by Matteo Morelli

We have reached the final Grand Prix event of the season! Finlandia Trophy closes this year’s series and determines all the teams qualified for the Grand Prix Final in Japan.

Finlandia Trophy was launched in 1995 in Helsinki and joined the Challenger Series in 2014. After a one-off Grand Prix event in 2018, the Finnish federation added the Grand Prix of Finland to the Challenger Series in 2022, but in 2024 they decided to host only the Grand Prix event, which then adopted the Finlandia Trophy name. After two years in Espoo, the event returns to Helsinki Ice Hall in the Finnish capital.

Teams at the event

Two teams are expected to battle for the gold medal. France’s Laurence Fournier-Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron made their official international debut at the Grand Prix de France, winning the event with the highest scores awarded in this season’s Grand Prix series. They will present their rhythm dance to music by Madonna, which they had to prepare quickly before their first Grand Prix after receiving feedback on their previous Depeche Mode music choice, and their free dance to music from the movie “The Whale”.

Their biggest competition will be Canada’s Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who won Skate Canada International at their season debut. Their rhythm dance features music by RuPaul, while their free dance is a reimagined version of their “Vincent” programme, which they skated in the 2018/19 season. Last season, they debuted different costume variations at each Grand Prix event, so we are wondering whether we will see new costumes or details in Helsinki!

USA’s Emilia Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik won their first-ever Grand Prix medal, a silver, at Cup of China. Entering Finlandia Trophy, they know they must achieve another strong result if they want to qualify for their first Grand Prix Final. A positive result would also boost their chances of joining the USA Olympic team heading to Milano next year.

Spain’s Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck had to pay the price for some costly mistakes in China, but they know that a clean skate in Finland will allow them to reach very high placements, even if qualifying for the Grand Prix Final is now out of reach.

Natálie Taschlerová and Filip Taschler finished fourth at NHK Trophy. This was their fourth consecutive placement at a Grand Prix, so they know that a medal is not far out of reach for them.

Also aiming for a podium finish are Georgia’s Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin, who finished fifth in France, and the USA’s Maia and Alex Shibutani, who returned to competitive skating after a seven-year break and placed sixth at their comeback event, NHK Trophy.

After finishing sixth at Skate America, Oona Brown and Gage Brown will be competing in back-to-back events. This schedule will also affect Great Britain’s Phebe Bekker and James Hernandez, who learned while in Lake Placid that they would be replacing Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis, who had to withdraw leaving Yuka Orihara and Juho Pirinen as Finland’s sole representatives.

Event info: The rhythm dance kicks off on Friday, November 21, at 7:20pm (EET); the free dance occurs on Saturday, November 22, at 7:40pm (EET).