‘s commentator Mika Saarelainen threatened to stop the judging if there was no EC medal. He survived with a scare, when Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis sparkled in the free program.
Riku Porvari,
Emma Jump
30.1. 6:00•Updated 30.1. 6:45
Finland will get three more places for next year’s European figure skating championships. This was guaranteed by the solo skater Janna Jyrkinen and an ice dancing couple Juulia Turkkila/Matthias Versluis success in Espoo’s home games.
Finland will receive two female skaters, two ice skating pairs, one pair skating pair and one male skater for the Budapest Games in 2024. Coaching Manager of the Finnish Figure Skating Association Fairy tale Niittynen confirms that additional lands are extremely important.
– Let’s get more athletes on the prestigious competition fields. If everything goes according to plan, we will have a really big team next year. It is not very usual for one country to have a representative in all sports, Niittynen is happy.
Niittynen praises 15-year-old Jyrkinen’s EC debut and the great performances of the ice dance couple who reached bronze. Also competed in the men’s category Valtter Virtanen35, receives incense.
– A great bet from our veterans, if you can say so. All credit to Valtteri for being able to train and be in that shape after all these years.
“No need to stop”
‘s narrator Mika Saarelainen admired how Turkkila and Versluis overcame the pressure of the home crowd. He says that the Finnish pair pulled off the two best performances of their career and admits that watching the free program was an emotional moment.
– At the end of Saturday night, my fellow judges congratulated me. I said that I have no part in this, Saarelainen laughs.
During the competition broadcast, Saarelainen threatened to stop judging ice dance if he did not receive a medal. However, he survived with a scare when Turkkila and Versluis won the EC bronze.
– I thought that if that performance is not enough, what will be enough? And when the program was so different from others – somehow a lyrically beautiful whole. I thought that now there must be a medal, Saarelainen times.
Is a new era in Finnish ice dancing now starting? According to Saarelainen, it already started when the top coach Maurizio Margaglio arrived in Finland.
– Margaglio purposefully started building the foundation with his team when he moved to Finland with his family. This EC bronze was the icing on the cake.
Saarelainen points out that Finland now has two of Europe’s top couples in ice dancing. Thanks to the success of the home games Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen will compete in next year’s European Championships. Saarelainen says that both pairs have a realistic chance of reaching the top ten.
– It’s unheard of.