Photos by Yoriko Suzuki

Spain’s Lara Sundberg and Héctor González Elvira are a new junior ice dance team coming together from different backgrounds to build an on-ice partnership that resulted in a top 20 finish at their first World Junior Championships. Get to know the team as they reflect on their first season together and the journey that brought them to ice dance.

What are your earliest memories of skating—were you both drawn to ice dance from the beginning? 

Lara Sundberg (LS): Might sound funny, but I actually hated skating at first, so my earliest memories of skating are of me crying on the way to practice as a little kid. (Very overdramatic of me, I know). Obviously, in the right environment it eventually grew on me. I was never drawn to dance though. Even when tried it with my cousin when I was 11, I found it sort of boring at that age. Then, a couple of years ago I started to feel drawn to dance very suddenly. I think it had everything to do with growing up and realizing what kind of things I actually enjoy.

Héctor Gonzalez Elvira (HGE): I’d say that my first memory of skating is the really first time I put my skates on and skated. I was 10 or 11 and my friend, Angela, invited me to her birthday party, which was in one of the ice rinks that we have in Madrid. Before that I’d never heard about ice skating, I didn’t even know it existed. So, I went for the birthday, got on the ice and it was amazing. I remember everyone trying to save their lifes by leaning on the barriers and, being humble, I was just gliding and laughing at my friends.

Hector, you competed as a singles skater until 2024. What made you decide to switch to ice dance?

HGE: I actually started in ice dance and after one season I decided to do singles as well. Of course, when you start to grow and improve in the discipline you need more time, more work, camps, competitions. The moment of choosing one of the disciplines came and I had to explore the options I had: do I want to skate abroad? In which discipline? Am I ready for this challenge? Finally I decided to do try outs and see what happen and well I found the perfect partner and decided to move to Finland.

Lara, you competed in synchronized skating and as part of Team Fintastic, you won the 2023 World Junior Syncho Championships (and the 2024 World Junior Synchro silver medal). What did being part of this team mean to you? How did being part of this team prepare you for your ice dance partnership?

LS: Being part of Fintastic was so special. To me it meant belonging to a kind of family, because I grew up amongst that community and had all my dearest friends in the team. I mean, even after leaving the team, the community continues as a part of my life. The people of Fintastic and Rockettes are so supportive of my journey with Hector. My old coach Kaisa, who I’m really close with outside skating, actually even works with us sometimes. My other two ex-coaches Nina and Spiri are also both a very encouraging force in my current ice dance career.

I think that many years with the team have worked well as a foundation for my dance partnership. I grew to value teamwork and always enjoyed the process of building trust and friendship. Actually, even though it’s very different, working with just one person has many things in common with synchro, while also being an exciting new chapter for me.

Why did you decide to switch to ice dance and what have been your biggest challenges/adjustments? 

LS: During my last season in synchro I was struggling mentally, because it felt like I had grown out of the sport. I was often watching the practices of Mauri and Neil’s couples at the rink and actually remember thinking how amazing it would be to skate in that training group. (Nowadays I do, life is insane). I was unsure what to do because even though I dreamed about ice dance, I didn’t even dare to think of it as a serious possibility. I just thought that becoming an ice dancer would be impossible because of my background and lack of experience. Somehow, I ended up going for it anyway just to see what happens, and was prepared to wait for a partner for many years. As it turns out, I didn’t even have to wait that long. I was blessed with a very warm welcome from Neil, who organized our tryout with Hector just a couple of weeks after I joined his group.

For me the biggest challenge in ice dance has been developing a different kind of skillset and also being more visible as an individual on the ice, even though I enjoy it. A big adjustment was also getting used to the weekly amount of training in our group, which is double compared to what I used to have. I also had to switch to online studying to free up the school hours for practices.

HGE: Regarding the biggest challenge of ice dance, I personally believe that learning to skate with a new partner is the most complicated part of ice dance. We need such a nice understanding of each other’s skating to be able to actually skate together. I think that was (and still is) the hardest and most exciting part of switching to ice dance.

Tell us about your tryout and when you decided to skate together?

