Finlandia Trophy 2024: Yoshida Hana leads the way after women's short program as Gutmann and Everhardt spring surprises
There were new personal best scores for Japan's Yoshida and Italy's Lara Naki Gutmann, while USA's Sarah Everhardt sits third following the women's short program in Helsinki.
Figure Skating
Yoshida Hana wasn't perfect but still managed to score a new personal best and wow the crowds at the 2024 Finlandia Trophy, the fifth stop on the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating, on Friday (15 November) to top the standings in the women's short program.
The Japanese teen, skating to Christopher Tin's Temen Oblak (Dark Clouds), sits on the verge of a second Grand Prix podium of the season thanks to her strong artistry and choreography, which made up for a quarter under-rotation on her triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination. The combination received a negative grade of execution from the judges.
Despite that, Yoshida scored a total of 67.87 points, bettering her previous personal mark by nearly a full point.
"I know I could do better in my jumps, but I'm pretty satisfied and I'm excited about tomorrow," the 19-year-old said in near-fluent English afterwards. "I will be nervous tomorrow too, but I will just concentrate on myself. I want to skate calm and just enjoy."
The crowd in the Helsinki Ice Hall was also treated to an intriguing skate from Italy's Lara Naki Gutmann, who outscored Yoshida on her technical elements but sits second on 67.06 points.
Gutmann chose a medley from the popular Republic of Korea series Squid Game for her routine, with the unmistakeable "Red Light, Green Light" music blaring out over the arena to start a program she would go on to nail. All that was missing was the eerie doll that plays a part in the game on the television series.
The Italian landed her triple toeloop-triple toeloop combination, double Axel, and triple Lutz cleanly, with the Lutz looking especially solid.
"The audience started clapping from the beginning from my program and they gave me a lot of energy throughout," Gutmann said. "That was really motivating and very nice."
The U.S. skater Sarah Everhardt, who turned 18 on Tuesday, finished third on 66.28 points, marking her first senior international top-three placing in a Grand Prix segment.
"I try not to think about medals a lot, I just think about my skate and going and doing my best," she said. "I know if I skate my best there's a good chance of getting a good score but I'm really happy to be in medal position after the short."
Unusual programs soar for Yoshida and Gutmann
Yoshida and Gutmann's music choices for their short programs are, to say the least, unusual. So much so that Gutmann admitted afterwards in the press conference that instead of Squid Game, she had considered – but ultimately decided against – the popular choice this season of many other skaters to perform to the soundtrack from Dune.
"It took me two months to find a short program music and I went through a lot of stuff. Dune was on the list but I wasn't sure, so after two months my coach came up [to me] on the ice and put on the Squid Game soundtrack. There were many interesting pieces [in it] and that's why I chose that," Gutmann explained.
"As soon as I heard it with my coach, I knew it was really interesting. And I had the opportunity to work with Stéphane Lambiel on this program and it was the first time I could do the whole choreography with him. I really have fun doing it."
Yoshida, meanwhile, chose American composer Tin to soundtrack her short program as she felt it told a story.
"In the beginning, it's [about] a drop of water and then goes through rivers and becomes a big ocean, so it's a story about building up to the ocean. In the middle step sequence, it's wild and kind of crazy and I really enjoy the unusual feeling from it."
While both Yoshida, who also competed at Skate Canada International in October, and Everhardt – whose last Grand Prix outing was in France two weeks ago – have had time to ready for this week in Helsinki, Gutmann has had almost none by comparison.
She was a late call-up to the skater list, after both Loena Hendrickx and Isabeau Levito withdrew on 4 November; Gutmann also competed in the NHK Trophy in Tokyo last weekend, making her second place all the more special.
"I've been struggling a little bit from Tokyo, coming back home [after] travelling a lot," the Italian admitted. "I feel like the training in the past few days weren't so good because of the travel and the jet lag so I'm really happy about today's score and I could show what I'm really working on in training.
"I did this competition last year too and both years it was a surprise as the [call] came late in the Grand Prix season so I'm very satisfied to be here [in the top three]."
Finlandia Trophy 2024 women's short program results
- Yoshida Hana (JPN) 67.87
- Lara Naki Gutmann (ITA) 67.06
- Sarah Everhardt (USA) 66.28
- Matsuike Rino (JPN) 64.82
- Yun Ahsun (KOR) 63.16
- Mihara Mai (JPN) 59.56
- Lorine Schild (FRA) 59.22
- Lindsay Thorngren (USA) 57.37
- Janna Jyrkinen (FIN) 55.30
- Olivia Lisko (FIN) 54.68
- Niina Petrokina (EST) 53.76
- Nella Pelkonen (FIN) 52.14