Noemi Maria Tali
Noemi Maria Tali is an Italian ice dancer. With her current skating partner, Noah Lafornara, she is the 2025 World Junior champion, the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, a two-time ISU Junior Grand Prix gold medalist, and a two-time Italian junior national champion.
Personal life
Tali was born on 22 March 2005 in Milan, Italy. Her younger sister, Miriam, competes for Italy in women's singles.Career
Early years
Tali began learning how to skate as a child by attending public rink sessions for fun with her family. She also pursued classical dance and skiing before deciding to take up figure skating more seriously. Tali trained solely as a single skater until age 10, when her choreographer suggested she try ice dance, paired with her first skating partner, Stefano Frasca. She continued to practice both single skating and ice dance until she was 12, at which point she switched her focus completely to dance.2023–24 season: Debut of Tali/Lafornara
Tali/Frasca made the decision to end their eight-year partnership shortly after finishing in seventeenth place at the 2023 Junior Worlds. Two weeks later, Tali was offered a tryout with American ice dancer Noah Lafornara in New York. Tali and Lafornara agreed to team up for Italy in March 2023 after just two days of skating together, and made the decision to split their training between Tali's coaches, Valter Rizzo and Brunhilde Bianchi in Milan during the competitive season, and Lafornara's coaches, Denis Petukhov and Melissa Gregory in Connecticut during the off-season.Tali/Lafornara made their international junior debut in October 2023 at the 2023 JGP Armenia. There they won the bronze medal, finishing behind Israeli skaters Tkachenko/Kiliakov and U.S. sibling team Peal/Peal. This was the first JGP medal for an Italian dance team since the 2009–10 circuit, when Alessandrini/Vaturi won silver at the 2009 JGP Germany. While the team did not receive a second JGP assignment, their success continued with podium placements at three international junior B events over the course of October and November. At the 2024 Italian Figure Skating Championships in December, Tali/Lafornara took the junior dance title handily over Ventura/Frasca and Petracchi/Basile.
Due to their success at the national championships, Tali/Lafornara were assigned to compete at the 2024 World Junior Championships in Taipei. There the team placed fourth in the rhythm dance with a new personal best score of 62.58. They encountered problems in the free dance, taking a one-point deduction for an extended lift and both falling on their ending pose, and fell to seventh overall after coming ninth in the segment. They expressed disappointment afterward, though Lafornara added that it "was a good event for us, and we had a good season."
2024–25 season: Undefeated season, World Junior champion and Junior Grand Prix Final gold
Due to ISU revision of the age criteria for junior skaters, Tali and Lafornara were able to participate in another junior season. They began their second season together on the Junior Grand Prix with a win at the 2024 JGP Latvia. At their second JGP assignment, the 2024 JGP Thailand, Tali and Lafornara again took the title. With their two wins in hand, Tali/Lafornara became the first ice dance team to qualify to the 2024–25 JGP Final. They subsequently competed on the junior level at the 2024 Mezzaluna Cup and the 2024 Ice Challenge, winning gold at both events.In December, the duo entered the Junior Grand Prix Final as the top qualifiers and title favourites. They won the rhythm dance with a margin of more than three points over second-place Americans Wolfkostin/Tsarevski. Winning the free dance as well, they took the gold medal, becoming the first Italian dance team to win the Final since Federica Faiella and Luciano Milo had done so 27 years earlier in the first edition. Tali said they were "proud of what we did and hope to do even better in the future." Two weeks later they claimed their second national gold at the 2025 Italian Junior Championships.
Tali/Lafornara entered the 2025 World Junior Championships in Debrecen as the title favourites, and won the rhythm dance with a 70.92 score. In the free dance they set another new personal best and took the gold medal by a margin of 9.99 points over Wolfkostin/Tsarevski. They were the first Italian dance team to win the Junior World title. Prior to the event, the team shared that Lafornara tore a muscle two months ago that forced him off the ice for four weeks. Lafornara said that "I honestly don't know how to put it into words what it feels like." The team announced that they intended to move up to the senior ranks the following season, in the hopes of participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics to be held in Italy.