Juulia Turkkila

Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis at the2024 World Championships
Personal information
Born	(1994-11-03)3 November 1994 (age 31) Helsinki, Finland
Height	1.64 m (5 ft4+1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
Country	Finland
Discipline	Ice dance (since 2016) Women's singles (2009–16)
Partner	Matthias Versluis (since 2016)
Coach	Maurizio Margaglio Neil Brown
Skating club	Helsingin Luistelijat
Began skating	2001
HighestWS	34th (2020–21)
Medal record
Event European Championships 0 0 1 Finnish Championships 5 4 1 Medal list European Championships 2023 Espoo Ice dance Finnish Championships 2014 Espoo Singles 2019 Kouvola Ice dance 2022 Pori Ice dance 2023 Joensuu Ice dance 2024 Helsinki Ice dance 2025 Rauma Ice dance 2012 Tampere Singles 2013 Joensuu Singles 2017 Tampere Ice dance 2018 Kouvola Ice dance 2016 Mikkeli Singles

Juulia Turkkila (Finnish pronunciation:[ˈjuːliɑˈturkkːilɑ]; born 3 November 1994) is a Finnishfigure skater. Competing inice dancing withMatthias Versluis, she is the2023 European bronze medalist, a two-timeGrand Prix of Espoo bronze medalist,2023 CS Finlandia Trophy gold medalist, and a five-timeFinnish national champion (2019, 2022–24). Turkkila/Versluis also earned a small bronze medal for the free dance segment at the2025 European Championships.

As a single skater, she is the 2012Nordic champion and2014 Finnish national champion. She competed in the final segment at eightISU Championships, achieving her best result, twelfth, at the2014 Europeans.^[1]

Juulia Turkkila was born on 3 November 1994 inHelsinki,Finland.^[2] At age six, she began training in ballet at the Finnish National Opera and Ballet.^[3][4] After graduating from secondary school, she decided to study economics atAalto University.^[3]

Turkkila began learning to skate in 2001.^[2] She made her junior international debut at theNordic Championships in February 2010.^[5]

Turkkila placed sixteenth at the2011 World Junior Championships, fifteenth at the2011 European Championships, and twentieth at the2011 World Championships. She won the bronze medal at the 2011Nordics.

Turkkila won the silver medal at the2012 Finnish Championships, behindKiira Korpi. She placed seventeenth at the2012 European Championships, nineteenth at the2012 World Junior Championships, and eighteenth at the2012 World Championships. She won the gold medal at the 2012Nordics.

Turkkila placed sixth at the2012 Finlandia Trophy and ninth at the2012 Nebelhorn Trophy. She won the silver medal at the2013 Finnish Championships, again finishing second toKiira Korpi. She was seventeenth at the2013 European Championships but was eliminated from the2013 World Championships after placing thirty-first in the short program.

Turkkila placed seventh at the2013 Finlandia Trophy and fourteenth at the2013 Nebelhorn Trophy. She won the gold medal at the2014 Finnish Championships. She was twelfth at the2014 European Championships, her best result at the Europeans this far. She did not reach the final at the2014 World Championships, placing twenty-ninth in the short program.

Turkkila participated at the2014 Finlandia Trophy, where she placed 7th, and at the2014 Nebelhorn Trophy, where she placed sixth. On 22 October 2014, it was reported that she had a season-ending injury.^[6]

Turkkila returned to competition in 2015, placing 5th at theLombardia Trophy. She was tenth at the2015 Nebelhorn Trophy and fourteenth at the2015 Finlandia Trophy. In December 2015, Turkkila won the bronze medal at theFinnish Championships. On 20 January 2016, the Finnish Figure Skating Association reported that her season was over due to a groin strain.^[7] Tarja Sipilä coached Turkkila at Helsingin Luistelijat figure skating club inHelsinki.^[8]

On 1 April 2016, the Finnish Figure Skating Association reported that Turkkila had teamed up withMatthias Versluis to compete inice dancing.^[9]

Making their international debut, Turkkila/Versluis placed sixth at theNRW Trophy in November 2016. Later that month, they finished 13th at their firstISU Challenger Series assignment, the2016 CS Tallinn Trophy. In December, they took the silver medal behindTörn/Partanen at the2017 Finnish Championships. In February, they represented Finland at the2017 Winter Universiade, finishing eighth.^[10]

Turkkila/Versluis competed at a pair of Challenger Series competitions – placing tenth at the2017 CS Lombardia Trophy, and fifteenth at the2017 CS Finlandia Trophy – and then finished thirteenth at theInternational Cup of Nice. In November, they won bronze at theIce Challenge in Austria. In December, they repeated as national silver medalists, again finishing second to Törn/Partanen.^[10]

