By Scott Mammoser, Team FSO contributing writer
Photos by Robin Ritoss
A bronze medal on the Junior Grand Prix of Bangkok might have elevated Sofia Jarmoc and Luke Witkowski to one of the world’s top junior pairs teams to watch. But if you’re the dean at one of the highly-prestigious academic schools in the U.S., it doesn’t matter what your status is out on the ice.
“I got an angry e-mail from my dean while I was in Bangkok telling me to get back,” said Witkowski, 19, who is an economic student at Harvard University.
Jarmoc and Witkowski are Massachusetts natives and train at the Skating Club of Boston. Both primarily trained as single skaters before teaming up in the summer of 2023. Witkowski also attempted ice dance for a couple years before his partnership with Jarmoc.
“The pairs aspect of my skating has been a more recent development,” said Jarmoc, who skated primarily in singles for nine years and is still competing in junior singles. “The transition was one of the better decisions I could have made; he’s an amazing partner.”
“She had some excitement about it (pairs) that was reciprocated to myself,” said Witkowski, who also still dabbles in singles. “It was one of those moments where you realize your interests align.”
In their first season together, they were the 2024 U.S. novice champions. Last season, they finished fourth in juniors at Nationals. They also debuted internationally in February, winning the silver medal at the Challenge Cup in Tilburg, Netherlands.
“That was pretty exciting because it was our first year junior,” Jarmoc, 16, said of their first international event, “and we always have been good at managing expectations and focusing on the process and not the outcome. So having that medal at the end of the season was a great way to finish.”
This season, they entered the Junior Grand Prix circuit with an eighth-place result in Ankara, Turkey. Witkowski did mention that he enjoyed the modern architecture of the Turkish capital, but it paled in comparison to a day trip to Istanbul on the route back.
Just days later, the two were assigned to the Junior Grand Prix in Bangkok, which took place two weeks after the event in Turkey. In Bangkok, Jarmoc and Witkowski earned a personal-best score of 149.66 to finish in third place and win the bronze. Standing in fourth after the short program, they swapped positions with teammates Reagan Moss and Jakub Galbavy, who fell from third to fourth. The Chinese pair Rui Guo and Yiwen Zhang won the gold medal.
“The whole Junior Grand Prix is a step up from (the Challenge Cup),” added Witkowski. “It gave us a first taste for the environment for these Grand Prixs. That led to our success in Thailand. It was a little more familiar. You can really figure out your systems with these international competitions. It’s not like going down to Providence; it’s a whole other ball game. Turkey was great to get our feet wet and then hit the ground running in Thailand.”
Olympic medalist coaches
Jarmoc and Witkowski would like to reach the achievements of their coaches – Marissa Castelli and Simon Shnapir – the 2014 Olympic team bronze medalists and two-time U.S. champions.
“It’s inspiring to have an Olympic pair team as coaches because they are always pushing us and motivating us to be better,” Jarmoc said. “Having that in mind is an extra motivator.”
“Having two sides of the coin is good too because you have the perspective of the pair guy, as well as the lady,” Witkowski said. “They are such accomplished skaters themselves. They can speak to the collective goals that you want to achieve in a given element or an aspect of your skating or they can relate on that personal level on what it means to embody that role on the pair team.”
Their coaches, who are products of the Skating Club of Boston themselves, can visualize high potential in the students.
“They have a great partnership,” Castelli said. “They are great friends off the ice. Sofia puts up with his humor, which is half the battle. They are just working really well together; they have good personalities.”
“They were friends before they began skating together,” Shnapir added. “I think that is the foundation of their partnership. They communicate well together, and they support each other. They are also very matched stylistically, and from a physicality standpoint, as well.”
Jarmoc’s views towards her partnership were nearly identical to those of her coaches. She also again emphasized that they both understand the balance between schoolwork and athletics in managing time and communication.
Programs
This season, Jarmoc and Witkowski are skating to programs choreographed by Julie Marcotte. Their short program features the music of Bruno Mars, while their free skate is to “Another Love” by Tom Odell.
“She comes in when we are getting our choreographing done and says, ‘here’s your programs, I hope you like them.’ They are always really good,” Jarmoc said.
Witkowski added that he could skate to anything and feels that Jarmoc has that same versatility.
Dream lesson
Even with all of the support from Marcotte and in Boston with Castelli and Shnapir, if the Jarmoc and Witkowski could receive a dream lesson from anyone, both jumped to a quick answer. The names of Barb Underhill and Paul Martini, the Canadian pair who won the 1984 World Championship in Ottawa, burst from their mouths.
“They did twists a little differently,” Witkowski said, “but I would want his (Paul’s) ground power into the twists getting all of that momentum and just giving it to her. I would love to pick his brain on how they do it.”
Jarmoc exclaimed that she and Witkowski “really appreciate” watching videos of the two-time Olympians and implementing their skills it into their own skating.
Other interests
Witkowski isn’t the only one balancing school and skating. Jarmoc is a junior at Phillips Andover Academy who is interested in seeking a biochemistry major in the future, possibly at Harvard.
Beyond academics, the two have other interests outside of their partnership on the ice. Before he was skating, Witkowski was a competitive ski racer for three years as a child. He still enjoys going to Vermont to ski and listed that and basketball as his favorite sports off the ice.
Jarmoc actually learned to skate playing youth hockey. Her hockey coach also taught figure skating and suggested she switch. She is also involved in Theatre On Ice (TOI).
“I am on Act One, which is the junior team,” she said. “We did Nationals last year, which we won, and that was a lot of fun. I am really excited to work with the team this year. I think TOI helps with pairs skating because the women in TOI have to be expressive and they need to connect with the music. In TOI, that is the essence of it, and having that knowledge of the emotional part and implementing it into pairs has contributed a lot to our performance.”
Witkowski was volunteering with Theatre On Ice at one point, as well. His film-making passion led him to create a promotional video.
“Even if I am not on the ice, anything I can do to support that is something that I want to take the opportunity,” he added.
Next up
Coming up, they will compete in the U.S. Pairs Final, which will be in late November at Lansing, Mich. The top eight teams at the Final qualifying for the 2026 U.S. Championships in St. Louis, Mo. in January.
“We’ve been working on redefining our elements,” Jarmoc said, “And planning some bigger elements for the rest of the season. For example, the triple throw, so we are hoping that all works out.”
Witkowski said that Jarmoc has been “nailing throw Salchows since she came back from Thailand.” They also want to take from what they know from their singles experience to maximize the point value on jumping passes to raise scores.
