Massimo Scali

Massimo Scali
Faiella & Scali at the 2010 Worlds
Personal information
Full name	Massimo Scali
Country represented	Italy
Born	(1979-12-11) 11 December 1979 (age 32) Monterotondo
Home town	Mentana, Province of Rome
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Partner	Federica Faiella
Former partner	Flavia Ottaviani
Former coach	Pasquale Camerlengo Anjelika Krylova Natalia Linichuk Roberto Pelizzola Walter Rizzo Brunhilde Bianchi
Former choreographer	Paola Mezzadri Ludmila Vlasova Pasquale Camerlengo Anjelika Krylova N. Pregnolato
Skating club	Agora Skating Team
Retired	2011
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	201.91 2008 Worlds
Comp. dance	40.85 2010 Worlds
Original dance	63.55 2008 Worlds
Free dance	101.21 2008 Worlds
Medal record Figure skating Ice dancing Competitor for  Italy World Championships Bronze 2010 Turin Ice dancing European Championships Silver 2010 Tallinn Ice dancing Silver 2009 Helsinki Ice dancing Junior Grand Prix Final Bronze 1997–1998 Lausanne Ice dancing

Massimo Scali (born 11 December 1979 in Monterotondo, Italy) is an Italian ice dancer. With partner Federica Faiella, he is the 2010 World bronze medalist, the 2009 & 2010 European silver medalist, and a six-time (2003–2005, 2007–2009) Italian national champion. They have won eleven Grand Prix medals.

Career

Faiella and Scali perform a reverse lift

Early years

Massimo Scali began skating at the age of ten.^[1] His early ice dance career was with Flavia Ottaviani, with whom he won six medals on the Junior Grand Prix. They were the 1997/1998 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalists. He and Faiella trained at the same rink under the same coach.^[2] After his partner quit skating, he briefly partnered with Jennifer Wester.^[2]

Partnership with Faiella

Scali teamed up with Federica Faiella in 2001.^[3] Despite skating together for only a brief period of time, they were able to qualify for the 2002 Winter Olympics, where they finished 18th.

In their second season of competition together, Faiella and Scali won Italian nationals for the first time, and placed in the top ten at the European Championships. A year later, they moved into the top ten at Worlds. In the years leading up to the 2006 Winter Olympics, they continued to make steady progress up the ranks. Prior to the 2005-06 Olympic season, Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio, who won bronze for Italy at the 2002 Games, returned to the eligible ranks. Faiella and Scali became the second Italian team, and finished outside the top ten at the Olympics after a fall in the original dance.^[4]

Following the season, they made a coaching change and relocated to the United States to work with Pasquale Camerlengo and Anjelika Krylova at the Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.^[1] They had an up and down season in 2006-7 but enjoyed good results in 2007-08, including a fourth place at the Europeans and a fifth place finish at Worlds.

In the 2008-09 season, Faiella and Scali finished second at the Trophee Eric Bompard and won their first Grand Prix event, the 2008 NHK Trophy. This qualified them for their first Grand Prix final, where they finished fourth. They won their first European medal, a silver, behind Russians Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski.^[5] At the 2009 World Championships, a fall in the original dance ended their hopes of medal contention, and they finished eighth.

Faiella and Scali perform an Italian folk dance at the 2010 World Championships

Faiella and Scali's 2009-10 Olympic season got off to a disappointing start after they finished third at the 2009 Cup of China. They withdrew from their next Grand Prix event due to Faiella's illness. At the 2010 Europeans, they were in much better form, winning both the original dance and the free dance to finish second overall. They were fifth at the Olympics. Faiella fell ill after the Olympics and returned to the ice only four days before the World Championships.^[6] The duo won their first world medal, a bronze, in Turin.^[7]

At the 2010 World Championships, Faiella and Scali announced that they would return for another season. Their assigned Grand Prix events in 2010-11 were the Cup of China and the Cup of Russia. Visa problems delayed their training in the U.S. and Faiella had recurring back problems.^[8] They again finished third at the 2010 Cup of China after Scali tripped on Faiella's skirts in both programs.^[9] They withdrew from the 2010 Cup of Russia prior to the free dance due to Scali's back injury.^[10] At the 2011 European Championships, they placed ninth in the short dance but moved up to fifth after the free dance.^[11]

On 15 March 2011, Scali announced on the team's website that they were retiring from competitive skating and that he would work with coach and choreographer Pasquale Camerlengo's team at the Detroit Skating Club.^[12] However, in May 2011 they revealed that the retirement posting was obsolete and inaccurate and was simply due to a combination of exhaustion after the Olympics and other major skating competitions, and of concerns over the extent of Faiella's injuries and recovery process; after it became clear that Faiella's healing process was progressing better than expected, they announced through their official website that they would in fact continue to skate competitively.^[13] An injury to Faiella ended this comeback attempt, and in 2012 Scali confirmed that they would not return to competitive skating.^[14]

Faiella and Scali often performed reverse lifts in competition, in which she lifted him.^[1]

Coaching career

Scali now works as a coach at the Detroit Skating Club, alongside Camerlengo, Anjelika Krylova, Natalia Annenko-Deller, and Elizabeth Punsalan. His primary focus is on choreography.^[15][16][14]

Programs

Scali and Faiella's during their free dance at the 2010 Worlds

(with Faiella)

Competitive highlights

With Faiella

Faiella and Scali with their fellow medalists at the 2008 NHK Trophy

With Ottaviani

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Massimo Scali

• Federica Faiella / Massimo Scali at the International Skating Union
• Official website