Turkkila/Versluis began their season with three Challenger Series events – they finished sixth at the2018 CS Lombardia Trophy, seventh at the2018 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, and sixth at the2018 CS Finlandia Trophy. In October, the duo won silver at theMinsk-Arena Ice Star. In November, they debuted on theGrand Prix series, placing sixth at the2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki, and then took bronze at theWarsaw Cup. The following month, they became the Finnish national champions and were selected to compete at the2019 European Championships inMinsk, Belarus, where they placed eleventh. They then competed at their firstWorld Championships, placing sixteenth.^[10]

Turkkila sustained a neck injury in a practice session at the2019 CS Lombardia Trophy, compelling the team to withdraw from the competition. They subsequently also withdrew from the2019 CS Finlandia Trophy and the2019 Rostelecom Cup, theirGrand Prix assignment for the year.^[11] They were assigned to compete at theWorld Championships inMontreal, but these were cancelled as a result of thecoronavirus pandemic.^[12]

Returning to competition for the first time in two years, Turkkila/Versluis represented Finland at the2021 World Championships inStockholm, placing twenty-first after a fluke error on the rotational lift.^[13]

Turkkila/Versluis began the Olympic season at the2021 CS Lombardia Trophy, where they placed sixth.^[14] They were assigned to the2021 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, seeing toqualify a place for Finland at the2022 Winter Olympics. They placed first in both programs, setting three new personal bests to take both their firstChallenger gold and the first of four available dance spots.^[15] At theirthird Challenger event of the season, the2021 CS Finlandia Trophy, Turkkila/Versluis came sixth, notably managing fourth place in the free dance.^[10] They competed at the 2021 Cup of Nice, also known as Trophée Métropole Nice, where they won gold, before going on to make theirGrand Prix appearance at the2021 Internationaux de France, where they finished in seventh.^[16]

After winning their second Finnish national title, Turkkila/Versluis were named to theFinnish Olympic team. Turkkila had a mild case ofCOVID-19 in late December and recovered, but because she continued to test positive, the team was unable to participate in the2022 European Championships.

Making their appearance at theBeijing Olympicsdance event, Turkkila/Versluis were the first Finnish ice dancers to appear in the Winter Olympics sinceRahkamo/Kokko in1994. They placed sixteenth in the rhythm dance, qualifying for the free dance.^[17] They moved up one place in the free dance, finishing fifteenth.^[18]

Turkkila/Versluis concluded the season at the2022 World Championships, held inMontpellier. They finished twelfth.^[10]

Turkkila/Versluis won the bronze medal at the2022 CS Finlandia Trophy before taking the gold medal at the 2022Cup of Nice.^[10] They were considered medal contenders going into theGrand Prix, but placed eighth in the rhythm dance after Turkkila fell during the twizzle sequence. They were fifth in the free dance, rising to seventh overall.^[19] Their second event was the2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, held on home ice in Finland instead of theRostelecom Cup as a result of theRusso-Ukrainian War. They finished fourth in the rhythm dance with a new personal best score of 75.06, 1.16 points behind third-place AmericansCarreira/Ponomarenko.^[20] In the free dance, they rose to third overall with another new personal best (116.73), taking the bronze medal with a total score of 191.79. They were the lone Finnish medalists at the Finnish Grand Prix event and the first Finnish dance team to ever medal in the Grand Prix. Turkkila said that the result "gives us a lot of confidence. We know what we are capable of, and we want to achieve more. This is just the beginning."^[21][22]

After winning their third Finnish national title, Turkkila/Versluis were their country's primary medal hope at a homeEuropean Championships, hosted, like the Grand Prix, inEspoo. This was their first appearance at the European Championships since 2019. They finished third in the rhythm dance with a new personal best score of 77.56, 0.23 points ahead of fourth-place Lithuanian teamReed/Ambrulevičius.^[23][24] In the free dance, Turkkila/Versluis set new personal bests in that segment and overall, and won the bronze medal. This was the first European medal for a Finnish dance team sinceRahkamo/Kokko's gold in1995. Versluis called it "absolutely amazing," especially in light of their previous absences.^[25][26]

Turkkila/Versluis concluded the season at the2023 World Championships inSaitama, where they finished ninth, the first time since1995 that a Finnish team placed in the top ten. Turkkila commented that "in August, you couldn't have imagined that there would be a season like this. All expectations have been exceeded."^[27]

