Matthias Versluis
| Matthias Versluis | |
|---|---|
 Turkkila/Versluis in 2018 | |
| Personal information | |
| Country represented | Finland |
| Born | 18 July 1994 Genolier, Switzerland |
| Residence | Helsinki, Finland |
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Partner | Juulia Turkkila |
| Coach | Maurizio Margaglio |
| Former coach | Stefan Zins, Tiiu Valgemäe |
| Choreographer | Pasquale Camerlengo, Massimo Scali |
| Former choreographer | Tamara Selin, Sergei Atashev, Maria McLean |
| Skating club | SC Helsinki |
| Former skating club | Myllypuron taitoluisteluklubi |
| Training locations | Helsinki |
| Former training locations | Espoo |
| Began skating | 2002 |
| 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 |
Matthias Versluis (born 18 July 1994) is a Finnish figure skater. Competing in ice dancing with Juulia Turkkila, he has won multiple international medals and is a two-time Finnish national champion (2019, 2022). As a single skater, he is the 2014 Finnish national champion and competed in the final segment at two ISU Championships.
Personal life[]
Versluis was born on 18 July 1994 in Genolier, Switzerland,[1] to a Finnish mother and Dutch father.[2] He moved to Finland with his family when he was six months old.[2] As of 2018, he is studying physiotherapy.[3]
Career[]
Early career[]
Versluis began learning to skate in 2002.[1] Tiiu Valgemäe coached him early in his career.[4] In 2008, he debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, coached by Virpi Horttana, Sara Lindroos, and Arja Veijola.[4] He competed at the 2012 and 2013 World Junior Championships, qualifying for the free skate at both events.[5]
In December 2013, Versluis won the senior men's title at the 2014 Finnish Championships.[6] He was selected to compete at the 2014 European Championships but withdrew due to a knee injury, sustained in training on 9 January 2014.[7] His coaches were Virpi Horttana, Kati Perokorpi, and Henna Hietala.[8] By 2015, he was being coached by Stefan Zins.[9]
On 1 April 2016, the Finnish Figure Skating Association reported that Versluis had teamed up with Juulia Turkkila to compete in ice dancing.[10]
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 Cecilia Törn / Jussiville Partanen at the 2017 Finnish Championships. In February, they represented Finland at the 2017 Winter Universiade, finishing eighth.
2017–2018 season[]
Turkkila/Versluis competed at a pair of Challenger Series competitions – placing 10th at the 2017 CS Lombardia Trophy and 15th at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy – and then finished 13th 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.
2018–2019 season[]
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.
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.[11] They were assigned to compete at the World Championships in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[12]
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.[13]
2021–2022 season[]
Turkkila/Versluis began the Olympic season at the 2021 CS Lombardia Trophy, where they placed sixth.[14] They next 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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17]
Programs[]
Ice dancing with Turkkila[]
| Season | Rhythm dance | Free dance |
|---|---|---|
| 2021–2022 [18] |
|
|
| 2019–2021 [19][20] |
|
|
| 2018–2019 [1][3] |
|
|
| Short dance | ||
| 2017–2018 [21] |
|
|
| 2016–2017 |
Single skating[]
| Season | Short program | Free skating |
|---|---|---|
| 2013–2014 [8] |
|
|
| 2012–2013 [22] |
|
|
| 2011–2012 [23] |
|
|
| 2009–2010 [24] |
|
|
| 2008–2009 [4] |
|
Competitive highlights[]
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
Ice dancing with Turkkila[]
| International[16] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 16–17 | 17–18 | 18–19 | 19–20 | 20–21 | 21–22 |
| Olympics | TBD | |||||
| Worlds | 16th | C | 21st | |||
| Europeans | 11th | |||||
| GP Finland | 6th | |||||
| GP France | 7th | |||||
| GP Rostelecom Cup | WD | |||||
| 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[5] | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 06–07 | 07–08 | 08–09 | 09–10 | 10–11 | 11–12 | 12–13 | 13–14 | 14–15 | 15–16 |
| Europeans | WD | |||||||||
| CS Finlandia | 11th | |||||||||
| CS Golden Spin | 20th | |||||||||
| CS Nepela Trophy | 6th | |||||||||
| Challenge Cup | 7th | |||||||||
| Finlandia Trophy | 14th | 12th | 10th | |||||||
| Golden Bear | 1st | |||||||||
| Lombardia Trophy | 4th | |||||||||
| Nordics | 5th | 8th | 4th | |||||||
| NRW Trophy | 23rd | 7th | 16th | |||||||
| Printemps | 5th | |||||||||
| Volvo Open Cup | 13th | |||||||||
| International: Junior[5] | ||||||||||
| Junior Worlds | 21st | 19th | ||||||||
| JGP Austria | 13th | |||||||||
| JGP Belarus | 9th | |||||||||
| JGP Czech Rep. | 20th | |||||||||
| JGP Estonia | 12th | |||||||||
| JGP Germany | 11th | |||||||||
| JGP Latvia | 17th | |||||||||
| JGP Poland | 9th | |||||||||
| JGP U.K. | 11th | |||||||||
| Challenge Cup | 7th | |||||||||
| Cup of Nice | 14th | |||||||||
| EYOF | 4th | |||||||||
| Gardena | 5th | |||||||||
| Nordics | 3rd | 5th | ||||||||
| NRW Trophy | 3rd | 2nd | ||||||||
| International: Novice[5][25] | ||||||||||
| Copenhagen | 1st | |||||||||
| Nordics | 1st | |||||||||
| Warsaw Cup | 1st | |||||||||
| National[5] | ||||||||||
| Finnish Champ. | 3rd J | 4th J | 2nd J | 5th J | 1st J | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 4th | 3rd |
| J = Junior level; WD = Withdrew | ||||||||||
References[]
- ^ a b c "Juulia TURKKILA / Matthias VERSLUIS: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019.
- ^ a b Jokinen, Leena (17 December 2011). "Nurmenkari niukassa johdossa". is.fi (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 13 November 2018.
- ^ a b "Q & A: Juulia Turkkila & Matthias Versluis". ice-dance.com. 20 December 2018.
- ^ a b c "Matthias VERSLUIS: 2008/2009". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009.
- ^ a b c d e "Competition Results: Matthias VERSLUIS". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016.
- ^ Pusa, Ari (16 December 2013). "Matthias Versluis taitoluistelumestari ennätyspistein" [Matthias Versluis wins national title with record score]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish).
- ^ "Versluis loukkaantui - EM-kisat jäävät väliin" [Versluis injured, out of European Championships] (in Finnish). Ilta-Sanomat. Suomen Tietotoimisto. 11 January 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
- ^ a b "Matthias VERSLUIS: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 21 June 2014.
- ^ "Matthias VERSLUIS: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 27 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.
- ^ 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!