Juulia Turkkila
Juulia Turkkila (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈjuːliɑ ˈturkːilɑ]; born 3 November 1994) is a Finnish figure skater. Competing in ice dancing with Matthias Versluis, she has won multiple international medals and is a two-time Finnish national champion (2019, 2022).
Juulia Turkkila | |
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![]() Turkkila at the 2019 Europeans | |
Personal information | |
Country represented | Finland |
Born | Helsinki, Finland | 3 November 1994
Residence | Helsinki, Finland |
Height | 1.64 m (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in) |
Partner | Matthias Versluis |
Coach | Maurizio Margaglio |
Former coach | Tarja Sipilä, Tilu Valgemäe |
Choreographer | Pasquale Camerlengo, Massimo Scali |
Former choreographer | Shae Zukiwsky, Maria McLean, Igor Lutikov, Olga Tkachenko, Pirjo Kuha |
Skating club | Helsingin Luistelijat |
Training locations | Helsinki |
Began skating | 2001 |
World standing | 34 (2020–21) 40 (2019–20) 40 (2018–19) 69 (2017–18) |
ISU personal best scores | |
Combined total | 185.19 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy |
Short program | 71.92 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy |
Free skate | 113.27 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy |
As a single skater, she is the 2012 Nordic champion and 2014 Finnish national champion. She competed in the final segment at eight ISU Championships, achieving her best result, 12th, at the 2014 Europeans.[1]
Personal life
Juulia Turkkila was born on 3 November 1994 in Helsinki, Finland.[2] At age six, she began training in ballet at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.[3] After graduating from secondary school, she decided to study economics at Aalto University.[3]
Career
Early years
Turkkila began learning to skate in 2001.[2] She made her junior international debut at the Nordic Championships in February 2010.[4]
2010–2011 season
Turkkila placed sixteenth at the 2011 World Junior Championships, fifteenth at the 2011 European Championships, and twentieth at the 2011 World Championships. She won the bronze medal at the 2011 Nordics.
2011–2012 season

Turkkila won the silver medal at the 2012 Finnish Championships, behind Kiira Korpi. She placed seventeenth at the 2012 European Championships, nineteenth at the 2012 World Junior Championships, and eighteenth at the 2012 World Championships. She won the gold medal at the 2012 Nordics.
2012–2013 season
Turkkila placed sixth at the 2012 Finlandia Trophy, and ninth at the 2012 Nebelhorn Trophy. She won the silver medal at the 2013 Finnish Championships, again finishing second to Kiira Korpi. She was seventeenth at the 2013 European Championships but was eliminated from the 2013 World Championships after placing thirty-first in the short program.
2013–2014 season
Turkkila placed seventh at the 2013 Finlandia Trophy, and fourteenth at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy. She won the gold medal at the 2014 Finnish Championships. She was twelfth at the 2014 European Championships, her best result at the Europeans this far. She did not reach the final at the 2014 World Championships, placing twenty-ninth in the short program.
2014–2015 season
Turkkila participated at the 2014 Finlandia Trophy where she placed 7th and at the 2014 Nebelhorn Trophy where she placed sixth. On 22 October 2014, it was reported that she had a season-ending injury.[5]
2015–2016 season
Turkkila returned to competition in 2015, placing 5th at the Lombardia Trophy. She was tenth at the 2015 Nebelhorn Trophy and fourteenth at the 2015 Finlandia Trophy. In December 2015, Turkkila won the bronze medal at the Finnish Championships. On 20 January 2016, the Finnish Figure Skating Association reported that her season was over due to a groin strain.[6] Tarja Sipilä coached Turkkila at Helsingin Luistelijat figure skating club in Helsinki.[7]
On 1 April 2016, the Finnish Figure Skating Association reported that Turkkila had teamed up with Matthias Versluis to compete in ice dancing.[8]
2016–2017 season: Debut of Turkkila/Versluis
Making their international debut, Turkkila/Versluis placed sixth at the NRW Trophy in November 2016. Later that month, they finished 13th at their first ISU Challenger Series assignment, the 2016 CS Tallinn Trophy. In December, they took the silver medal behind Törn/Partanen at the 2017 Finnish Championships. In February, they represented Finland at the 2017 Winter Universiade, finishing eighth.[9]
2017–2018 season
Turkkila/Versluis competed at a pair of Challenger Series competitions – placing tenth at the 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and fifteenth at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy – and then finished thirteenth at the International Cup of Nice. In November, they won bronze at the Ice Challenge in Austria. In December, they repeated as national silver medalists, again finishing second to Törn/Partanen.[9]
2018–2019 season: First national title and Worlds debut