Beginning the season at the2023 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, Turkkila/Versluis won the bronze medal.^[10] Competing next on home ice at the2023 CS Finlandia Trophy, they won the rhythm dance.^[28] Second in the free dance, they remain in first place overall, becoming the first Finnish dance team to win the gold medal at the Finlandia Trophy. The duo noted that theEspoo Metro Areena had been the site of many milestones in their careers, including national singles championships, making it a place of "many meanings."^[29] With Finland again hosting on theGrand Prix in the same venue, they won another bronze medal at the2023 Grand Prix of Espoo.^[30] Turkkila/Versluis went on to finish fourth at the2023 NHK Trophy, which they said they considered a strong result given that they were competing on consecutive weekends. Turkkila said they were "overall very happy" with the first half of the season.^[31]

After claiming their fourth national gold medal, Turkkila/Versluis sought to defend their podium place at the2024 European Championships. They came sixth in both segments, placing sixth overall. They received a deduction of an extra element in the free dance, which they said they would research for future performances to understand the error.^[32] They then finished the season at the2024 World Championships, coming tenth. Turkkila praised the crowd at theMontreal event as "amazing," while admitting that "result wise, we could have done even a bit better this season, especially at Europeans. But the field is big and competitive."^[33]

Turkkila and Versluis shared that their goal for the2024-25 figure skating season was to either match or surpass their achievements from the2023–24 figure skating season.^[34] They began the season by competing on theChallenger circuit, winning bronze at the2024 CS Budapest Trophy and finishing fourth at the2024 CS Nepela Memorial.^[10] Going on to compete on the2024–25 Grand Prix series, they were first assigned to the2024 Finlandia Trophy, which was for the first time held as part of the Grand Prix rather than the Challenger series. They again won the bronze medal on home ice, with their tango-themed free dance earning a notable audience response.^[35] The following week they competed at the2024 Cup of China, where they were fifth.^[36]

In December, Turkkila/Versluis would win their fifth national title at the2025 Finnish Championships.^[10] The following month they participated in the2025 European Championships inTallinn, coming fourth in the rhythm dance despite Versluis losing two levels on his twizzle element. Their score of 81.26 was 0.31 points back of third-place BritonsFear/Gibson. They placed third in the free dance with a new personal best score of 124.43 despite each losing a twizzle level, receiving a bronze small medal for the segment, but remained in fourth overall. Both said they had found the event difficult, but Turkkila added that it was "still meaningful to have the small medal for the tango, which shows that the tango was appreciated by the public and the judges."^[37]

Following the European Championships, Turkkila/Versluis participated in the Road to 26 Trophy, the test event for the2026 Winter Olympics, held atMilan'sForum di Milano. They won the gold medal.^[38] They finished the season at the2025 World Championships inBoston, Massachusetts, United States, which were also theprimary qualifying event for the Milan Olympics. Skating in the penultimate group of the rhythm dance, Versluis fell in their midline step sequence, resulting in them scoring only 68.09. They initially appeared poised to miss qualification for the free dance by one ordinal, but after Lithuanian teamReed/Ambrulevičius also had a fall and dropped below them, they were instead the final team to qualify, twentieth in the segment. Turkkila/Versluis were seventh in the free dance, rising to eleventh overall. Turkkila said it had been "an absolute roller coaster of emotions when we learned in the locker room that maybe there was a chance we would get to skate this free dance again. It felt like a gift, and we are so happy we could end our season with a happy memory."^[39] Their placement, in addition toOrihara/Pirinen's fourteenth-place finish won Finland two quotas for ice dance at the2026 Winter Olympics.^[40]

Although assigned to compete at2025 Skate Canada International, Turkkila/Versluis withdrew from the event due to Versluis sustaining a leg nerve injury during the off-season.^[41][42] They subsequently withdrew from the2025 Finlandia Trophy as well.^[43]

Media related toJuulia Turkkila at Wikimedia Commons

• Juulia Turkkila / Matthias Versluis at theInternational Skating Union
• Juulia Turkkila at theInternational Skating Union
• Juulia Turkkila at Tracings
• Juulia Turkkila atOlympedia
• Juulia Turkkila atOlympics.com
• Juulia Turkkila atOlympiakomitea.fi(in Finnish)
• Turkkila & Versluis onInstagram

• Finnish female single skaters
• Finnish female ice dancers
• 1994 births
• Living people
• Figure skaters from Helsinki
• Competitors at the 2017 Winter Universiade
• Competitors at the 2019 Winter Universiade
• Figure skaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Finland
• European Figure Skating Championships medalists
• 21st-century Finnish sportswomen

• CS1 Finnish-language sources (fi)
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