#47 Maurizio Margaglio: How Finland got back on top in ice dance

Juulia Turkkila and Matthias Versluis have been on everyone’s lips for the past few days after winning bronze in the European Figure Skating Championships 2023 in front of a home crowd. This was the first European medal in ice dance for Finland since Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko’s gold in 1995. We had the pleasure of having a chat with Juulia and Matthias’s coach, former World Champion and Olympic medalist Maurizio Margaglio, who has played a key role in creating an ice dance culture in Finland. What have been the key elements for building a successful ice dance school from scratch? What could us Finns seeking perfection learn from Italians? What does the mantra we’ve heard Juulia and Matthias repeat, “this is only the beginning”, actually mean?