# Noemi Maria Tali

Noemi Maria Tali (born 22 March 2005) 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 (2024–25).

## 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

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 (106.58) 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. 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.

## Programs
### Ice dance with Noah Lafornara

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance | Exhibition |
| 2023–24 | Just an Illusion by Imagination It's Raining Men by The Weather Girls choreo. by Stefano Atti, Massimo Scali | Who Wants to Live Forever performed by The Tenors choreo. by Stefano Atti, Massimo Scali | |
| 2024–25 | How Deep Is Your Love You Should Be Dancing by the Bee Gees choreo. by Massimo Scali, Stefano Atti | (Where Do I Begin?) Love Story performed by Lola Astanova and Stjepan Hauser choreo. by Massimo Scali, Stefano Atti | Red Notice (from Red Notice) by Steve Jablonsky Love Will Lead You Back by Taylor Dayne |

### Ice dance with Stefano Frasca

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
| 2021–22 | Blues: Love is a Lie Swing: Bad Woman Blues by Beth Hart choreo. by Massimo Scali | Always Remember Us This Way (from A Star Is Born) by Lady Gaga choreo. by Massimo Scali |
| 2022–23 | Tango: Oblivion by Astor Piazzolla Tango: Asturias performed by Marcin Patrzałek choreo. by Massimo Scali | The Four Seasons: Winter by Antonio Vivaldi choreo. by Massimo Scali |

## Competitive highlights

* JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series

### Ice dance with Noah Lafornara

Competition placements at junior level :
| Season | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
| World Junior Championships | 7th | 1st |
| Junior Grand Prix Final | | 1st |
| Italian Championships | 1st | 1st |
| JGP Armenia | 3rd | |
| JGP Latvia | | 1st |
| JGP Thailand | | 1st |
| Bavarian Open | 5th | |
| Egna Dance Trophy | 1st | |
| Ice Challenge | | 1st |
| Mezzaluna Cup | 3rd | 1st |
| NRW Trophy | 1st | |
| Pavel Roman Memorial | 2nd | |

### Ice dance with Stefano Frasca

Competition placements at junior level :
| Season | 2019–20 | 2020–21 | 2021–22 | 2022–23 |
| World Junior Championships | | | | 17th |
| Italian Championships | 6th | 3rd | 2nd | 1st |
| JGP France | | | 6th | |
| JGP Italy | | | | 11th |
| JGP Poland | | | | 7th |
| JGP Slovenia | | | 12th | |
| Bavarian Open | | | 2nd | 4th |
| Egna Dance Trophy | 9th | 8th | 6th | 2nd |
| Ice Star | 13th | | | |
| Mentor Toruń Cup | 24th | | | |
| Mezzaluna Cup | 16th | | 2nd | 2nd |
| NRW Trophy | | | 3rd | 2nd |
| Open d'Andorra | | | 6th | 1st |
| Pavel Roman Memorial | 9th | | | |
| Trophée Métropole Nice | | | 3rd | |

## Detailed results
### With Lafornara

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 177.50 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Rhythm dance | TSS | 70.92 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Rhythm dance | TES | 39.85 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Rhythm dance | PCS | 31.07 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free dance | TSS | 106.58 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free dance | TES | 57.30 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free dance | PCS | 49.28 | 2025 World Junior Championships |

### Junior level

2024–2025 season :
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total |
| February 28 – March 2, 2025 | 2025 World Junior Championships | 1 70.92 | 1 106.58 | 1 177.50 |
| December 19–21, 2024 | 2025 Italian Junior Championships | 1 74.57 | 1 108.98 | 1 183.55 |
| December 5–7, 2024 | 2024–25 JGP Final | 1 68.66 | 1 101.32 | 1 169.98 |
| November 5–10, 2024 | 2024 Ice Challenge | 1 66.91 | 1 104.29 | 1 171.20 |
| October 25–27, 2024 | 2024 Mezzaluna Cup | 1 70.86 | 1 102.87 | 1 173.73 |
| September 11–14, 2024 | 2024 JGP Thailand | 1 68.80 | 1 100.67 | 1 169.47 |
| August 28–31, 2024 | 2024 JGP Latvia | 1 62.95 | 1 98.31 | 1 161.26 |
| 2023–2024 season |||||
| Date | Event | RD | FD | Total |
| February 26 – March 3, 2024 | 2024 World Junior Championships | 4 62.58 | 9 85.99 | 7 148.57 |
| February 8–11, 2024 | 2024 Egna Dance Trophy | 1 69.38 | 1 101.01 | 1 170.39 |
| January 30–February 4, 2024 | 2024 Bavarian Open | 2 59.43 | 8 74.07 | 5 133.50 |
| December 10–14, 2023 | 2024 Italian Junior Championships | 1 59.17 | 1 98.55 | 1 157.72 |
| November 16–19, 2023 | 2023 NRW Trophy | 2 62.71 | 1 93.11 | 1 155.82 |
| November 10–12, 2023 | 2023 Pavel Roman Memorial | 2 64.20 | 1 92.41 | 2 156.61 |
| October 20–22, 2023 | 2023 Mezzaluna Cup | 3 58.92 | 2 94.40 | 3 153.32 |
| October 4–7, 2023 | 2023 JGP Armenia | 4 52.79 | 3 93.25 | 3 146.04 |