52 Facts About Carolina Kostner

Carolina Kostner was born on 8 February 1987 and is an Italian figure skater.

Carolina Kostner is the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2012 World champion, a five-time European champion, and the 2011 Grand Prix Final champion.

Carolina Kostner is a medalist at five other World Championships, six other European Championships, and three other Grand Prix Finals, the 2003 World Junior bronze medalist, and a nine-time Italian national champion.

Carolina Kostner was born in Bolzano, Italy, and lives in Urtijei.

Carolina Kostner is one of three children of Patrizia, a nationally ranked figure skater in the 1970s and later a geometric arts teacher, and Erwin, who played ice hockey for the Italian national team at the World Championships and Olympic Games before becoming an ice hockey coach.

Carolina Kostner has two brothers, one year older Martin and three years younger Simon Kostner, who plays ice hockey for Ritten Sport in Ritten, Italy.

Carolina Kostner is the cousin and goddaughter of Isolde Carolina Kostner, a silver medalist in alpine skiing at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Carolina Kostner was formerly in a relationship with former Olympic race walking champion Alex Schwazer.

Carolina Kostner finished 7th at the 2005 European Championships before beating Michelle Kwan for the bronze medal at the 2005 World Championships in Moscow.

Carolina Kostner won her first European medal in 2006, and was chosen to be flag bearer for the host Italian team during the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Carolina Kostner won the Italian national title and went on to win her first European title at the 2007 European Championships.

Carolina Kostner set a new personal best to finish third in the short program at the 2007 Worlds but faltered in the long program and finished 6th overall.

Carolina Kostner medaled at both her Grand Prix events and went to the Grand Prix Final for the first time.

Carolina Kostner won her second European title at the 2008 Europeans after winning the short program and placing second in the free skate.

At the 2008 Worlds, Carolina Kostner won the short program and placed third in the free skate, winning the silver medal overall.

Carolina Kostner finished off the podium at her first Grand Prix event, 2008 Skate Canada, lost her European title to Laura Lepisto, and finished 12th at the 2009 World Championships after a long program in which she failed to land a single clean triple.

Carolina Kostner placed 6th at both of her Grand Prix events, the 2009 Trophee Eric Bompard and the 2009 Cup of China.

In December 2009, Carolina Kostner lost her national title to Valentina Marchei, which threatened her spot on the Italian team for the Vancouver Games, but the following month she rebounded to win gold at the 2010 European Championships, held in Tallinn, Estonia.

Carolina Kostner was able to finish the season on a better note by placing 6th at the 2010 World Championships, which took place in Turin, near her hometown.

In 2011, Carolina Kostner said that her bad experience at the Olympics led her to question whether she should continue skating, but that she came to realize that she loved skating.

Carolina Kostner won the silver medal at the 2011 European Championships, where she had a difficult short program but won the free skate.

At the 2011 Worlds in Moscow, Carolina Kostner was sixth in the short program but won the bronze medal after a personal-best free skate.

Carolina Kostner elected to do so and was assigned to Skate America, the Cup of China, and the Trophee Eric Bompard.

Carolina Kostner was the silver medalist at Skate America and won the Cup of China, thus becoming the first skater to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.

Carolina Kostner then won the silver medal at the Trophee Eric Bompard.

Carolina Kostner posted season's-best scores in the short program and the free program to win her first-ever gold medal at the Grand Prix Final; her overall score of 187.48 was a new personal best.

Carolina Kostner won the 2012 Europeans, her fourth continental title in ten appearances at the event.

At the 2012 World Championships in Nice, France, Carolina Kostner finished third in the short program and first in the free skate with a new personal best score to take the gold.

Carolina Kostner set a new personal best score in the short program and placed third in the free skate, finishing 2nd overall.

Carolina Kostner was assigned to the 2012 Cup of China and the 2012 Trophee Eric Bompard.

On 1 December 2012, Carolina Kostner announced on her website that she would be competing in the 2012 Golden Spin of Zagreb.

At the 2013 European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia, Carolina Kostner finished second in the short program and second in the free skate with a new personal best score to take the gold, her fifth title and her eighth consecutive European medal.

Carolina Kostner then won her fifth World medal, silver, at the 2013 World Championships.

Carolina Kostner started her season competing at the 2013 Cup of China where she won the bronze medal and then won the silver medal at the 2013 Cup of Russia.

In January 2014, Carolina Kostner announced she had changed her competitive programs.

At the 2014 European Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Carolina Kostner won the bronze medal, her 9th podium in a row in the continental competition.

At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Carolina Kostner was in third place after the short program, with a score of 74.12, just 0.8 behind leader, and reigning Olympic champion, Kim Yuna of South Korea.

Carolina Kostner ultimately won the bronze medal after the free skate, with a total score of 216.73.

One month later, at the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Japan, Carolina Kostner placed second in the short program with a score of 77.24, her personal best.

Carolina Kostner made multiple mistakes in her free skate, where she placed sixth, and finished in third place.

In January 2015, Carolina Kostner received a 16-month suspension from competition for lying about the location of her ex-boyfriend Alex Schwazer, reportedly to help him conceal his use of an illegal performance-enhancing hypobaric chamber machine and to help him avoid a drug test.

On 5 October 2015, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced Carolina Kostner had agreed to a demand by Italian doping officials to increase the suspension to 21 months but to backdate the start of the ban to 1 April 2014.

Carolina Kostner was therefore eligible to compete from 1 January 2016.

Carolina Kostner participated in an ISU sanctioned pro-am competition, Medal Winners Open, in January 2016.

In November 2016, Carolina Kostner announced her intention to return to competitive skating with Alexei Mishin as her coach.

Carolina Kostner made her season debut at the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb, winning the gold medal.

Carolina Kostner was awarded the bronze medal at the 2017 European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

At the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Carolina Kostner placed 8th in the short program, 5th in the free program and 6th overall.

Carolina Kostner finished 2nd at both events, qualifying her for the Grand Prix Final, where she was fourth.

At the 2018 Olympic Games, Carolina Kostner competed in the team event and contributed to Italy's fourth place finish, placing second in the short program and fourth in the long program, In the individual ladies' event, she placed sixth in the short program and fifth in the long program, finishing fifth overall.

Carolina Kostner skated a new personal best score of 80.27 in the short program at the 2018 World Championships, taking first place.

Carolina Kostner performed in the show Winx On Ice from November 2008 and in Opera on Ice, held in October 2011 at the Arena of Verona, which was broadcast simultaneously in 40 countries worldwide.