At the age of 35, Valtter Virtanen is in good shape
Valtter Virtanen is the first Finn to be seen on the ice at the EC home games.
The men’s short program will be contested in Espoo on Wednesday and the free program on Friday. Virtanen said he was aiming for a place in the top 15.
Virtanen, 35, is in the best shape of his career. This season, he has scored his record score of 204.02 in the Espoo GP competition in November.
– An athlete in his prime, Virtanen laughed.
After a great fall, he finally gets to skate at the EC home games. The previous opportunity escaped in 2009.
– I was half-bitter in the audience at the time. The screens weren’t enough yet. At that moment Ari-Pekka (Nurmenkari) was number one, and I didn’t have such a good season myself. It was sad, but the bangs weren’t enough, Virtanen returned to the atmosphere of 14 years ago.
Former top figure skater Kiira Korpi met Virtanen before the European Championships. You can watch a short clip of the duo’s meeting below. You can see the longer version of the meeting in ‘s EC broadcasts.
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