Iida Karhunen, 17, now lives among Finland’s NHL stars in Milan

Milano

Sun will drive to the Olympic Village in Milan on Sunday, when Iida Karhunen arrives to be interviewed by the media.

Aurinkoinen is also a 17-year-old figure skater who is scheduled to debut at the Olympics on Tuesday in the women’s short program.

“It would be really cool to get a prize medal in the future and success in general”, Karhunen thinks.

There is still no pressure in these games. The Lappeenranta native is only skating his first season in the adult league, and the trip to Milan is more of a study trip.

Karhunen’s only goal is to reach the top 24 in the short program, which would guarantee a place in Thursday evening’s free program. 29 skaters will participate in the competition.

“I hope that I can just enjoy myself and show my best performance in the competition,” says Karhunen.

Because The Olympic tournament of the female lions ended already on Saturday and the pair skaters Juulia Turkkilan and Matthias Versluis the games were already last week, in the ice sports competition village in Milan, only the NHL stars of the Lions and the figure skater Karhunen are the only athletes living in the Finnish accommodation facilities.

The contrast is quite a bit, when the slender ice princess spins in the same spaces, at best, in the middle of almost two-meter NHL corners.

“It’s been pretty quiet in our premises so far. I haven’t had a terrible run-in yet or had time to talk to puck players yet,” Karhunen laughs.

“It’s pretty cool to be here in the village with all the other athletes.”

17 years old Karhunen is the second youngest athlete on the Finnish Olympic team and in the same age group born in 2008 as the team’s Olympic ski jumper Heta Hirvonen.

Karhunen is currently in the second grade of high school in Lappeenranta. My parents and two older sisters have come to Milan to cheer me on.

Karhunen spent last week at a training camp in Bergamo, near Milan, together with his coach Marina Shirshovan with.

Karhunen is not going to risk trying any new and uncertain tricks to the Olympic competition.

“More on the safe side,” Karhunen sums up his race plan.

Karhuse is 149 centimeters tall, but for a top skater he is by no means exceptionally short.

“Many skaters, especially Japanese and Korean ones, are really short. I feel like quite a few are my size.”

“Generally speaking, shorter people may find it a little easier to control jumps and everything,” says Karhunen.

Bear already has experience skating in Italy – and succeeding. In 2023, he won gold at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Pontebba.

He made his debut in the adult competition last month at the European Championship in England. The ranking was 10th.

Now he gets to skate in the same competition with one of his great role models.

“There are many role models. Japan, for example Kaori Sakamotowho now competes here as well. Of course, from Finns Kiira Korpi, Laura Lepistö and all the others are good too,” says Karhunen.

The best Olympic ranking in the history of Finnish women in single skating is Lepistö’s sixth place in Vancouver 2010.

In the old ones with the rules, Karhunen would probably have been able to compete in the adult series before this season. In October 2022, the minimum age limit for adult competitions in figure skating was raised from 15 to 17 years.

Forced waiting and patience in the junior leagues, however, increased.

Karhunen describes himself as a courageous and unyielding athlete.

“I won’t give up, even if someone doesn’t succeed. I will continue tenaciously,” Karhunen concludes.

The women’s short program will be skated on Tuesday from 19:45. The free program is on Thursday at 8 p.m.