Turkkila/Versluis began their season with three Challenger Series events – they finished sixth at the 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy, seventh at the 2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, and sixth at the 2018 CS Finlandia Trophy. In October, the duo won silver at the Minsk-Arena Ice Star. In November, they debuted on the Grand Prix series, placing sixth at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki, and then took bronze at the Warsaw Cup. The following month, they became the Finnish national champions and were selected to compete at the 2019 European Championships in Minsk, Belarus, where they placed eleventh. They then competed at their first World Championships, placing sixteenth.[9]
2019–2020 season
Turkkila sustained a neck injury in a practice session at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy, compelling the team to withdraw from the competition. They subsequently also withdrew from the 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy and the 2019 Rostelecom Cup, their Grand Prix assignment for the year.[10] They were assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[11]
2020–2021 season
Returning to competition for the first time in two years, Turkkila/Versluis represented Finland at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, placing twenty-first after a fluke error on the rotational lift.[12]
2021–2022 season: Beijing Olympics
Turkkila/Versluis began the Olympic season at the 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy, where they placed sixth.[13] They were assigned to the 2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, seeing to qualify a place for Finland at the 2022 Winter Olympics. They placed first in both programs, setting three new personal bests to take both their first Challenger gold and the first of four available dance spots.[14] At their third Challenger event of the season, the 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, Turkkila/Versluis came sixth, notably managing fourth place in the free dance.[9] They competed at the 2021 Cup of Nice, also known as Trophée Métropole Nice, where they won gold, before going on to make their Grand Prix appearance at the 2021 Internationaux de France, where they finished in seventh.[15]
After winning their second Finnish national title, Turkkila/Versluis were named to the Finnish Olympic team. Turkkila had a mild case of COVID-19 in late December and recovered, but due to the fact that she continued to test positive, the team was unable to participate in the 2022 European Championships.
Making their appearance at the Beijing Olympics dance event, Turkkila/Versluis were the first Finnish ice dancers to appear in the Winter Olympics since Rahkamo/Kokko in 1994. They placed sixteenth in the rhythm dance, qualifying to the free dance.[16] They moved up one place in the free dance, finishing fifteenth.[17]
Turkkila and Versluis concluded the season at the 2022 World Championships, held in Montpellier with Russian dance teams absent due to the International Skating Union banning all Russian athletes due to their country's invasion of Ukraine.[18] They finished twelfth.[9]
Programs


Ice dancing with Versluis
Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
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2021–2022 [19] |
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2019–2021 [20][21] |
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2018–2019 [2][3] |
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Short dance | ||
2017–2018 [22] |
|
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2016–2017 |
Single skating
Season | Short program | Free skating |
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2015–2016 [7] |
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2014–2015 [23] |
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2013–2014 [24] |
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2012–2013 [25][26] |
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2011–2012 [27] |
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2010–2011 [28] |
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2009–2010 |
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Results
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
Ice dancing with Versluis
International[9] | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Event | 16–17 | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 |
Olympics | 15th | |||||
Worlds | 16th | C | 21st | 12th | ||
Europeans | 11th | WD | ||||
GP Finland | 6th | |||||
GP France | 7th | |||||
CS Finlandia | 15th | 6th | WD | 6th | ||
CS Lombardia | 10th | 6th | WD | 6th | ||
CS Nebelhorn Trophy | 1st | |||||
CS Ondrej Nepela | 7th | |||||
CS Tallinn Trophy | 13th | |||||
Universiade | 8th | 4th | ||||
Bavarian Open | 11th | 6th | 3rd | |||
Cup of Nice | 13th | 1st | ||||
Egna Trophy | 5th | 1st | ||||
Ice Challenge | 3rd | |||||
Ice Star | 2nd | |||||
NRW Trophy | 6th | |||||
Open d'Andorra | 5th | |||||
Warsaw Cup | 3rd | |||||
National | ||||||
Finnish Champ. | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | C | 1st | |
