Figure Skating | The judges followed the performance of Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis for a week – the verdict was given in the competition

Good ranking in figure skating can sometimes depend on the little things.

That's what happened to the ice dancers Juulia to Turkey and to Matthias Versluis in January at the European Championships in Kaunas.

The couple's one assisted lift in a series of steps took more than the allowed 3.10 seconds. As a result, the Finns lost the fifth place to the French couple by only 0.07 points.

In the end, the ranking in itself didn't have that much importance, but it led to an overhaul in the free dance, when a move that was too long in time had to be polished out of the free program, which will be skated this week at the world championships in Montreal.

“We changed the move so that we don't make the same mistake again, we don't take unnecessary risks,” says Turkkila at the Pirkkola ice rink, where the pair prepared for the World Championships.

How did the judges even notice such a mistake?

“They had followed us all week and then clocked the movement already in training. That's how it goes,” says Turkkila.

Turkkila and Versluis traveled to Canada in good time to recover from the time difference and to further refine their program in Toronto, where they had as training buddies Piper Gilles and Paul Poirierlast year's Canadian bronze medalist.

From Toronto, the Finns move to the World Cup arena by train.

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“The details of the new program are still open. We don't want to do anything similar to what we are doing now.”

In order for everything to fall into place on the World Cup ice, the Italian choreographer of Turkkila and Versluis Massimo Scali spent a week in Finland refining the free program and changes to rhythm dance technique.

“We were looking for step accuracy and the feeling that we are again better and stronger than in the European Championships”, Versluis elaborates.

Bridge in the season, the theme of the ice dancers' rhythmic dance is the 1980s.

The rhythm dance couple skates the American Taylor Dayne Tell It to My Heart inspired by the song. The two other pieces of music in the show are Dayne's handwriting.

Versluis, who plays the guitar and knows music, has adjusted the rhythmic dance to the couple's liking. He has arranged three songs in his small home studio into a potpourri that lasts two minutes and 50 seconds.

“Now version number 15 is going,” Versluis laughs.

Versluis has also arranged music for others, such as the Finnish figure skating team and the Latvian For Deniss Vasiljevswho was sixth in the men's competition at the European Championships in January.

Vasiljevs will perform a new free program for the first time at the World Championships, arranged by Versluis.

“Denis had such a request. Conciliation is a pure side business for me, for which I receive a small fee,” says Versluis.

In the next season, the theme of rhythm music will be the entire 20th century. Based on that, a dance party for a hundred years must be developed, that is Dance Party -presentation.

“The details of the new program are still open. We don't want to do anything similar to what we do now,” says Turkkila.

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“The level is only expanding, even though the point limits have been raised.”

in Montreal the Finnish couple competes for the fifth time at the World Championship level. A year ago, the pair was ninth.

The placement brought Finland a second place in ice dance, where the first-timers of the World Championships will represent in Montreal Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen.

In the European Championships, Finland's second pair fulfilled their goal and were tenth.

In ice dance, a record number of couples, as many as 36, will compete on ice at the World Cup, of which 20 couples will go on to free dance.

“The level is only expanding, even though the point limits have been raised,” says Versluis, who will also be able to try out his French language skills in Montreal.

Versluis's family roots are in Switzerland, where French is one of the country's four languages.

“My grandmother and cousin live in Switzerland. I understand everything, but speaking is a bit difficult.”

Also pair skaters Milania Väänänen and Filippo Cleric and a solo skater Nella Pelkonen are competing for the first time in the World Championships. Valtter Virtanen is already participating for the fifth time.

Men's Finnish champion Makar Suntsev did not reach the free program point limits for the free program, so no reserve skaters were named for Virtanes.

Emmi Peltonen on the other hand, did not reach the technical point limits for the short program for the short program, so they are the reserve skaters Olivia Lisko and last season's sensation Janna Jyrkinen.