by Anne Calder | Photos by Daphne Backman & Robin Ritoss

Aneta Vaclavikova & William Lissauer became ice dance partners in March 2025.  Vaclavikova represented Slovakia in the previous season, so the new team had to sit out international competitions for a year. Recently the team won the junior silver medal at the 2026 Lake Placid Ice Dance International, that included fifteen other competitors from Azerbaijan, Canada, Ireland, Israel and the United States. 

Aneta Vaclavikova, who will celebrate her “sweet sixteenth” birthday on August 14, 2026 was born in Bratislava, Slovakia. Her mother is a former Czech Republic figure skater. Her father is Slovakian. Vaclavikova’s two older brothers also compete at the international level in figure skating. Tadeas represents Czechia and Lukas skates for Slovakia.

William Lissauer was born in Baltimore, MD on November 5, 2006. He is a huge Formula One racing fan, but added – a depressed Ferrari Fan. The high school graduate plans to put his advanced education on hold at this time. “I can always go back to school, but not always go back to skating.”

The Beginning – Following their Siblings

Vaclavikova began her skating journey at age four when she tagged along to her brothers’ practice every day.

“I started really liking it and just got on the ice with them,” Vaclavikova shared.

Lissauer had a similar on-ice beginning.

“My sister really wanted to skate. My dad was a surgical resident at the time, so he wasn’t home as much because he was always working. My mom brought me whenever my sister wanted to skate. I just went on the ice with her, and that’s how it all started.”

Neither of the partners liked to jump, so ice dance was a natural figure skating choice.

“I was more into the dance and artistic style, so I just chose dance,” Vaclavikova said. “It’s much more fun. I enjoy it more.”

“The same thing,” added Lissauer. “I also didn’t like skating alone, so that drew me to ice dance.”

A New Partnership

“Our partnership got together because I had recently split with my old partner,” Lissauer explained.  “In the process of having tryouts, Aneta’s dad texted me and asked to set up a tryout. She came (to Connecticut) for two weeks, and the rest is history.”

Vaclavikova & Lissauer competed domestically (NQS) during the 2025-2026 season.

The new team medaled at the 2025 Lake Placid Championships (3rd) and Challenge Cup (1st). In Las Vegas, Nevada at the 2026 U.S. Ice Dance Final, their third place finish earned them a ticket to the U.S. Championships in St. Louis. The rookies won the pewter medal at their U.S. Nationals debut.

New Partner – Changes – Adjustments

“(Lissauer) is very different from my last partnership,” Vaclavikova noted. “He’s very talkative, very outgoing. What I wasn’t used to, but I love it.”

“When we first met and partnered, she was very shy, so I wasn’t expecting her to be as mush of a talker as she is,” Lissauer said. “The more we’ve gotten to know know each other, the better friends we’ve gotten. She talks a lot and makes practice really fun.”

Lissauer also shared her ice dancing contribution to the team.

“She is more like the balletic artistic side of things, which is something I’m working on, but she has naturally,” Lissauer said. “It’s nice that she’s helping me with it. I’m trying to build it on my own.”

Vaclavikova added, “He brings the power.”

“She’s very easy to skate with. It’s very easy to work things out with her. I feel our styles go really well together. Everything is just really smooth, really flowy.

As a new team, there are also adjustments.

“I’d say it’s probably just Aneta moving to a different continent to train,” said Lissauer. “She was training in Italy at the time with another coach, and she moved all the way to America to skate with me.” WOW!

Training with the Elite

Vaclavikova & Lissauer train in Newington, Connecticut with Melissa Gregory & Denis Petukhov.

The Arena is also home to the reigning World Junior Champions, Hana Marie Aboian & Daniil Veselukhin. The 2025-26 World Junior Champions, Noemi Maria Tali & Noah Lafornara split their training between Newington and the IceLab in Milan, Italy.

Lissauer spoke about training with these champions, “It’s very nice. It pushes us to keep getting better, and hopefully one day to also join alongside them and make it three World Junior Champions all training together.

“I don’t know if it’s anything that’s ever been done before. It’s definitely not a common occurrence for that to happen. It just pushes us every day to try and get better and better.”

“Looking at them inspires me to keep pushing through to achieve it as well,” Vaclavikova added.

Working with Melissa and Denis is a new experience.

“They’re really amazing,” Vaclavikova said. “ They help me get through hard mentoring blocks.”

“There is definitely some things they do differently,” Lissauer added. “They’ve helped me be a lot more confident in my own skating. They’ve helped with the stress of competitions that is now at an all-time low with me. It’s not as stressful as it used to be because I’m more confident in my own abilities.”

Lissauer is also closer to his Glastonbury, CT. family home rather than two and a half hours away in New Jersey.

Second Season – New Beginnings

As the team enters it’s sophomore season together Lissauer noted what was learned last year and how they will approach their international challenges.

“It’s just mostly being together for a second season. We have more experience with each other. We know how to skate with each other better. Because the partnership is fairly new, a lot of things are just going to keep building as we get more experience together.”

“Stepping out onto the large international stage for the first time as a team, it’s just going to be new for us. It’s going to be a learning experience. Obviously we still have another junior season next year, so that will be nice. This year is just all about learning.”

2026-2027 Music

Lissauer explained the choice of their Waltz Rhythm Dance music to selections from The Great Gatsby soundtrack, including “Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Ray and “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” by Fergie.

“It was something that the coaches decided. We also really like it as well because we thought it would be unique. Not many people would use it, and that’s what we were going for.”

“It’s kind of funny. Our actual waltz music originally isn’t waltz music. Melissa and Denis have their person or whatever who changed the beat to be a waltz specifically so we could use it. I have no idea who did the changing.”

“Our Free Dance is the same music as last season – “Moonlight Sonata”. We kept it because last year we were only allowed to compete domestically. We really like the music, and we thought it fit us, so we decided to display it internationally this season.”

2026 Junior Grand Prix Assignment

Aneta Vaclavikova & William Lissauer have been assigned to their first Junior Grand Prix in Riga, Latvia. They will be joined by former training mates: Rylan Lukanin & Patrick O’Brien. The teams will compete August 27-29, 2026.