Annika Hocke

Annika Maria Hocke (born 16 July 2000) is a German pair skater. With her skating partner, Robert Kunkel, she is the 2023 European bronze medalist, the 2023 Skate America champion, 2022 Grand Prix de France bronze medalist, and has won five medals on the ISU Challenger Series, including gold at the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy. They won two bronze medals on the 2019–20 ISU Junior Grand Prix series. Domestically they are the 2023 German national champions.

With former partner Ruben Blommaert, she is the 2017 CS Ice Star silver medalist, the 2018 Bavarian Open silver medalist, the 2018 International Cup of Nice silver medalist, and the 2018 German national silver medalist. They placed 16th at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Hocke formerly competed in ladies' singles, winning bronze at the 2017 German Championships and placing eleventh at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.

Personal life
Annika Hocke was born on 16 July 2000 in Berlin. She was raised in Zehlendorf. Her parents, Sylvia Warnke and Ansgar Hocke, are journalists.

Single skating
Hocke began skating as a four-year-old in 2005, learning at an ice rink in Wilmersdorf. In January 2014, she won gold in the under-13 novice girls category at the German Youth Championships.

In the 2015–16 season, Hocke won junior medals at three international competitions – silver at the Volvo Open Cup in Riga, gold at the NRW Trophy in Dortmund, and gold at the Santa Claus Cup in Budapest. In January 2016, she won the junior silver medal at the German Youth Championships. In February, she represented Germany at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Hamar, Norway. Competing in the individual ladies' event, Hocke placed 15th in the short program, 10th in the free skate, and 11th overall. She was a member of Team Determination in the mixed NOC team event, replacing Kaori Sakamoto, who withdrew due to injury. She placed 6th in her segment and her team finished 8th. She is coached by Manuela Machon in Berlin.

Pair skating
In September 2014, Hocke teamed up with Juri Gnilozoubov to compete in pairs, training in Berlin. They placed fourth in junior pairs at the International Challenge Cup in February 2015.

Hocke and Ruben Blommaert announced their partnership on 9 February 2017. A year later, in February 2018, the pair competed at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, finishing in sixteenth place. They finished in thirteenth place at the following World Championships in March 2018. Hocke and Blommaert announced the end of their partnership following a fourteenth-place finish at the 2019 World Championships.

2019–20 season
Soon after, Hocke announced that she had formed a new partnership with Robert Kunkel. Despite Hocke having previously attended the Olympics, the two were still age-eligible for international junior competitions, and so began on the Junior Grand Prix, where they won two bronze medals at JGP Croatia and JGP Poland, and were the only non-Russian team to qualify to the Junior Grand Prix Final, where they placed sixth. On the senior level, Hocke/Kunkel debuted at the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup, placing sixth, and then won silver medals at the German nationals championships and the 2020 Bavarian Open. They were seventh at the 2020 European Championships.

Hocke/Kunkel concluded the season at the 2020 World Junior Championships, where they placed fourth and won a small bronze medal for a third-place finish in the free skate; only Kunkel invalidating their pair spin element by putting both feet down kept them from winning the overall bronze medal. Despite this, Hocke remarked, "our first and last Junior World Championships — it was amazing!" They had been scheduled to make their senior World Championship debut in Montreal, but the Championships were canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

2020–21 season
With the pandemic continuing to affect events, Hocke/Kunkel made their season debut at the 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, which featured only pairs training in Europe. They were second in the short program, behind countrymen Hase/Seegert, who subsequently had to withdraw because of injury. They were overtaken in the free skate by Italian team Ghilardi/Ambrosini and won the silver medal.

Hocke/Kunkel were scheduled to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2020 Internationaux de France, but the event was canceled due to the pandemic.

Initially, both Hocke/Kunkel and Hase/Seegert were assigned to represent Germany at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, but Hase/Seegert were forced to withdraw after Hase sustained a leg injury, leaving Hocke/Kunkel as the lone representative. They placed thirteenth in their Worlds debut.

2021–22 season
Hocke/Kunkel began the season at the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where they placed fourth. Hocke said afterward she was pleased with their performance in light of multiple disruptions to their summer training caused by injury and illness. They went on to place eleventh at the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy.

Initially assigned to the 2021 Cup of China on the Grand Prix, Hocke/Kunkel were reassigned to the 2021 Gran Premio d'Italia following the former event's cancellation. They placed eighth in the short program, and then withdrew for medical reasons. In the new year, they finished thirteenth at the 2022 European Championships.

2022–23 season
Before the season, Hocke/Kunkel relocated to Bergamo, Italy with Ondrej Hotarek, Franca Bianconi, and Rosanna Murante becoming their new coaches. They began the season with a bronze medal at the 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy and a gold medal at the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy. Kunkel contracted COVID-19 shortly after the Finlandia Trophy, impeding their preparations for the Grand Prix, but they were able to compete at their first assignment, the 2022 Grand Prix de France. They won the bronze medal, their first Grand Prix medal, with Kunkel saying they were "very happy with the outcome."

On 15 November, Hocke announced via her Instagram that she and Kunkel had withdrawn from the 2022 NHK Trophy due to Hocke testing positive for COVID-19 just prior to the event.

Hocke/Kunkel returned to competition at the German championships, winning their first national gold medal and an assignment to compete at the 2023 European Championships. With Russian pairs banned from competing due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the podium was considered far more open than in prior years. Both made jump errors in the short program, but they finished second in the segment, winning a silver small medal. Third in the free skate, they dropped to third overall, winning the bronze medal. Hocke/Kunkel finished the season at the 2023 World Championships, where they came ninth.

2023–24 season
Hocke/Kunkel began the season by winning the bronze medal at the 2023 CS Lombardia Trophy, finishing behind new domestic rivals Hase/Volodin. They went on to win a second Challenger bronze on home soil at the 2023 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, finishing 2.70 points behind Italian silver medalists Beccari/Guarise. Hocke said afterward that they were "very happy with where we are at this point in the season." They were invited to the Shanghai Trophy, taking the silver medal.

Beginning on the Grand Prix at the 2023 Skate America, Hocke/Kunkel narrowly won the short program despite Hocke falling on her triple Salchow attempt. They won the free skate as well, winning their first Grand Prix gold. Hocke recalled her poor experience at the 2018 edition, the site of which she called her "worst free skate ever", saying in turn that it was "so amazing to come back to Skate American like this and even win it!" In the interval between their Grand Prix assignments, Hocke was ill. They finished fourth at the 2023 Cup of China after making multiple errors in both segments. Their placements were sufficient to qualify them to the Grand Prix Final in fifth position. However, they were forced to withdraw after Kunkel developed an injury causing "immense" pain. They were replaced by first alternates Pavlova/Sviatchenko of Hungary.

Kunkel recovered sufficiently for the team to resume practice three weeks before the 2024 European Championships, where they came seventh. He said that they "didn't feel any pressure. We had nothing to lose. Of course, mistakes are annoying. Overall the result is not that bad." The team then finished the season at the 2024 World Championships in Montreal, where they were seventh in the short program with a clean skate. Fifth in the free skate, they rose to fifth overall. Kunkel said that he was pleased that they had "finally" been able to prepare without dealing with injuries, while Hocke called it one of the "competitions you dream of."

Competition results
GP: Grand Prix; CS: ISU Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Detailed results
Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships.