Annika Hocke

Hocke began skating as a four-year-old in 2005, learning at an ice rink in Wilmersdorf.[4][5] In January 2014, she won gold in the under-13 novice girls category at the German Youth Championships.[6]

In the 2015–16 season, Hocke won junior medals at three international competitions – silver at the Volvo Open Cup in Riga, gold at the NRW Trophy in Dortmund, and gold at the Santa Claus Cup in Budapest. In January 2016, she won the junior silver medal at the German Youth Championships. In February, she represented Germany at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Hamar, Norway. Competing in the individual ladies' event, Hocke placed 15th in the short program, 10th in the free skate, and 11th overall. She was a member of Team Determination in the mixed NOC team event, replacing Kaori Sakamoto who withdrew due to injury.[7] She placed 6th in her segment and her team finished 8th.[8] She is coached by Manuela Machon in Berlin.[9]

In September 2014,[10] Hocke teamed up with Juri Gnilozoubov to compete in pairs, training in Berlin.[11] They placed fourth in junior pairs at the International Challenge Cup in February 2015.

Hocke and Ruben Blommaert announced their partnership on 9 February 2017.[12] A year later in February 2018 the pair competed at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, finishing in sixteenth place. At the following World Championships in March 2018 they finished in thirteenth place. Hocke and Blommaert announced the end of their partnership following a fourteenth-place finish at the 2019 World Championships.

Soon after, Hocke announced that she had formed a new partnership with Robert Kunkel. Despite Hocke having previously attended the Olympics, the two were still age-eligible for international junior competitions, and so began on the Junior Grand Prix, where they won two bronze medals at JGP Croatia and JGP Poland, and were the only non-Russian team to qualify to the Junior Grand Prix Final, where they placed sixth.[13] On the senior level, Hocke/Kunkel debuted at the 2019 CS Warsaw Cup, placing sixth, and then won silver medals at the German nationals championships and the 2020 Bavarian Open. They were seventh at the 2020 European Championships.[14]

Hocke/Kunkel concluded the season at the 2020 World Junior Championships, where they placed fourth and won a small bronze medal for a third-place finish in the free skate; only Kunkel invalidating their pair spin element by putting both feet down kept them from winning the overall bronze medal. Despite this, Hocke remarked "our first and last Junior World Championships — it was amazing!"[15] They had been scheduled to make their senior World Championship debut in Montreal, but the Championships were canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[16]

With the pandemic continuing to affect events, Hocke/Kunkel made their season debut at the 2020 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, which featured only pairs training in Europe.[17] They were second in the short program, behind countrymen Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nolan Seegert, who subsequently had to withdraw because of injury. They were overtaken in the free skate by Italian team Rebecca Ghilardi / Filippo Ambrosini, and won the silver medal.[18]

Hocke/Kunkel were scheduled to make their Grand Prix debut at the 2020 Internationaux de France, but the event was cancelled due to the pandemic.[19]