# Noah Lafornara

Noah Elias Lafornara (born 2 December 2004) is an American ice dancer who currently competes for Italy. With his current skating partner, Noemi Tali, he 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

Lafornara was born on 2 December 2004 in Buffalo, New York to parents Jeannie and Tony. He has two brothers, Anthony and Nicholas.

## Career
### Early years

Lafornara began learning how to skate in 2008. He was introduced to the sport by his mother, a figure skating coach, and initially began as a freestyle skater. He began testing pattern dances at first as a way to improve his skills as a singles skater, but eventually chose to transition to ice dance full time. He had a short-lived early dance partnership with Gabriela Hernandez, with whom he placed 10th in the novice category at the 2019 U.S. Ice Dance Final.
Lafornara teamed up with Canadian skater Romy Malcolm in February 2020 after their respective coaches met at the 2020 Bavarian Open and suggested the two try out together. However, their training was quickly put on hold due to COVID-19-related lockdown policies, and the pair trained separately from March to September of that year. Due to insufficient practice time, the team and their coaches made the decision to sit out the 2020–21 competitive season.
Malcolm/Lafornara made their competitive debut in 2021 in the U.S. Figure Skating Championship Series, the qualifying events to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. They earned a slot in the junior ice dance category at the 2022 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where they finished 6th. The team received a Junior Grand Prix assignment early the following season, the 2022 JGP Poland where they placed 9th. The event would be their last competition together as Malcolm and Lafornara chose to dissolve their partnership not long after.

### 2023–24 season: Debut of Tali/Lafornara

After several months without a skating partner, Lafornara was offered a tryout with Italian skater Noemi Tali, who'd ended her partnership with Stefano Frasca not long after the 2023 Junior World Championships. The two 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 Noemi Tali (for Italy)

| 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 Romy Malcolm (for the United States)

| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
| 2022–23 | Tango: Así se baila el tango by Bailongo!, feat. Vero Verdier Flamenco: Cantaré by Pitbull, feat. Lenier choreo. by Melissa Gregory, Denis Petukhov, and Enio Cordoba | Epilogue: You and I/The Story of Chess (from Chess) performed by Elaine Paige and Tommy Körberg choreo. by Melissa Gregory, Denis Petukhov, and Enio Cordoba |

## Competitive highlights
### Ice dance with Noemi Tali (for Italy)

* JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
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 Romy Malcolm (for the United States)

Competition placements at junior level :
| Season | 2021–22 | 2022–23 |
| U.S. Championships | 9th | |
| JGP Poland | | 9th |

## Detailed results
### With Tali

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 |