Soucisse/Firus Selected To Represent Ireland At 2024 Euros
Carolane Soucisse and Shane Firus have been named to the Irish team for the 2024 ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania (8-14 January). This will be the first time Ireland will be represented in the ice dance category at the event.
Soucisse and Firus have been skating together since 2016. They are coached by Carol Lane, Jon Lane, Juris Rasgulajevs and Marc-Andre Servant at the Scarboro Figure Skating Club in Toronto, Canada. They won their first Irish national title in June 2023 and made their international debut for Ireland at the Bosphorus Cup in Istanbul, Turkey at the beginning of this month.
“It is such an honour to be selected to be part of the team representing Ireland at our first European Championships,” Soucisse said. “We aim to make the most of this experience and make Ireland proud!”
“We are ecstatic to be selected to represented Ireland at this coming European Championships,” Firus added. “We look forward to performing our programmes at such a prestigious event.”
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 last year’s Europeans in Espoo, Finland.
In order to earn entry to the championships, eligible skaters must attain a minimum technical element score in both of their programmes during the current or preceding season. The championships are held annually and this is the first time they take place in Lithuania.
