Jenni Saarinen

Jenni Saarinen
Saarinen in 2015
Born (1999-03-09) 9 March 1999 (age 25)
Espoo, Finland
HometownTampere, Finland
Height1.67 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Figure skating career
CountryFinland
Skating clubKoovee
Began skating2004
Retired26 November 2022

Jenni Saarinen (born 9 March 1999) is a Finnish retired competitive figure skater. She is a two-time Challenger series bronze medalist, a two-time Nordics champion (2015, 2019), the 2018 Christmas Cup silver medalist, and the 2022 Finnish national champion. Saarinen represented Finland at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Personal life

Jenni Saarinen was born on 9 March 1999 in Espoo, Finland. She practiced gymnastics for five years as a child.[1]

Career

Early years

Saarinen started skating when she was about five years old.[1] She began competing on the junior international level in the autumn of 2012. She was assigned to the 2013 World Junior Championships in Milan, Italy, where she finished 14th.

Saarinen made her ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut and won the junior title at the 2014 Finnish Championships.[2] She placed 13th at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Senior career

Saarinen continued competing on the JGP series before making her senior international debut at the 2014 Finlandia Trophy, a Challenger Series (CS) event. In November 2014, she won a bronze medal at the CS Volvo Open Cup. In the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, she placed 8th in the short program and 13th overall.

In the 2015–16 season, Saarinen was assigned to the 2015 Tallinn Trophy but withdrew before the short program.[3] In December, she won the silver medal at the 2016 Finnish Figure Skating Championships, only 0.15 points behind Anni Järvenpää. She was 3rd in the short program and won the free skating.

Saarinen made her senior World Championship debut at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, placing twenty-fourth.[4] This result qualified a place for Finland at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.[5] The following season, Saarinen won the senior Finnish national title for the first time and made the free skate at the 2022 European Championships, finishing seventeenth; she originally finished eighteenth overall,[6] but the retroactive disqualification of Kamila Valieva resulted in all other ladies singles skaters moving up a place. Named to the Finnish Olympic team, Saarinen placed twenty-fifth in the short program of the Olympic women's event. This would normally have had her one ordinal outside qualification to the free skate, but due to the controversial Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision allowing Valieva to compete in the event despite suspicion of illegal doping the International Olympic Committee decreed that twenty-five skaters would advance.[7] Saarinen finished twenty-fourth overall; she originally finished twenty-fifth overall,[8] but Valieva was disqualified by the CAS in 2024 and all skaters who originally placed fifth or lower moved up a place. She was twenty-fifth as well at the 2022 World Championships.[6]

Illness delayed the start of Saarinen's 2022–23 season, while she also struggled with motivation and had it affect her everyday life. After finishing twelfth at the 2022 CS Ice Challenge, Saarinen decided that she would retire following the 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, the second special Grand Prix event held in Finland. She placed ninth at the event and explained afterward that she had "a long, great career with ups and downs. I'm starting to get to the point in life where there are other things in life."[9]

Programs

Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2022–2023
[10]
2021–2022
2020–2021
[11]
  • Oriental
    by Raul Ferrando, Fathi Aljarah, Adam Hurst
    choreo. by Adam Solya
2019–2020
[12]
2018–2019
2017–2018
2016–2017
2015–2016
2014–2015
[1]
2013–2014
[13]
  • Solitary Hill
  • Canon in D
  • Wind
2012–2013
[14]

Competitive highlights

CS: Challenger Series; GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International[6]
Event 12–13 13–14 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20 20–21 21–22 22–23
Olympics 24th
Worlds 24th 25th
Europeans 33rd 17th
GP Finland 9th
CS Asian Open 5th
CS Finlandia Trophy 5th 4th 12th
CS Ice Challenge 12th
CS Lombardia Trophy 9th
CS Nebelhorn Trophy 3rd
CS Tallinn Trophy WD 17th
CS Volvo Cup 3rd
CS Warsaw Cup 10th 9th
Challenge Cup 8th 12th 10th
Christmas Cup 2nd
Cup of Tyrol 4th
Denkova-Staviski 4th
FBMA Trophy 4th
Nordics 1st 4th 12th 6th 1st 3rd
NRW Trophy 3rd 5th
International: Junior[6]
Junior Worlds 14th 13th 13th
JGP Czech Rep. 7th
JGP Japan 9th
JGP Poland 10th
JGP Slovenia 9th
EYOF 4th
Bavarian Open 1st
Cup of Nice 3rd
Ice Star 1st
Nordics 1st 1st
National[6]
Finnish Champ. 3rd J 1st J 2nd 2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd 2nd C 1st
J = Junior level; WD = Withdrew; C = Event Cancelled

Detailed results

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Personal bests highlighted in bold.

