What About Nordic Skaters? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

What About Nordic Skaters?

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
It is true, and her attempts are really good. You can see it on her instagram page @joshihelgesson



Finland is actually bilingual. In Western Finland they speak Swedish.

Im talking about Finns and Finnish language ancestry, they are not Scandinavian branch at all
their ancestors are from finno-ugric branch that originated from the Urals region in Russia
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
While Lepisto and Korpi were most successful, Nordic skaters aren't very interesting. There just isn't an emphasis on figure skating.

The most interesting skater was Adrian Schultheiss who had some pretty weird programs.
 

TMC

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
who would think Finland is a Nordic Country :unsure:
it doesnt even speak a Scandinavian langauge branch

they are finno-ugric uralic branches that originated in the Urals in Russia

It is a Nordic country (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark), but not Scandinavian...
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Well, most Finns speak Swedish as a second language and their institutions are based on Scandinavian models.
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Schultheiss' best performance, portraying an "inmate who escaped the asylum" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8hj3QbVU8g

A quad, 2 3axels, clean performance...

He also did a robot program some years ago. I don't remember what year but the crowd loved it. His edging is awkward but an overall decent spinner and interpreter. He does manage to convey the themes of his programs choreographically quite well but who knows what he could do with a world-class choreographer.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
While Lepisto and Korpi were most successful, Nordic skaters aren't very interesting. There just isn't an emphasis on figure skating.

The most interesting skater was Adrian Schultheiss who had some pretty weird programs.


Nordic countries are really good at another wild and crazy thing called ski jumping! :)

No one seems to have mentioned Rahkamo & Kokko (sp?) or are we only talking about singles?
 

BlackPack

Medalist
Joined
Mar 20, 2013
Nordic countries are really good at another wild and crazy thing called ski jumping! :)

No one seems to have mentioned Rahkamo & Kokko (sp?) or are we only talking about singles?

Obviously, R&K are the most beloved from the "Nordic" countries, but they retired nearly 20 years ago ;)

I guess this thread is about recent Nordic skaters.

We can also talk about Sonjia Henie but I don't think any of us here were from that era. At least not computer literatre;)
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
Obviously, R&K are the most beloved from the "Nordic" countries, but they retired nearly 20 years ago ;)

I guess this thread is about recent Nordic skaters.

We can also talk about Sonjia Henie but I don't think any of us here were from that era. At least not computer literatre;)

Sheesh, has it been that long since R&K retired? Presumably my Old Farts Club membership card will be arriving any day now... :bang:
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
I'm sticking to the story that you were 2 years-old in 1995 :biggrin:

:rofl: Only my hairdresser knows for sure and she ain't talking!

Seriously, I did think we were talking about Nordic skaters in general, not just the very recent ones. BTW, totally agree re: Schultheiss (though I won't get started on his costume... :biggrin:)
 

Violetti

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
who would think Finland is a Nordic Country :unsure:
it doesnt even speak a Scandinavian langauge branch

they are finno-ugric uralic branches that originated in the Urals in Russia

Finland is one of the five Nordic Countries. Even a region of upperpart of Finland belongs to Scandinavia. Finland is a part of Fennoscandia. Look at the Wikipedia for Nordic Countries and see for yourself. And yes every Finnish child still has to study Swedish three years in school as it is our second language. So even though Finnish is not a Scandinavian language every Finnish child studies Swedish. (Not that all like that as we have many areas where there live only a few or not at all Swedish speaking Finns.) Term Nordic Countries refers to independent countries and Scandinavia and Fennoscandia to geographical areas. Finns were long under Swedish rule and that had much more impact on our culture than being under Russian rule before independency.
 

skatedreamer

Medalist
Joined
Feb 18, 2014
Country
United-States
@Sini -- welcome to GS! I had the pleasure of visiting Helsinki about 10 years ago and enjoyed it very much, especially Sibelius Park (special to me as a musician) and the wonderful Art Nouveau architecture. Also Stockmann's department store, where I bought some amazing tiny shelves for my tiny New York kitchen that I'm still using! ;)
 

Sara

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 6, 2013
Kiira is planning to come back. She is doing her best to heal herself and has a new coach, too.

Do you mean the "temporary" coach Kiira is working with in Germany? I forgot his name already. As far as I know Kiira is planning to return to L.A. soon to work with Arutunian. I'm actually surprised she's still in Germany, in the beginning of the year I got the impression she's staying there only some weeks. If she stays healthy I do not see Finland sending anyone else to Euros and Worlds next year, even if she's not able to get all her jumps back. Her PCS is so much higher compared to other Finns that even with failed jumps she'll beat the other girls. I love Kiira but to be honest I'd love to see one of our promising juniors gain experience from senior Worlds and Euros. Of course there are always senior B competitions they can attend but it's not the same as Worlds or Europeans. It will be interesting to see how our youngsters will do in Finlandia Trophy. I think Finland is probably going to choose Kiira, Jenni Saarinen and Liubov Efimenko to compete in FT. If Kiira is not ready, Juulia would maybe replace her.

What comes to figure skating in Finland, like many pointed out, it's hockey which is the number 1 sport, and there's not much ice time for figure skating. Another problem is the school system which imo is pretty demanding compared to the US school system for example. There's no realistic home schooling option, school days are long, you get lots of homework and there's really not much flexibility. My friend's sister studied as an exchange student in the US and said school was really easy there compared to Finland, and she did all the same courses as the American students. So having long school days and all the homework plus all the practice sessions can be quite exhausting for skaters here in Finland, and some probably quit skating because of that.

Third "problem" is the fact that synchro skating is very popular in Finland. Many little skaters choose synchro instead of single skating. I read last year that there are 153 synchro teams with 2800 skaters altogether in our small country. That's a lot!
 
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