Para dancers back to Kosice with focus on Genoa 2023 Worlds

After successful hosting of the World Cup last season, the Para Dance Sport action returned to Kosice with 50 dancers from 13 nations, including several strong pairs, set to compete in the eastern Slovakian city this weekend (September 16 and 17).

The Kosice 2023 World Cup will be the penultimate event of the season before the all-important Genoa 2023 Para Dance Sport World Championships. The event holds significance in terms of making the final preparations ahead of the Worlds in November.

Home challenge 

The home nation will be led by Helena Kasicka, a triple gold medallist in the last World Championships, who will be competing in single freestyle 1 and single conventional 1 in addition to combi latin and combi freestyle events along with her partner Martin Solc.

While Kasicka will be the hot favourite for titles in single events, the Slovakian pair is expected to face some challenge in combi events with the presence of star pairs - Tuuli Harju and Timo Pyykkonen from Finland and Israel’s Vital Zinger and Sean Ziv, Bonn 2019 World Championships medallist.

Among other pairs who are expected to dazzle in the city of Kosice are star Ukrainian pair of Olena Dankevych and Ivan Sivak, the Prague 2022 European Championships winner in combi latin 2, Poland’s European champion pair of Katarzyna Nowokunskan and Michal Ciok, and the duo of Magdalena Matusiak and Pawel Karpinski in combi freestyle 2 and duo latin 2 events.

Familiar names

In single events, there are several familiar names including Austria's Sanja Vukasinovic, the Prague 2022 European champion in women’s single freestyle 2 which will also include Belgium’s Sofie Cox in the field. 

The men’s line-up will have Ukrainian world and European champion Sivak eager to stamp his dominance yet again in single freestyle 2 and conventional 2 events, ahead of the Worlds.

There are also several new names in the single and duo events with Turkey and Mexico including new dancers in their line-up.

Meanwhile, Philippines will be the only representation from Asia with names like Edelyn de Asis, who took a gold in Tokyo 2023 International competition, in their ranks and competing in women’s single freestyle 2, besides combi and duo events.

You may follow World Para Dance Sport social media channels for results and latest updates of the World Cup.