Nella Pelkonen won the women’s single skating Finnish championship in Helsinki’s Pirkkola. Makar Suntsev celebrated the Men’s Championship gold. The Finnish championships are the first for both.
Nella Pelkonen18, won the women’s singles at the Finnish Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki’s Pirkkola on Sunday.
Pelkonen started the short program in second place and won gold with a total score of 179.32. A year ago, Pelkonen was silver at the WC.
He excelled in the short program and went to Sunday in first place Olivia Lisko, 17, was SM silver with 171.68 points. For Lisko, the SM medal in the adult series is the first of his career.
Oona Ounasvuori had the bronze medal at the WC (170.07) and Emmi Peltonen fourth (159.44).
At the same time, Pelkonen secured a place at the European Championships in January. The races start on January 10.
– Nella Pelkonen is excellent, said the narrator Mika Saarelainen immediately after the free program.
– He did a wonderful job in the free program, beamed in the commentary Sara Honkavaara.
Pelkonen succeeded brilliantly in the Finlandia Trophy competition that opened the figure skating season already earlier in the fall.
In Sunday’s free program, Pelkonen was able to implement his plan and after the performance, the satisfied athlete burst into tears.
– Incredible feeling. This was my goal, but I’m still not terribly happy with the performance because there were some stupid mistakes in the performance. This was not the best performance of the season. I’m really looking forward to the European Championships, Pelkonen said in an interview with .
Suntsev to the men’s single skating WC gold
In men’s single skating Makar Suntsev won his first Finnish championship with a total score of 204.12. Suntsev, who lives in Kotka, was first after the short program.
19-year-old Suntsev left behind a seven-time gold medalist Valtter Virtanen, who scored 200.83. He took the bronze Arttu Juusola with a score of 178.15.
Suntsev was satisfied with his performance, even though he fell once in his free program.
– The audience got along well with the show. Technically, there was room for improvement. After the free program, we had to tense up for points, Suntsev said.
Turkey: “One of the best ever”
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis are celebrating their fourth WC gold in ice dance with their record score of 205.41. Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen were second best with 186.27 points.
– In terms of performance, two really successful programs. Certainly one of the best ever of the competition events, Turkkila stated.
– The taste was good. We have changed a lot in both programs and we are satisfied that we were successful in the games, Versluis continued.
In January of this year, the duo celebrated the EC bronze in Espoo in front of the home crowd. Before the games in Kaunas, there is still work to be done.
– Intense work and basic routine training. Going through the programs and polishing the details, so that we can give our all there and not give up on any small details, Turkkila thought.
Who will go to the European Championships?
The figure skating federation’s federal government will nominate the representatives for the European Championships by tomorrow Monday at the latest.
According to commentator Mika Saarelainen’s estimate, the single skaters that will go to the Games are Makar Suntsev, Emmi Peltonen and Nella Pelkonen. Peltonen will claim a place in the European Championship, because he has been better in the results in the fall than Lisko, who skated silver today at the European Championship.
According to Saarelainen, Turkkila and Versluis are fighting for the EC medal and you can expect dozens of Finnish athletes.
– We have all the seams to make the European championship result of all time, Saarelainen says.
The European Figure Skating Championships will be shown on channels from January 10.