Finland’s previous ice dance competition medal was from 1995.
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis received thunderous applause from the audience. Stock photo. RONI REKOMAA / EPA / AOP
Ice dancers Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis won bronze at the European Figure Skating Championships in Espoo. Turkkila and Versluis were third in the race before the free program.
The audience of the Tapiola arena gave huge applause to the Finnish couple. The judges gave the free program a score of 120.65, which resulted in a total score of 198.21. They broke the previous records of Turkkila, 28, and Verluis, 28.
The Italian couple took the win Charlene Guignard–Marco Fabbri. Second before the Finns came the British Lilah Fear–Lewis Gibson.
– An indescribable feeling. I’m still shaking, and the voice is coming out, Turkkila beamed on Yle’s TV broadcast.
– It feels a bit like being in a dream, Versluis stumbled.
Third place before the free program did not create pressure.
– It was such a routine performance. But that we were able to do it in that situation… pretty amazing, Turkkila continued.
– Now one dream came true. We still have more to show, so this is just the beginning of the journey.
The previous Finnish ice dance competition medal was from 1995. Petri Kokko and Susanna Rahkamo were both EC and WC medals that year.
In the 2019 EC competitions, Turkkila and Versluis finished 11th. It was their best EC finish before this year. In last year’s World Championships, the Finnish pair was 12th.