Soucisse And Firus Set For Second Euros Appearance
Carolane Soucisse (29) and Shane Firus (30) fly the flag for Ireland again this year at the ISU European Figure Skating Championships which are being held this week (29 January to 2 February) in Tallinn, Estonia.
This will be the second outing for the ice dance duo at Europeans. Last year in Kaunas, Lithuania, they finished 13th and will be looking to maintain or improve on that ranking this time round. The husband and wife team have had a busy season with this being their fifth competition on European ice. The two-time Irish national champions train in Toronto, Canada with their coaches Carol Lane, Jon Lane, Juris Rasgulajevs and Marc-Andre Servant.
Soucisse and Firus get their journey at this Europeans under way in the rhythm dance which begins at 10:30 (Irish time) on Friday, 31 January. Thirty teams from 23 nations will fight for the 20 spots available in the free dance on Saturday, 1 February.
“We really want to showcase all the hard work and improvements we have to the programmes, especially compared to the first half of the season,” Firus said.
“We want to show two strong and confident performances and get off the ice feeling accomplished,” Soucisse added. “In terms of results, the field is very strong, but we hope to be able to place in the top 15.”
Europeans are the oldest ISU championship event having first been contested in 1891. Ireland made its debut at the championships in 2009 when Clara Peters skated in the women’s event. Peters also participated in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 editions. In 2018, Conor Stakelum became the first Irish male figure skater to perform at the championships and he subsequently made appearances in 2019, 2020 and 2022. Sam McAllister represented Ireland at the 2023 Europeans. Last year Soucisse and Firus became the first ice dance team from Ireland to compete at Europeans. Ireland has had entries each of the previous two times (2010 and 2022) Europeans has been hosted in Tallinn.
In order to earn entry to the championships, eligible skaters must attain a combined minimum technical element score of both their programmes during the current or preceding season. The championships are held annually and this is the third time they take place in Tallinn.
The ISU European Figure Skating Championships will be broadcast on the Skating ISU YouTube channel. Geographical restrictions may apply. The results of the championships can be followed on the event results page and on social media via the #EuroFigure and #FigureSkating hashtags.
