Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Verluis finished sixth.
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis shone on the EC ice. Foto Olimpik/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Verluis were left out of the medals at the European Ice Dance Championships in Kaunas.
The Finnish couple’s free dance was not a success, and it showed in the scores. 115.72 of them came from the free program. The total score of 192.08 was enough instead of sixth.
– I think we lost points for one lift of the choreo step series. That hasn’t happened before this season, so it’s sad, Verluis told Yle in an interview.
The European championship was won by an Italian couple Charlene Guignard–Marco Fabbri.
Those who went from place 10 to free dance Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen drove the Kaunas ice rink audience wild to the tunes of the musical Chicago.
The audience gave a roaring applause, and a couple also fanned wildly. The jury also appreciated: Orihara and Pirinen received 111.12 points for their free dance. The pair competing under the Finnish flag became number one for a while.
However, it did not last until the end, and Orihara–Pirinen finished ninth.
Japanese Orihara said earlier To Ylethat he is even considering applying for a Finnish passport in order to represent Finland at the Olympics.