LS: For me the tryout was a crazy experience, honestly. It was such a short time after I started dance, so it was like I was suddenly swept into a different dimension or something. Neil knew Héctor from way back and when Héctor asked him about possible partners, we ended up going to Madrid for the tryout. It was actually Héctor’s 18th birthday when we went, so we joined his birthday party straight after arriving, which was fun. Next morning we started the tryout. It went really well, I enjoyed all of it even though I was a bit lost with the actual skating part of it. Also, I didn’t understand Spanish at the time and I didn’t even know Neil very well before that trip, so it was all very new.

HGE: Yeah it was cool, for me it was a funny moment to do the try out because my final exams of high school which are also the way to get into the university. It was interesting to have the stress of studying and of being with Lara and the coaches all the time.

Where are you currently training, and what does a typical training day look like for you?

We are training in Helsinki. We have practice from morning until the afternoon from Monday to Friday and the schedule vary a bit depending on the day. We always have two ice sessions of an hour and a half each, one hour of dance and sometimes gym.

For example, on Wednesday we wake up at 7:00 am and go to the rink to do ballroom at 8:45. After that we have a 1,5h ice practice, a break to eat, and then a second ice session of 2h this time. And then we end the day with gym, finishing around 15.30pm.

Of course after the training we do our own stuff such as working, studying or simply sleeping.

Tell us about your coaches and choreographers. What do you like most about working with them?

Personally one of the things that made us want to move here to train was the coaches and the environment they have here. Neil is our head coach and it’s crazy how much he cares about us and how much effort the goes through to make us better skaters and people. Although Mauri is mainly coaching the seniors, it’s also amazing to have him as our support and to be able to take his huge experience and knowledge with us.

We also really enjoy the dance classes and on-ice choreo work with Sini Parkkinen, who has actually choreographed our programs with Neil. We feel really proud and grateful for this amazing team that helps us to work for our dreams. We feel so supported every day and we see the big effort they put in to teach us everything they know and to be there for us in general.

What off-ice training or preparation has been particularly helpful for your development as a team?

As we mentioned, the dance classes have been really useful throughout the season. For the free dance, as we had a Foxtrot/Swing style, our ballroom teacher Jutta’s classes were absolutely amazing. We have practiced so many styles from Rhumba to Viennese Waltz, and that’s really useful to develop that connection within the couple.

Tell us about your programs this season. What inspired your music choices and overall themes?

LS: So in the RD we were skating to “Sing Hallelujah”, which is a song I always liked, so I suggested it. Then, we ended up pairing “I Like To Move It” with that. Héctor hated both of those songs at first, but then he gave in and ended up liking them, as he usually does.

HGE: Regarding the Free Dance, it was funny because we had the music already (a contemporary song) and even had started the choreography when Mauri suddenly came from Italy and said no. He told us that we had so much potential for doing something different than the majority, and he suggested doing this more traditional style of ballroom, so we did a fast research of music and made the program with Neil in less than a week as I had to go to Spain for the break. But honestly, Mauri’s idea worked really well!

This was your first season competing internationally. What have been some of your most memorable experiences/biggest lessons learned?

Before our first competition, which was the JGP in Varese, we were so excited to compete together. Everything was new and maybe a bit scary, so this season we learned how to manage competitions, what each of us need from the other and how to support the other when they are a bit more tired.

LS: For me the most memorable experience was perhaps Nationals. I was actually very tired at that point of the season and felt nervous to compete for the title in that state. We succeeded though, and as a memory the competition is so special. I really love the atmosphere at Spanish nationals, the warmth and amount of cheering is literally uncompared. Relating to that, my personal lesson from the first season is that feeling off doesn’t automatically equal worse outcomes, so it’s always best to trust the process.

HGE: I’d personally say that the JGP in Abu Dhabi was one of the biggest challenges of the season. It was a long trip, long event, something that I hadn’t experienced before and my body felt completely off during the competition. It was hard to skate and perform a nice program, however we did our job, we got the minimum for Worlds there and it was the first step on learning how to manage those kind of events.

What teams or skaters inspire you?

Our team for sure, we are so lucky and grateful to share ice with some of the top couples of the World: Juulia (Turkkila) & Mathias (Versluis), Yuka (Orihara) & Juho (Pirinen), Natalie (Taschlerova) & Filip (Taschler) and Natacha (Lagouge) & Arnaud (Caffa). They are our inspiration. The way they skate and the amount of work they put on their programs is crazy. Not just in the skating aspect, also as people they are absolutely amazing and the best team we could ever imagine, so our journey is also thanks to them.

