The American daily USA Today revealed Thursday afternoon that Canadian figure skater of Danish origin Nikolaj Sorensen is the target of sexual assault allegations dating back to 2012.
The victim would be an American skater, who has now become a coach, whom the USA Today chose not to identify.
According to documents sent to the Office of the Sports Integrity Commissioner (BCIS) and the US Center for SafeSport, the woman was 22 years old at the time. Sorensen was a year older than him at the time of the alleged events.
These events allegedly occurred in April 2012 after a party in Connecticut.
According to the complainant, Sorensen wanted to have sex with her. Once in the bed, he allegedly held one arm, pressing on her collarbone, before going for full penetration, while Sorensen’s other hand covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming. The victim also says it was impossible for her to breathe.
“I thought I was going to run out of air due to the weight of his arm on my collarbone and chest. I tried to push his hips with my arms to try to remove his penis, but it was too hard to breathe. I feared for my life. […] He raped me,” we can read in the testimony of the alleged victim in the article in question.
The Commissioner’s Office would have officially opened the investigation, again according to what the USA Today.
The newspaper attempted to contact Sorensen and his coaches, but received no response.
Olympic gold medalist Nancy Hogshead, lawyer and founder of Champion Women, a non-profit legal advocacy organization for girls and women in sports, told the USA Today that she represented the victim of the alleged sexual assault. Hogshead confirmed that an investigation into Sørensen was ongoing, but could not comment further due to a confidentiality agreement mandated by the BCIS.
“We are aware of the article in USA Today which has just been published, but as it is an active file within the BCIS, we cannot comment and our athletes will not comment either,” said Skate Canada communications director Karine Bédard on Thursday. .
Sorensen, 34, has been skating under the Canadian flag since 2019 with his partner Laurence Beaudry-Fournier. They finished in ninth place at the last Olympic Games in Beijing and fifth at the most recent World Championships. The duo must defend their title at the Canadian Championships next week in addition to participating in the Worlds in Montreal in March.