Laura Anneli Lepistö (born 25 April 1988) is a Finnish former competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 world bronze medalist, the 2009 European champion, and a two-time (2008 and 2010) Finnish national champion.

After missing two seasons with various injuries, Lepistö announced on March 25, 2012, that she would not return to competitive skating.

Personal life Lepistö was born in Espoo, Finland. In September 2010, she started her higher education studies at the Aalto University School of Economics in Helsinki, Finland. In 2016, she received her master's degree in marketing. She married her longtime boyfriend, Tommi Huovinen, on July 11, 2015. In August 2018, she began working as brand manager for Riedell skates Riedell skates twitter 8-14-2018. In 2019, Lepistö appeared on the Finnish version of Strictly Come Dancing.

Career Lepistö started skating at the age of four, following her older sister's lead. She trained in Espoo and Vierumäki in Finland, Boston in the United States, and Tallinn and Tartu in Estonia.

2002–2003 season

Lepistö won the silver medal on the junior level at the Gardena Spring Trophy and the junior gold medal at the Warsaw Cup. She won the gold medal on the junior level at the 2003 Finnish Championships.

2003–2004 season Lepistö debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit. She placed 12th at the 2003–04 ISU Junior Grand Prix event in Bulgaria and 8th at the event in Croatia. She placed 5th on the junior level at the 2004 Finnish Championships and won the bronze medal on the junior level at the 2004 Nordic Championships.

2004–2005 season Lepistö competed on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. She won the event in Belgrade and placed 9th at the event in Romania. She then won the junior national title at the 2005 Finnish Championships and the silver medal on the junior level at the 2005 Nordic Championships.

2005–2006 season Lepistö competed on the 2005 Junior Grand Prix circuit. She won the bronze medal at the event in Andorra and placed 4th in the event in Bulgaria. She placed 4th in her senior national debut at the 2006 Finnish Championships, and then won another junior silver medal at the 2006 Nordic Championships. She went on to make her World Junior debut, placing 9th.

2006–2007 season Lepistö competed at one event on the Junior Grand Prix series, finishing 5th at the event in Slovakia. She then missed much of the season due to injury, having developed a stress fracture in her right hip as a result of practicing too many triple loops. She came back to compete at the senior 2007 Finnish Championships, where she won the silver medal. She won the senior silver medal at the 2007 Nordic Championships. She competed at the 2007 Junior Worlds, where she placed 7th.

2007–2008 season

In the 2007–2008 season, Lepistö began competing entirely on the senior level. She won the bronze medal at the 2007 Nebelhorn Trophy and placed 4th at the 2007 Finlandia Trophy. She then debuted on the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating circuit. At her first event, the 2007 Skate Canada International, she won the short program but dropped to 7th overall after the free skate. She placed 5th in her second event, the 2007 NHK Trophy. Lepistö won the 2008 Finnish Championships and went on to the 2008 European Championships where, competing there for the first time, she won the bronze medal. She then placed 8th in her World Championship debut.

2008–2009 season Lepistö won the silver medals at the 2008 Nebelhorn Trophy and the 2008 Finlandia Trophy. She won the bronze medal at the 2008 Cup of China and was 5th at the 2008 NHK Trophy. At the 2009 Finnish Championships, she won the silver medal. She went on to the 2009 European Championships, where she won the title in front of her home crowd. She was the first Finn to win the ladies single's title, and second overall after Susanna Rahkamo / Petri Kokko's 1995 ice dancing title. It was also the first time Finns took two spots on the European podium as Susanna Pöykiö won bronze in the event.

Lepistö finished 6th in her second World Championship appearance.

2009–2010 season

Lepistö's assigned Grand Prix events were the 2009 NHK Trophy, where she again finished fifth, the 2009 Skate Canada International, where she received the bronze medal. She won back her national title, but was unable to defend her European title, finishing second behind Carolina Kostner. Lepisto finished 6th at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the best result by a Finnish lady at the event. In March 2010, she won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Turin, becoming the first Finnish ladies single skater to win a World Championship medal.

Injuries and retirement For the 2010–11 Grand Prix season, Lepistö was assigned to Skate Canada and Skate America, but had to withdraw from both events due to an Achilles tendon injury. She also missed the European Championships but recovered in time to train for the 2011 World Championships. However, she suffered a back injury in early March, causing her to withdraw from the event. She said, "I fell on my lower back at full speed when the blades of my skates caught together. The heavy bump has led to a situation where my back has kept locking up." Lepistö was back in full training in June 2011 and landed a new sponsor, KPMG. She was assigned to 2011 Skate America and 2011 Trophee Eric Bompard for the Grand Prix season. However, by July when she was training in Toronto with Brian Orser, pain in her foot grew so severe she could not put on her skates. She said, "There is repeated stress to the same landing foot and this time one of the nerves in my foot was provoked and it became very painful." She was able to return to training in mid-August with a pair of custom-made skates, but her injury problems continued. Lepistö withdrew from both Grand Prix events. In November, she said she was unable to wear skates for more than 15 minutes due to the nerve problem and would miss the entire season to allow her leg to heal fully.

Lepistö was invited by Champions on Ice to skate in the 21st annual Paektusan Festival in North Korea in February 2012 which was used to honor the memory of Kim Jong-il. After receiving permission from Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture, she performed in the event, along with other elite skaters, but later issued an apology.

On 25 March 2012, Lepistö announced her decision to retire from competitive skating, stating that she no longer felt the same passion for skating as she had in the past. She has worked for the Finnish Olympic Committee, co-founded a sports marketing and athlete management company (Snou Creative), and became an ambassador and TV commentator for the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Programs

Post–2012 Season Free skating Pro-am events 2014–2015 Lohtu - Live Aid Uusi Lastensairaala 2017 2013–2014 Suru on kunniavieras

All I Want for Christmas Is You 2012–2013 Malaguena (fandangos)

Pre–2012 Season Short program Free skating Exhibition 2011–2012 Bésame Mucho Miss Saigon Rhapsody Memory

Doctor Zhivago 2010–2011 Did not compete Jupiter 2009–2010 Imagined Oceans Adiós Nonino Fuga y Misterio I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You 2008–2009 Don Juan DeMarco Ballad 2007–2008 The Legend of 1900 I Believe 2006–2007 The Feeling Begins Lost City Harem 2005–2006 Invierno Porteño 2004–2005 Liberty Redemption Harem

Competitive results

GP = Grand Prix; JGP = Junior Grand Prix

International Event 03–04 04–05 05–06 06–07 07–08 08–09 09–10 Olympics 6th Worlds 8th 6th 3rd Europeans 3rd 1st 2nd Cup of China 3rd NHK Trophy 5th 5th 5th Skate Canada 7th 3rd Finlandia Trophy 4th 2nd 2nd Nebelhorn Trophy 3rd 2nd Nordics 2nd International: Junior Junior Worlds 9th 7th Andorra 3rd Bulgaria 12th 4th Croatia 8th Czech Rep. 5th Romania 9th Serbia 1st Gardena 2nd J Nordics 3rd J 2nd J 2nd J 2nd J Warsaw Cup 1st J 1st J National Finnish Champ. 1st J 5th J 1st J 4th 2nd 1st 2nd 1st Team events Japan Open 1st T 2nd P J = Junior level T = Team result; P = Personal result; Medals awarded for team result only.

Pro-am events Event 2012–13 2014–15 Medal Winners Open 5th 4th

References

External links