Maria Reikdal
Brazilian figure skater
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maria Joaquina Cavalcanti Reikdal (pronounced [maɾ'ia ʒoak'ina kavawkɐ̃ntʃi ɾeykdaw]; born March 29, 2008) is a Brazilian figure skater and artistic roller skater. She is the 2023 World Artistic Inline Skating junior champion[1] and 2021 silver medalist,[2] the 2023 South American Inline Artistic Skating champion, and three-time Brazilian artistic inline skating junior national champion (2021-2023).
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maria Joaquina Cavalcanti Reikdal | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | 29 March 2008 | |||||||||||||||||
| Home town | Curitiba, Brazil | |||||||||||||||||
| Height | 154 cm (5 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Brazil | |||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Gustavo Cavalcanti | |||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | Footwork Patinação e Dança | |||||||||||||||||
| Began skating | 2017 | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||
In figure skating, she is a four-time Brazilian junior national champion (2021-2024) and the first transgender woman to compete in an ISU sanctioned figure skating event.[3][4]
Personal life
Reikdal was put in foster care at the age of six after neglectful and abusive behavior from her biological family towards her and her siblings. At the orphanage, she suffered bullying from the other kids, as well as physical and verbal abuse from the carers for behaving in a feminine way despite being assigned male at birth.[5] She was adopted, along with her two siblings, by Cleber Reikdal and Gustavo Uchoa Cavalcanti on December 4, 2016.[6] A few months before her ninth birthday, she came out as a transgender girl to her family and, shortly after, began receiving psychological support at the Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo's Research Institute's Transdisciplinary Ambulatory of Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation (AMTIGOS).[7]
In 2020, Reikdal managed to legally change her name and her legal sex marker on her birth certificate after a three-year legal battle.[8] That way, she satisfied the skating federations' requirements to skate in the women's category for pre-pubescent transgender girls at the time.
Her journey gained national attention after experiencing discrimination in 2019 during the national and South American artistic roller skating championships. Reikdal became a symbol of the fight against prejudice and was invited to appear in a music video for singer Pablo Vittar.[9]
Skating career
Early career
Reikdal began skating at eight, influenced by her parents, both artistic roller skating coaches. She placed second in her age category in the girls' segment at the Brazilian Artistic Skating Championships in 2019, which secured her a spot at the 2019 South American Artistic Skating Championships. However, she was not called up for the competition due to her legal documents not being updated to reflect her name and gender. In Brazil, minors can only get their name changed through a judge's decision[10] and thus, her family had to go to court to get authorization for her to compete.[11] Although granted permission, she faced discrimination at the championship such as not being allowed to wear the official team outfit or use the bathroom at the event.[12] She finished 13th in the competition after falling four times during her performance.[13]
Encouraged by her father and coach, Reikdal decided to focus on figure skating, training on inline skates when ice was unavailable and aiming for the 2026 Winter Olympics.[14] She won gold in the advanced novice category at the 2019 Brazilian Figure Skating Championships with a score of 50.70, a higher score than all the junior ladies' at that year.[15]
2021-2022 season: International artistic inline skating debut
At 13, she moved to the junior category and won both the 2020[16] (which took place a year later) and 2021[17] artistic inline skating national championships, earning a spot on the national team for the 2021 World Championships.[18] She became the youngest skater on the national team and finished as the junior silver medalist with a total score of 102.99 points.[19] This achievement made her the first medalist from Curitiba in a World Artistic Skating Championship, which earned her a special sports merit medal from the city mayor.[20]
In December 2021, she won the junior title at the Brazilian Figure Skating Championships, landing her first triple jump, a triple Salchow, in a figure skating competition.[21]
2022-2023 season: International figure skating debut
Reikdal began 2022 with another Junior national championship win in artistic inline skating,[22] earning a spot in the South American Roller Sports Game.[23] She declined the spot after being invited to attend an ISU training camp in Italy for figure skating,[24] in order to improve her technique and compete at the 2022-23 ISU Junior Grand Prix series.[25]
In July 2022, Reikdal won her second junior title at the Brazilian Figure Skating Championships. In September, she became the first Brazilian-born athlete to compete in the junior women's category in an ISU sanctioned event and the first transgender skater to compete internationally in junior ice skating.[3] In her first competition in September at the 2022 JGP Latvia, she finished 33rd out of 34 skaters.[26] The following month she competed at the 2022 JGP Italy, where she placed 39th out of 44 skaters.
After facing harassment and discrimination from an official of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation,[27] Reikdal spent four months away from skating before returning in January 2023.[28]
2023-2024 season: World Junior artistic inline champion
In February 2023, Reikdal returned to artistic inline skating competition, winning the 2023 Brazilian Artistic Roller Skating Championship at the junior artistic inline category and earning another spot in the South American Roller Sports Games. In April, she won her first South American title in junior inline artistic skating.[29]
In July, she won her third consecutive junior title at the Brazilian Figure Skating Championships, qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix stages in Linz and Osaka.[30] She went on to compete at the 2023 JGP Austria, finishing 31st. She withdrew from her second JGP event in Japan in order to compete at the Artistic Skating World Championships.
In September 2023, Reikdal became the junior inline world champion at the 2023 World Artistic Skating Championship in Ibagué, Colombia, with a total score of 106.66 points.[31] In the mixed zone, she expressed gratitude for the support she received and discussed her future plans, emphasizing the ongoing challenges of dealing with prejudice in sports.[32]
2024-25 season
In July 2024, Reikdal competed in the Brazilian Figure Skating Championships, winning her fourth consecutive junior title.
Programs
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-2025 |
by Billie Eilish |
by Claude-Michel Schönberg |
|
| 2023-2024 |
by Henry Jackman by John Farrar |
Queen Orchestral Medley
by Brian May, John Deacon e Freddie Mercury
by Dolly Parton e Nick Patrick
by John Lennon e Paul McCartney |
|
| 2022-2023 |
by Henry Jackman by Alan Menken |
Rio
by John Powell
by Carlinhos Brown and Mikael Mutti by Astor Piazzolla by Astor Piazzolla
by Vanessa-Mae
by Carlos Garcia
performed by Bond |
by Alan Menken |
| 2021–2022 |
performed by Boyce Avenue |
performed by Lara Fabian
by Giacomo Puccini
|
performed by Lara Fabian
de Giacomo Puccini
performed by Tori Kelly |
| 2019–2020 |
por Lea Salonga e Brad Kane
performed by Aladdin's Original Broadway Cast |
por Gloria Gaynor |
performed by Pabllo Vittar
by Elton John |
| 2018-2019 |
performed by Deloris & The Sisters |
Competitive highlights
Figure skating for Brazil
Artistic inline skating for Brazil
| International: Junior | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| World Championships | C | 2nd J | 1st J | |
| South American Championships | WD | 1st J | ||
| National[33] | ||||
| Brazilian Championships | 1st E | 1st J | 1st J | 1st J |
| Levels: E = Espoire; J = Junior C = Cancelled | ||||