2022–23 season
Date Event SP FS Total
November 25–27, 2022 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo 8
59.69 		11
95.95 		9
155.64
November 9–13, 2022 2022 CS Ice Challenge 11
51.60 		10
101.68 		12
153.28
2021–22 season
Date Event SP FS Total
March 21–27, 2022 2022 World Championships 25
55.30
- 		25
55.30
February 24–27, 2022 2022 Challenge Cup 3
57.48 		13
84.22 		10
141.70
February 15–17, 2022 2022 Winter Olympics 24
56.97 		24
96.07 		24
153.04
January 10–16, 2022 2022 European Championships 15
58.93 		18
101.39 		17
160.32
November 17–20, 2021 2021 CS Warsaw Cup 2
68.71 		16
96.14 		9
164.85
November 4–7, 2021 2021 NRW Trophy 3
57.26 		6
91.04 		5
148.30
October 13–17, 2021 2021 Asian Open Trophy 3
62.25 		8
92.20 		5
154.45
October 7–10, 2021 2021 CS Finlandia Trophy 7
67.05 		17
101.67 		12
168.72
2020–21 season
Date Event SP FS Total
March 22–28, 2021 2021 World Championships 14
63.54 		24
83.00 		24
146.54
February 25–28, 2021 2021 International Challenge Cup 11
52.23 		13
88.93 		12
141.16
November 26–29, 2020 2020 NRW Trophy 6
51.92 		3
96.03 		3
147.95
September 23–26, 2020 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy 4
57.25 		2
106.62 		3
163.87
2019–20 season
Date Event SP FS Total
February 20–23, 2020 2020 Challenge Cup 4
61.03 		13
93.82 		8
154.85
February 5–9, 2020 2019 Nordic Championships 4
54.76 		1
116.47 		3
171.23
January 20–26, 2020 2020 European Championships 33
42.61 		— 33
42.61
November 14–17, 2019 2019 CS Warsaw Cup 8
55.37 		12
105.27 		10
160.64
October 11–13, 2019 2019 CS Finlandia Trophy 4
60.06 		4
121.14 		4
181.20
September 13–15, 2019 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy 6
57.66 		9
103.98 		9
161.64
2018–19 season
Date Event SP FS Total
February 7–10, 2019 2019 Nordic Championships 1
56.07 		1
106.56 		1
162.63
December 14–16, 2018 2019 Finnish Championships 3
54.51 		2
105.28 		3
159.79
2017–18 season
Date Event SP FS Total
February 4–8, 2018 2018 Nordic Championships 4
50.31 		6
84.70 		6
135.01
November 21–26, 2017 2017 CS Tallinn Trophy 9
53.87 		19
84.88 		17
138.75
31 October – 4 November 2017 2017 Denkova-Staviski Cup 2
55.93 		8
79.58 		4
135.51
2016–17 season
Date Event SP FS Total
March 2–5, 2017 2017 Nordic Championships 6
48.63 		14
58.65 		12
107.28
January 5–7, 2017 2017 FBMA Trophy 7
39.57 		2
86.82 		4
126.39
December 15–18, 2016 2017 Finnish Championships 3
52.25 		2
87.24 		2
139.49
2015–16 season
Date Event SP FS Total
March 9–13, 2016 2016 Cup of Tyrol 5
51.45 		5
82.03 		4
133.48
February 24–28, 2016 2016 Nordic Championships 4
54.37 		4
94.32 		4
148.69
December 18–20, 2015 2016 Finnish Championships 3
51.62 		1
103.14 		2
154.76
2014–15 season
Date Event SP FS Total@
March 2–8, 2015 2015 World Junior Championships 8
55.43 		15
84.07 		13
139.50
February 11–15, 2015 2015 Nordic Championships 2
50.09 		2
95.98 		1
146.07
January 26–28, 2015 2015 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival 8
43.69 		3
85.24 		4
128.93
November 18–22, 2014 2015 Finnish Championships 2
52.81 		2
104.19 		2
157.00
November 5–9, 2014 2014 CS Volvo Open Cup 1
50.05 		4
91.25 		3
141.30
October 9–12, 2014 2014 CS Finlandia Trophy 6
48.55 		4
95.61 		5
144.16
2013–14 season
Date Event SP FS Total
March 10–16, 2014 2014 World Junior Championships 8
53.76 		13
87.26 		13
141.02

References

  1. ^ a b c "Jenni SAARINEN: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 21 May 2015.
  2. ^ Paasonen, Elina (15 December 2013). "Tapparan Saarinen juhli Suomen mestarina" [Saarinen wins Finnish junior title] (in Finnish). Aamulehti.
  3. ^ "Jenni Saarinen, taitoluistelu - Frontpage". Jennisaarinen.com. 2014-06-07. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  4. ^ "ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2021 Results – Ladies". International Skating Union.
  5. ^ "Communication No. 2388". International Skating Union. April 1, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Competition Results: Jenni SAARINEN". International Skating Union.
  7. ^ Penny, Brandon (February 15, 2022). "As it happened: ROC, U.S. skaters star in women's short program". NBC Sports.
  8. ^ Penny, Brandon (17 February 2022). "Re-live every moment of the historic Olympic women's free skate". NBC Sports.
  9. ^ "Jenni Saarinen, 23, lopetti uransa – "En enää nauttinut"" [Jenni Saarinen, 23, ended her career - "I no longer enjoyed it"]. Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). 26 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Jenni Saarinen : 2022/2023". ISU Results. ISU. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Jenni SAARINEN: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Jenni SAARINEN: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019.
  13. ^ "Jenni SAARINEN: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014.
  14. ^ "Jenni SAARINEN: 2012/2013". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 5 June 2013.
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