2024 Finlandia Trophy | Ice Dance
Great Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson were the surprise winners of the Ice Dance title at Finlandia Trophy after Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier faltered in the free dance. The home team of Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis took their third consecutive bronze at this event in Helsinki.
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson
The two-time European silver medalists had a bad fall in practice on Friday. They had a mistiming during the twizzles and intercepted each other’s rotation and went down. Fear had to be helped off the ice and later shared that it actually hurt less when she was on skates.
“It was just the impact, luckily there was no blade,” said Fear on Saturday of the fall. “I couldn’t bear weight. It was getting better hour by hour and I had an amazing team that took care of me. Timing worked in my favor here as we only had to skate tonight at 7pm. Yesterday, standing was a challenge, then walking and today skating. In the end, we went out there today delivering one of our best performances.”
Other than a strap on her leg below her left leg, there was no evidence of any pain during their energetic rhythm dance. The twizzles were rock-solid and graded a level four. The team also showed a level-four lift, but lost two levels on the pattern steps since their last outing. The midline steps were graded a level two, and the 2024 Skate America Champions placed a close second with 82.03 points.
“We are so just glad to be here and to be able to skate for the crowd, to do what we love,” said Fear. “Yesterday taught us that.”
The six-time grand prix medalists scored 121.19 points for their engaging free dance to music by Beyoncé. The serpentine steps were graded a level three and one, while the twizzles were solid, earning a level four. The straightline-rotational lift was extended, which resulted in a one-point deduction, but was still graded a level four. The stationary lift and dance spin were also marked a level four and the team placed first in the free dance and overall (203.22).
“We enjoyed our free dance today,” said Lewis. “This week was a bit of a fright at the beginning and now we are just glad to be here.”
The ice dancer added that they don’t consider themselves “favorites” going into the Grand Prix Final.
“Both times it was a bit of shock that we won,” he said. “Our focus for the Final really will be to work on and improve our programs and hope to put out two stronger performances there.”
They will compete at nationals first and then will go on to the Grand Prix Final.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier
The three-time World medalists continued their fun “Barbie and Ken” themed rhythm dance from Skate Canada, sporting new colorful outfits.
“At the first two competitions, we kind of decided before which costume we would wear for the actual performance,” explained Gilles. “Maybe towards the end of the season we will have the fans vote or do some kind of draw deciding which costume we are going to wear.”
Their twizzles were graded a level three and four, while the rotational lift was a level four. The 2024 Four Continents champions also displayed very good level-three midline steps, but like the Brits, lost two levels on their pattern steps which were graded a level one. They finished first with 84.65 points.
“We felt good today,” said Poirier. “The energy in the arena was very good and positive. The first performance is always a little bit out of the gates to see how the program is going to be received. The second time you get stuck with the pressure wanting to do better than the first time. We were very settled today and took the program moment by moment.”
The overnight leaders were off to a very strong start in the free dance, showing an excellent rotational combination lift which received very high grades of execution (GOE) across the board. They also displayed good one-foot and midline steps, but then there was a collision on the blades during the twizzles and Poirier went down. They quickly recovered to produce a level four dance spin and curve lift, but the mistake was costly. The finished fourth in the free dance (116.14) and slipped to second overall (200.79).
“Today was a bit of a disappointment for us, we did some mistakes,” acknowledged Poirier. “I think the best will be to put this performance behind us and take it as a learning experience. At least we were able to go back into the performance and deliver the other elements, this is something you learn from practice. As always, we felt very welcomed and by the Finish crowd and had a good time here overall.”
“In a way I am grateful for this mistake,” added Gilles. “We didn’t have any kind of these mistakes over the last seasons, but always put out solid performances. It didn’t lead us anywhere, so I hope this will give us the fire now.”
Nevertheless, the 2024 Skate Canada Champions now have 28 points going into the Grand Prix Final next month.
Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis
The 2023 European bronze medalists placed third in the rhythm dance with a new personal best of 78.31. Their stylized routine was highlighted by a very fast rotational lift with constant change of movement. Versluis struggled a bit on the twizzles, which were graded a level four and three, and the midline and pattern steps were graded a level two.
“This performance is such a relief,” said Turkkila. “We felt like this season’s theme suited us a bit more than last season and we are happy to have this confirmed.”
“We are really happy with the skate today,” added her partner. “Skating in Finland makes us feel a bit more comfortable.”
The four-time Finnish champions gave an impressive Argentinian tango routine to “Bewitched” and “Obcy Astronom” to place second with a season’s best 118.29. The twizzles were graded a level four and two, while the rotational-stationary lift earned a level four and three. The curve lift received a level four, and they finished third overall (196.60).
“We are happy with or skate today,” said Versluis. “We felt a little bit controlled so that we were holding back a bit. We couldn’t totally perform the program to the music to the best of its abilities.”
But Turkkila feels very comfortable with the Tango style.
“We did practice the Tango already quite a bit in the Tango season, and also did some tango in the ballroom to practice,” she said. “We are also thankful to our coaches who bring this out from us.”
The team now has a 12-hour flight to China ahead of them for their next Grand Prix event.
“We hope to improve our levels a bit in China, but of course we don’t have time to do any major changes,” Turkkila said.
Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler
Czech Republic’s Natalie Taschlerova and Filip Taschler showed good presentation in their rhythm dance to a Donna Summer medley. Taschler wobbled on a twizzle, which were graded a level three and two, but the curve lift received a level four. The pattern steps were a level three, and they picked up a season’s best of 75.50.
The team, who placed fourth at 2024 Skate Canada, delivered an expressive and contemporary free dance to music by Moby, placing fifth in the free dance and fourth overall (114.93/190.43).
“We are okay,” said Taschler. “Yesterday we messed up the twizzles, today the steps. Apart from that, it was pretty good I’d say. I had kind of a breakdown this morning and really didn’t want to skate today. But I am better now and glad I did it. Nati also helped a lot.”
His sister and partner added that they want to improve each competition.
“I think we did,” she said. “Of course, it would be nice to get it all together at one competition. This would be the goal.”
They plan to take a quick break to recharge for nationals.
Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik
USA’s Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik put out a fun rhythm dance to a Bee Gees medley, placing sixth. Zingas had a bobble on the last set of twizzles, which were graded a one and four. The rotational lift received a level four, and they scored 72.72 points.
Zingas confessed she had been very nervous which led to the mistake.
“Practices have been going well; the skate was a big rough, but it was still fun,” said Kolesnik. “It is a close competition; I hope we can make it up a bit tomorrow.”
The 2023 U.S. national pewter medalists captivated the crowd with their contemporary free dance to “Epilogue” by Olafur Arnalds and “Lost it to Trying” by Son Lux, placing third in the free dance and fifth overall (116.76/189.48).
“I was so nervous at this competition,” admitted Zingas. “We had big goals, and I worked so hard on improving over the summer. So, yesterday’s rhythm dance was really a disappointment. We are happy though that we could finish this competition on a high note with a good free dance.”
Kolesnik agreed, adding, “This competition was a really good learning experience for us on how to communicate with each other during a competition.”
They will compete in Warsaw at the Challenger event in a few days. It will be a special occasion as Kolesnik’s family, whom he hasn’t seen in more than three years, will be visiting from Ukraine.
Finland’s Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen placed sixth overall with a new personal best total score of 183.64. USA’s Eva Pate and Logan Bye and teammates Oona Brown and Gage Brown placed seventh (180.35) and eighth (176.57), respectively.
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