Anna Cappellini & Luca LaNotte
Anna Cappellini & Luca LaNotte teamed up in the May 2005 when the Italian Skating Federation suggested they skate together. They won two silver medals in their debut season on the Junior Grand Prix series. Cappellini & LaNotte train in Milan, Italy, under coaches Roberto Pelizzola, Paola Mezzadri, and Barbara Riboldi.
When did each of you start skating?
Anna: I was 3 years old, the ice rink was just a minute away from my house.
Luca: I was 7 years old and I lived close to an ice rink too.
Why did you start?
Anna: My parents used to take me to the ice rink on Sundays when I was a little girl, because they loved ice skating; although they never pushed me to become a skater, I slowly realized it was my passion.
Luca: I was jealous of my elder sister, who was a skater.
Last season, you both were successful with previous partners? What happened to those partnerships?
Anna: My partnership with Matteo Zanni had always been successful and satisfying, but 3 weeks before we competed in Junior Worlds Kitchener 2005 Matteo’s father had a horrible car accident and has been in a deep coma ever since. Matteo was obviously desperate and although we were close friends and had supported each other in many tough times during our 5 years together, he just didn’t feel like going on and I couldn’t blame him.
Luca: When Anna and Matteo split up last April, I was offered to skate with her and although my partnership with Camilla Pistorello was quite satisfying, I thought it was a good chance for me to take.
This season you are skating to a latin combination original dance and a bluesy free dance. Which rhythms do you think suit your style as a team?
Anna:It’s difficult to say because I was more for classical rhythms when I skated with Matteo, but now I’m finding it fun to learn new moves just like latin and bluesy ones, in which Luca is really talented.
Luca: We had cultivated very different styles, so now every rhythm is a challenge and we try to help each other.
What is your favorite type of music to skate to?
Anna: Quickstep and Foxtrot have always been my favourite ones since I was a little girl.
Luca: Latin rhythms are just my field, I love them and I feel very comfortable when I dance them.
What are your goals for this season?
Anna & Luca: We’re really just trying to get the feeling a couple needs to skate excellent performaces, becuase we’re still not “used” to each other’s way of skating. Even if we don’t achieve the best this year, our main goal is to make a long and successful senior career.
Under the new judging system, what element do you think is your strongest?
Anna: That’s hard to say… We’ve done so many changes after Sofia, I guess time will tell!
Who are the skaters that you look up to as role models?
Anna: Torvill and Dean, Grishuk and Platov and Fusar-Poli and Margaglio who inspired us every day when we were young teenagers and our careers were about to take off.
Luca: Duchesnays, Klimova and Ponomarenko, Bestemianova and Bukin.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Anna: Hanging out with friends or my family is my absolute favourite, then I love watching ballet, reading and surfing the net, but school and skating keep me quite busy so I don’t really have much free time.
Luca: Hanging out with friends and going around with my new, very first car!