Dynamic suburban skating duo wins national title

Some people are late bloomers. Others quickly get up to speed.

Matthew Soifer and Gabby Kaplan are in that second camp. On ice, these teenagers are fast starters.

Within a few months of teaming up as skating partners, Kaplan and Soifer won the intermediate pairs competition Nov. 8 at the 2024 Pacific Coast Sectional Singles and U.S. Pairs Final in Tacoma, Washington.

Soifer, 17, of Riverwoods and a senior at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, and Kaplan, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Wood Oaks Junior High School in Northbrook, became a team only in August.

Both realized they had to make up some ground.

“Based on previous scorers, we weren't on top of the standings,” said Soifer, whose aptitude on roller blades as a 3-year-old led his mother, Elizabeth, to get him to an ice rink.

“But with how massively we were improving and skating better together I knew there was a chance we could win,” Matthew Soifer said. “And after our skate I thought our chance of winning went up. So when we heard the score and we ended up winning it wasn't too surprising but I was still very excited and happy.”

They train individually at Twin Rinks Ice Pavilion in Buffalo Grove with Sandi Delfs, Shannetta Folle and Dana Hult, and do pairs training at Oakton Ice Arena in Park Ridge under the husband-and-wife team of 2018 Olympic bronze medalists Alexa and Chris Knierim and 2022 Olympian Timothy LeDuc.

“It was a very slow process for us, learning things,” Kaplan said. “In the standings (entering the U.S. Pairs) we were fifth and we came to the pair final and won. It was very shocking and exciting.”

After only eight lessons together Kaplan and Soifer placed second in intermediate pairs at the Battle of the Blades Aug. 25 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

In a larger competition Oct. 7 at the Boston Open in Norwood, Massachusetts, they took fourth.

Individually, they have been skating nearly their entire lives — Kaplan for about 11 years and Soifer for about 14, Matthew said. Given their age difference they don't hang out together away from the rink, though they are friendly.

Kaplan said she trains up to five hours every day but Sunday. She adds up to an hour of off-ice training five days a week.

Both compete individually, but when Kaplan was seeking a pairs partner the Twin Rinks coaches knew where to look.

“I guess they were right because the partnership worked out,” Soifer said. “One main strength is to perform throughout our program for the judges and the audience, the emotion and joy of skating and being on the ice. When we come together that effect amplifies, and I think the audience and judges all see that.”

The U.S. Pairs victory in Tacoma qualified Kaplan, Soifer and other top-performing junior, intermediate and novice athletes for U.S. Figure Skating's 2024 High Performance National Development Camp, Jan. 29-30 in Columbus, Ohio.

A simulated Team USA camp, the training program is geared to accelerate their exposure to national programs with the chance to be selected for advanced competitions. Last year's Development Camp coaches included six members of the 2022 Olympic Team, including LeDuc.

It was a definite goal for Kaplan, she said, and a prime opportunity for both skaters. It comes during a time in their lives when things can change fast.

Soifer and his family soon will decide on college. He hopes to study medicine to become a doctor, with a pie-in-the-sky goal of working for Team USA. He hopes to attend school nearby, say, Northwestern, so he can continue his training with Kaplan.

The feeling is mutual.

“That's what the coaches' plan is and it's what our plan is,” said Kaplan's mother, Alexis Kaplan.

“It's pretty much to-be-determined, Soifer said, “but if everything falls into place it would be nice to continue skating with Gabby.”