Isabella Gamez
 Gamez in 2022 | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Isabella Marie Gamez | |||||||||
| Born | February 1, 1999 Cape Coral, Florida, U.S. | |||||||||
| Height | 4Â ft 11Â in (1.49Â m) | |||||||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||||||
| Country |   Philippines (since 2019)  Spain (2017–18)  United States (2016–17) | |||||||||
| Discipline | Pair skating | |||||||||
| Partner | Aleksandr Korovin (since 2022) David-Alexandre Paradis (2019–20) Tòn Cónsul (2017–18) Griffin Schwab (2016–17) | |||||||||
| Coach | Dmitri Savin Fedor Klimov | |||||||||
| Skating club | Philippine Skating Union | |||||||||
| Began skating | 2005 | |||||||||
| Medal record | ||||||||||
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Isabella Marie Gamez (born February 1, 1999) is an American-born Filipino pair skater who competes for the Philippines with her partner Aleksandr Korovin. Gamez and Korovin are the first pair from Southeast Asia and the Philippines to qualify and compete in the final segment of the World Championships (2023).[1] They are the first international medalists for the Philippines in pairs skating,[2] first pair to compete at the Grand Prix of Figure Skating for Southeast Asia and the Philippines, as well as two-time Philippine National champions.
With her former skating partner, David-Alexandre Paradis, Isabella competed in the final segment at the 2020 Four Continents Championships. They were the first figure skating pairs team to represent the Philippines at an International Skating Union competition.
Competing for Spain in junior pairs with her former skating partner, Tòn Cónsul, she is the 2018 Spanish Junior National champion and finished 13th at the 2018 World Junior Championships.
Personal life
[edit]Gamez was born on February 1, 1999, to Filipino parents. Both parents were born and raised in Quezon City.[3] Gamez is the grandniece of former Philippines Olympics basketball player, Senator Freddie Webb on her mother's side.[4] Her paternal grandfather is Dr. Gilberto Gamez, former Dean of University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines. She grew up regularly spending time in Manila, maintaining a close tie to her Philippine roots and both sides of her family living there.[5] In addition to figure skating, Gamez is a scuba diver, who spends time in Anilao, Mabini, Batangas. She also enjoys painting and baking.[6]
On March 20, 2024, Isabella Gamez was among the major Filipina athlete awardees at the inaugural Women in Sports Awards, hosted by the Philippine Sports Commission at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.[7]
Career
[edit]Early career
[edit]
Gamez started as a singles skater before switching to pairs starting as a novice.[8] Gamez teamed up with Griffin Schwab in pairs from the 2015–16 season. They earned the novice silver medal in their first season at the 2016 U.S. Championships.
In 2017, Gamez teamed up with Spanish skater Tòn Cónsul to represent Spain for juniors pairs. They competed at two Junior Grand Prix events, finishing 11th in Zagreb and 13th in Gdańsk. Gamez/Cónsul then won the 2018 Spanish junior national title and the 2018 Mentor Toruń Cup. They ended the season with a thirteenth-place finish at the 2018 World Junior Championships.[9]
Partnership with Paradis
[edit]2019–2020 season: Switch to the Philippines and debut of Gamez/Paradis
[edit]Gamez began representing the Philippines in a new senior pair with Canadian skater David-Alexandre Paradis. Gamez/Paradis competed at three Challenger Series events, becoming the first Filipino and Southeast Asian pair to compete in an International Skating Union competition.[10] They then finished seventh at Volvo Open Cup. Gamez/Paradis also earned the technical minimums for the 2020 Four Continents Championships to become the first Filipino and Southeast Asian pair to compete at an ISU Championship. They finished ninth at Four Continents. Gamez/Paradis concluded their season with an eleventh-place finish at the Challenge Cup.[11]
Gamez and Paradis split due to travel restrictions and inability to train together during the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] Paradis retired from pairs skating to focus on his coaching career.[13]
Partnership with Korovin
[edit]2020–2021 and 2021–2022 seasons
[edit]In August 2021, the Philippine Skating Union announced that Gamez had teamed up with Russian skater Aleksandr Korovin to represent the Philippines.[14] Korovin and Gamez were paired by 2014 Winter Olympics pairs champion Maxim Trankov and Olympic, World Championship coach Marina Zoueva. They met and began training together in early 2021. For the 2021–2022 season, Gamez and Korovin focused on their training at