Skater Julia Sauter, outstanding short program at the Olympic Games! He qualified for the free program

UPDATE. Julia Sauter, program without error

Julia Sauter performed outstandingly and finished the short program with 63.13 points. A safe program, without major mistakes, lived at maximum intensity and with a permanent smile on your face.

It was more than enough to qualify for the free program. It will take place on Thursday, starting at 20:00.

Julia Sauter fought for her dream of making it to the Olympics, and Tuesday night she will be rewarded. Born in Germany, she has been competing for Romania since 2013. She financed her dream through fundraising on crowdfunding platforms, had to overcome moments of anxiety, coach changes and much more.

On Tuesday night, she will take the ice at the Milan rink for the short program with a lot of work behind her. At the bar will be his coach, Roxana Luca Hartman, who represented Romania at two editions of the Olympic Games, in 2002 and 2006.

Julia Sauter is only the third figure skater to represent Romania at the Winter Olympics. The first was Beatrice Huștiu at the 1968 edition.

Beatrice Huștiu and Roxana Luca, Julia Sauter's predecessors

The Romanian was then only eleven years and 158 days old, being the youngest participant in the Grenoble Olympic race. “I was spoiled! I know that I couldn't even eat, that they were taking pictures of me. Everywhere I went, journalists were after me. I did a lot of interviews then. I was a surprise. And the fact that I was a child, I say, relaxed and unfrozen, who was not afraid of anyone or anything, mattered”. said Beatrice Huștiu in 2020 for Adevărul.

The little girl, who was also the flag bearer, skated on Verdi's Aida, and at the demonstration gala on “Ciocârlia”, she took 29th place. She retired from skating at only 18 years old, missing the 1974 Olympic Games due to health problems of her mother.

The second figure skater to represent Romania at the Winter Olympics was Roxana Luca. Julia Sauter's current coach was present at the 2002 Salt Lake City and 2006 Turin editions.

In 2009, at the age of 26, he decided to retire. “I have only one regret regarding my career, that I didn't have the will to continue… I think I could have reached the 2010 Olympics if I had a little more moral support. Physically, I had problems with my spine and that led me, after the 2009 World Championships, to say stop, that's it until now…”, she said in an interview for UZPR.

Romania returns to the Olympic Games after a twelve-year break

Now it's Julia Sauter's turn, the one who achieved the best ranking for Romania at the European Championships, occupying the seventh position.

She will enter ninth in tonight's short program, which begins at 7:45 p.m. 29 skaters will compete, and the first 24 will qualify for Thursday's free program.

The last representative of Romania in the figure skating competition was Zoltan Kelemen, in 2014, in Sochi, taking 23rd place.

Romania's participation in the figure skating competition at the Olympic Games

• 1936 – Roman Turușanco (male) – 19th place, Irina Timcic/ Alfred Eisenbeisser-Feraru – (pairs) – 13th place

• 1968 – Beatrice Huștiu (female) – 29th place

• 1972 – Gheorghe Fazekas (male) – 17th place

• 1992 – Marius Negrea (male) – 27th place

• 1994 – Cornel Gheorghe (male) – 14th place, Marius Negrea (male) – 19th place

• 1998 – Cornel Gheorghe (male) – 21st place

• 2002 – Gheorghe Chiper (male) – 23rd place, Roxana Luca (female) – 23rd place

• 2006 – Gheorghe Chiper (male) – 14th placeRoxana Luca (female) – 26th place

• 2010 – Zoltan Kelemen (male) – 29th place

• 2014 – Zoltan Kelemen (male) – 23rd place