocated to
British Columbia in the
spring and is currently
coaching at local rinks
in Vancouver.
She plans to attend
the University of British
Columbia in the fall to
continue her studies
in kinesiology.Transitions