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew; C = Cancelled |
Single skating
International[1] | ||||||||
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Event | 08–09 | 09–10 | 10–11 | 11–12 | 12–13 | 13–14 | 14–15 | 15–16 |
Worlds | 20th | 18th | 31st | 29th | ||||
Europeans | 15th | 17th | 17th | 12th | ||||
CS Finlandia | 7th | 14th | ||||||
CS Nebelhorn | 6th | 10th | ||||||
CS Warsaw Cup | 6th | |||||||
Challenge Cup | 6th | |||||||
Cup of Nice | 8th | 21st | ||||||
Finlandia Trophy | 6th | 6th | 7th | |||||
Lombardia Trophy | 5th | |||||||
Nebelhorn Trophy | 9th | 14th | ||||||
Nordics | 3rd | 1st | 5th | |||||
Skate Helena | 1st | |||||||
Volvo Open Cup | 3rd | |||||||
International: Junior[1] | ||||||||
Junior Worlds | 16th | 19th | ||||||
JGP Estonia | 13th | |||||||
JGP Germany | 10th | |||||||
JGP Poland | 13th | |||||||
Ice Challenge | 5th J | 3rd J | ||||||
Nordics | 5th J | |||||||
Warsaw Cup | 9th N | |||||||
National[1] | ||||||||
Finnish Champ. | 4th J | 1st J | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | ||
Levels: N = Novice; J = Junior |
References
- "Competition Results: Juulia TURKKILA". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016.
- "Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019.
- "Q & A: Juulia Turkkila & Matthias Versluis". ice-dance.com. 20 December 2018. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- "Juulia TURKKILA". rinkresults.com. Archived from the original on 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2019-01-13.
- "Suomen taitoluistelijoille taas takaisku: Nyt loukkaantui Juulia Turkkila" [Finnish figure skater]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 22 October 2014. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- Pusa, Ari (20 January 2016). "Taitoluistelija Juulia Turkkila loukkaantui jälleen – jo toinen kausi peräkkäin piloille" [Figure skater Juulia Turkkila]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
- "Juulia TURKKILA: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016.
- "Juulia Turkkila ja Matthias Versluis jäätanssipariksi" [Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis team up for ice dancing] (in Finnish). Finnish Figure Skating Association. 1 April 2016. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- "Competition Results: Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 13 January 2019.
- Skating Finland [@SkatingFinland] (1 October 2019). "Juulia Turkkila-Matthias Versluis announced today: "Unfortunately we have to postpone the start of our competitive season due to Juulia's neck injury. We hope to be back soon and stronger than ever." Get well soon but be patience with the recovery! 💛" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- Ewing, Lori (March 11, 2020). "World figure skating championships cancelled in Montreal". CBC Sports. Archived from the original on March 22, 2021. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
- "ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 Results – Ice Dance". International Skating Union.
- "Lombardia Trophy 2021". Federazione Italiana Sport del Ghiaccio.
- Flade, Tatjana (September 25, 2021). "Finland's Turkkila and Versluis dance off with Nebelhorn gold". Golden Skate.
- Slater, Paula (November 20, 2021). "Papadakis and Cizeron take 12th Grand Prix gold in France". Golden Skate.
- "Suomalaiset palasivat jäätanssin olympiajäälle upealla tavalla – Turkkila ja Versluis saivat tiedon jatkopaikasta yllättävällä hetkellä" [The Finns returned to the ice age of ice dancing in a wonderful way - Turkkila and Versluis received information about the continuation at a surprising moment]. Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). 12 February 2022.
- Penny, Brandon (February 13, 2022). "How the free dance transpired and determined Olympic ice dance medalists". NBC Sports.
- Campigotto, Jesse (March 22, 2022). "Get ready for a bizarre figure skating world championships". CBC Sports.
- "Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021.
- "Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019.
- "Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021.
- "Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018.
- "Juulia TURKKILA: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015.
- "Juulia TURKKILA: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 4 June 2014.
- "Juulia TURKKILA: 2012/2013". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 16 July 2013.
- Halonen, Lena (4 January 2013). "Juulia Turkkila: "I think I am ready"". Absolute Skating. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
- "Juulia TURKKILA: 2011/2012". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 January 2012.
- "Juulia TURKKILA: 2010/2011". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 15 August 2011.
External links
Media related to Juulia Turkkila at Wikimedia Commons
- Juulia Turkkila / Matthias Versluis at the International Skating Union
- Juulia Turkkila at the International Skating Union
- Juulia Turkkila at Tracings