Sauli Niinistö scores at opening of European Figure Skating Championships

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Finland's Speaker of Parliament Sauli Niinistö described it as the toughest assignment he had ever had, but he managed to pull it off.
      Niinistö pretty much stole the show at the opening ceremonies for the European Figure Skating Championships, which got under way in Helsinki's Hartwall Arena on Tuesday.
     
In front of an almost full house including President Tarja Halonen, Niinistö skated with Susanna Rahkamo, one half of a former European ice dance gold medallist pairing.
      He may not have looked like a world-beater, but the 60-year-old Speaker and former Minister of Finance and National Coalition Party chairman - a keen rollerblading enthusiast - remained solidly upright and achieved what he had jokingly said was his objective, "to stay in the same rink with Susanna".
      Niinistö is chairman of the games' organising committee, and Rahkamo chairs the Finnish Figure Skating Association, so the pairing was not exactly pulled out of a hat.
     
The European Championships continue until Sunday, and Finland is hoping for a couple of medals from the ladies' event, in which there are three strong local representatives.
      Tuesday's actual competition skating featured the compulsory dance in the ice dance competition. The Russian pair of Jana Kokholova and Sergei Novitski led the field with a score of 37.43, ahead of Federica Faiella and Massimo Scali from Italy, with Sinead and John Kerr from Great Britain in third.
      The Finns Sasha Palomäki and Oksana Klimova were 24th.
      Also on show were the pairs in their short programme.
      There was a minor surprise when the Russian pairing of Maria Muhortova and Maxim Trankov took top honours ahead of the reigning European and World Champions Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany.
     
Today sees the entry of the men, with their short programme, and in the evening the pairs round off their event with the free skating programme.
      Finland's Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari will be skating in the second session of the men's short programme this afternoon.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Speaker Sauli Niinistö to skate at opening of European Championships (15.1.2009)

Links:
  ISU European Figure Skating Championships 2009
  International Skating Union

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