Nicole Della Monica Matteo Guarise GEARING UP FOR THE GAMES

Nicole Della Monica and Matteo Guarise arrived in Montréal, Canada, in advance of the 2020 World Championships, but when the event was canceled a week before it was due to start, the duo returned home, uncertain about what the coming months would bring.

But surprisingly, despite the high case numbers in Italy — which was one of the early hotspots in the COVID-19 pandemic — they had little to be concerned about.

Many other skaters around the world, who were locked out of training venues for extended periods of time in 2020 and 2021, had no timeline of when they would be able to begin preparing for the Olympic season. However, elite skaters in Italy were able to continue training without interruption after one brief lockdown in the spring of 2020.

“It was a hard time for everyone, in every sector, but except for the first big lockdown that we had once we got back from Montréal, we were lucky enough to continue training, always respecting the COVID-19 regulations,” said Guarise. “Thanks to the federation, the state police (our club) and the club that hosts our training, we were able to go to the ice rink every day with only some restrictions for the gyms and ballet rooms. We were kind of back to almost normal around February 2021.”

As the months passed in 2020 with no sign of the health crisis abating, and competitions in most parts of the world postponed or canceled, opportunities to compete