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Valtter Virtanen skated the short program with a score of 68.33 and will surely be among the top 24 going on to the free program.
At the age of 35, Valtter Virtanen has skated the best season of his long career, and in the short program of the European figure skating championships in Espoo, he continued on the same course.
Virtanen started his short program with a combination of two triple plugs that hit the button, and although the triple lutz and double axel didn't succeed quite as well, he advanced to the free program, which was skated among the top 24 on Friday, with a score of 68.33.
He was 18th in the short program. The highest score on Wednesday was skated by Adam Siao Him Fa, representing France, who scored 96.53 points from the judges.
Virtanen missed his short program record by 1.01 points, which was set in September in Nebelhorn.
- The start was amazing, probably the best jumping combination of my career. I really enjoyed that descent arc. The other two jumps were such that it was done, but there is no need to celebrate them. Otherwise, it was relaxed and nice after that. Not a huge success. I had calculated that there were seams in more than 70 points, Virtanen said.
Virtanen is in a new kind of situation at the European Championships. This season, he has skated his personal record score of 204.02 in November at the GP race in Espoo.
- It's been such a great season, and if we're being honest, three Russian skaters who have always been in the front are missing here. Although the performance is important, so is the ranking, and now it's time to improve the career-best ranking.