Figure Skating | Emmi Peltonen is wondering how the experience should look: “Is it visible in any way”

Kaunas

Finland competes with the biggest team in its recent history at the European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania.

The last time an equally large team of nine athletes competed in 1994, i.e. 30 years ago. At that time, the team's sharpest point was the ice dance couple Susanna Rahkamo–Petri Kokko.

“I wasn't even born then,” the 24-year-old Emmi Peltonen laugh when you hear the statistic.

Peltonen competes after a three-year break at the European Championships. In January 2020, he finished fifth. In the European Championships before that, he has been 11th, 9th and 8th. In Kaunas, therefore, the Fifth European Championship representation of the career lies ahead.

What should the experience look like?

“I don't know if it can be seen in any way. I feel like a first timer. Anything has happened on the way. In the end, a race is just a race,” says Peltonen before Thursday's short program. The free program is on Saturday during the day.

The long break in value competitions is partly explained by the corona pandemic and partly by a persistent ankle problem, which is now a life left behind.

“I love skating and I've always wanted to go back. It would be heartbreaking for an athlete to end his career.”

Finland the second female representative in single skating is Nella Pelkonen, who is competing in his first adult competition. In 2020, he was 14th at the Youth Olympics in Lausanne and fourth in the international team competition.

“We lost the bronze with equal points. It was a bit annoying. Otherwise, I have no memories of those games,” says 18-year-old Pelkonen next to Peltonen.

Three weeks ago, the man from Tampere won his first Finnish championship.

Of course, this season Pelkonen has also been successful in international competitions. In October, he was fourth in the Finlandia Trophy with his record score of 179.31. In November, he was sixth and the second best European in the GP race in Espoo.

In the end, does it matter how many times there have been in value races, the first time or the fifth time?

“I can't say whether it matters in the end. After the WC, I would have needed a little longer competition break than I got. These European Championships are coming quite early. The skate is already a little heavy, even though the season is only halfway through,” says Pelkonen.

Usually, the European Championships have only been held at the end of January, like a year ago in Espoo, where the first-timer Janna Jyrkinen was a sensational seventh in the women's race. This season, Jyrkinen has not yet reached the same condition.

The 2024 EC competitions were supposed to be held in Budapest, but the Hungarian Figure Skating Federation unexpectedly withdrew from the competition arrangements. The Lithuanian federation took over the games, but due to the reservation situation of Kaunas's Žalgiris Arena, the time of the games was brought up.

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“I don't like setting a goal.”

Its neither Peltonen nor Pelkonen have set an investment target.

Peltonen says he is happy that he is in competitive shape at all. Pelkonen wants to compete freely and without investment pressure.

“I don't like setting a goal. It depends so much on what others do,” says Pelkonen.

“The same thing”, Peltonen accompanies.

In the WC in Helsinki, Peltonen failed. There were already mistakes in the short program and there were even more in the free program. Peltonen finished fourth at the WC, but a strong early season secured a place at the EC.

You just have to get over the poor performance.

“There's no need to think about failure anymore. The SC race was bad, nothing more surprising than that. Bad moments hurt. You have to forget them. Sometimes the pack just falls apart. At the Christmas table, I noticed that I was a bit tired, even though I recovered well from the Games. There are still five races left in the season,” says Peltonen.

In the remaining five races, Peltonen does not include the spring world championships, where Finland has one place for women. The strongest candidate for that is Pelkonen.

As early as next week, Peltonen will compete in Lithuania's neighboring country, Latvia.

“That's why you have to miss Sunday's race banquet.”

Scared changed coaches in the fall, when Kiira Korven was in the background Susanna Haarala your ears Minna Järvinen.

The new coach has brought new zest to Pelkonen's skating, just like him told already in the WC.

“I approach skating differently this season. I'll put more in the box. I got the feeling that a change could be good. That's what I was looking for, and the development has proven it.”

Is there a danger that skating will become overachieving when you have to show the new coach what you can do?

“I do not believe. The coach knows how to say and look behind.”

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“I have a coach there for a trial period, but nothing more than that.”

Also Changes are taking place in Peltonen's coaching patterns, which he does not want to give details about yet.

Peltonen went to the USA to prepare for the European Championships.

“I have a coach there for a trial period, but nothing more than that. I have liked it and it has gone really well.”

Follows Peltonen's training in Finland Cricket Kaipio, who are also coaches of the Figure Skating Association. Another domestic coach is Peltonen's mother Hanna Peltonenwho is a trained figure skating coach.

“She also comes here, but in the role of a mother,” says Peltonen, who has also changed clubs from the Etelä-Vantaa Figure Skaters to the Helsinki Figure Skating Club.

Pelkonen's family watches the European Championships at home in Tampere.

“Father was supposed to come with his colleagues, but they had some flight problems.”

Figure skating is a demanding sport, so that the athlete cannot lie in the fire, so to speak. Programs, technology and presentation must be constantly updated.

“It's a double-edged sword. Some skaters are more interested in technique, even acrobatics, others in performance. I think figure skating is a combination of technique and presentation,” says Peltonen.

“You won't develop if you only focus on one side of them,” Pelkonenkin says.

Especially the Russian skaters had a tendency for technically demanding performances. Jumps, pirouettes and patterns could already approach acrobatics.

Kaunas will compete for the second time in a row without Russians and Belarusians at the EC level. Peltonen and Pelkonen do not want to comment on their absence.

“It's none of our business and it doesn't affect our competition,” says Peltonen.

Female skaters in addition, Finland is represented by ice dancing couples Juulia Turkkila–Matthias Versluis and Yuka Orihara–Juho Pirinenpair skaters Milania Väänänen–Filippo Cleric and a male figure skater Makar Suntsev.

Turkkila and Versluis are defending the EC bronze from a year ago.

Read more: Nella Pelkonen, 18, excelled on the SM ice: “I know I can still improve”

Read more: Nella Pelkonen succeeded in the GP race in Espoo – a bad disappointment for Janna Jyrkinen, who is fighting for a European Championship place

Read more: Emmi Peltonen in a top hit – record points as a result

Read more: Emmi Peltonen won the international competition in Nice