You finished 20th at the 2026 World Junior Championships, did you have a goal heading into this event? What are your thoughts on your performances at this competition?

Our goals have been changing through the season as we achieved them. In the beginning our goal was simply to get the minimum and make a name for ourselves in the international ice dance community. After getting the minimum in the JGP circuit we were aiming for the National Title. As Spain had only one ice dance spot for Junior Worlds, we needed to win nationals to earn it. After that, the final goal that we set was of course to qualify for the Free Dance at Worlds.

There was a great feeling after the Rhythm Dance, we were quite nervous and considering that it wasn’t one of our best performances, we were delighted to qualify with it.

HGE: I remember being in the crowd with all my family and friends when we found out we had qualified. It was like being in a dream, we had the opportunity to perform our free dance.

LS: I was actually also with my family when I found out, and with all the other people that came from Helsinki to Tallinn to support us. I felt so grateful to share that moment with them, because those are the people that care the most. We were so happy to be in the Final, and although we didn’t skate our best free dance, it was special to get to perform it in that setting.

What does it mean to represent Spain internationally in ice dance?

LS: I always say that I feel very at home in Spain, and that’s because of the people there, especially in the skating community. The federation took me in with open arms since the very beginning, and all the skaters, coaches and parents kind of adopted me immediately. Very Spanish of them, honestly. The insane part about it is that there’s a language barrier, because my Spanish is still in process and their English is generally weak, but even that didn’t stop them from making me feel included. Basically, Finland might be my home country, but I have a whole another family in Spain, and that family is the skating community. I couldn’t be more grateful to represent that family. It has been such a gift.

HGE: Spain is my home country. My family and friends are there and I am really proud to represent my own country. It makes me really happy to be able to develop the Ice Dance in Spain, this sport might be small in my country but it has always had so many amazing athletes: Javier Fernandez, Sara Hurtado, Adrián Diaz, Sofia Val, Sonia la Fuente. All of them have opened the door, they took the step of putting Spain in the top of skating, they proved it is possible for a Spaniard to succeed in this sport. Being able to follow their steps and holding the Spanish flag in competitions is a huge honor.

Are there particular skills or aspects of your skating you’re hoping to develop next season?

LS: I would like to develop our skating skills. Personally, I still feel very new to the ice dance technique, after all it’s been less than two years training this. That’s my goal. I would also like to find something special for the new programs.

HGE: Now that we are not swamped with competitions, I’d like to improve my flexibility and my strength. It’s the moment to hit the gym and develop muscle so we can do crazy lifts and jumps on the ice. Of course, a job that is always there is the connection of our couple and the skating skills, so we’ll be working on that to bring cool performances for next season.

When you’re not training, what are some activities you enjoy doing together that have nothing to do with skating?

We like to play pool or go for matcha for example, we also often do things together with the whole training group. One interesting thing is that sometimes on Saturday evenings we go to play this Mafia game in a social café. We also live right by each other so sometimes we just study together and usually when the family of either one has a get-together, the other one joins. Each family kind of has an extra kid haha. For Easter we’re actually going to Lapland together.

What music or artists do you currently have on repeat outside the rink?

LS: I have such a scale right now. I’ve been listening to 80s music so much lately and also Finnish pop, but honestly I’ve also had Sam Fender’s “Rein Me In” on repeat since October.

HGE: I am so obsessed with Hamnet right now, I watched last weekend and OMG I was crying so much and it was just amazing.

Please share anything you would like our readers to know about you as a team.

An interesting fact is Lara is starting to speak with a Spanish accent (read this with a Spanish accent). We’d like to start dance as an extra hobby together once we find the time in the weekly schedules. Something funny about us is also that we keep saving each other in situations when the other one is in trouble. For example, because we live close, we keep the keys to each others apartments for whenever the other has locked themselves out.

Follow Lara (@lara_sundberg) and Hector (@hector.ggnz) on Instagram. They are also planning to start an account on Tiktok for doing dance trends together.