# Nella Pelkonen

Nella Julia Pelkonen (born 13 March 2005 in Tampere) is a Finnish figure skater. She is the 2023 Nordic champion and 2023–24 Finnish national champion.

## Personal life

Pelkonen was born on March 13, 2005, in Tampere, Finland. In addition to figure skating, she also enjoys baking.

## Competitive career
### Early career

Pelkonen started training figure skating in 2010 at the age of five when she entered the Koovee figure skating school in Tampere. The head coach of the Koovee FSC, Minna Järvinen, was impressed by Pelkonen's attitude and enthusiasm right from the beginning, and Pelkonen was quickly moved to higher level groups. From there, Pelkonen was coached by Järvinen and Christina Wendelin.
Pelkonen debuted as an advanced novice skater at the 2019 Coupe du Printemps, where she won the bronze medal.

### 2019–20 season

Prior to the season, Pelkonen was chosen to Finnish Figure Skating Association's junior national team.
She would start the season with a fourth-place finish on the junior level at the 2019 Open d'Andorra. Pelkonen subsequently went on to win the 2019–20 Finnish Junior Championships. Because of this result, she was selected to represent Finland at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland.
At the Youth Olympics, Pelkonen finished sixteenth in the ladies' singles event and fourth in the mixed team competition as a part of the Team Determination.
She would then close the season with an eighteenth-place finish at the 2020 Nordic Junior Championships.
Following the season, Pelkonen was made a member of the senior national team. Although, she did not compete for the duration of the 2020–21 figure skating season.

### 2021–22 season

Returning to competition, Pelkonen competed on the junior level of the 2021 Santa Claus Cup, finishing fourteenth. She did not compete for the remainder of the season.

### 2022–23 season

Pelkonen began the season by competing on the 2022–23 ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, finishing seventh at the 2022 JGP France and eleventh at the 2022 JGP Latvia.
Making her senior international debut at the 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy, Pelkonen placed fourteenth. She subsequently competed at the 2022 Cup of Nice but withdrew after performing her short program.
Going on to compete at the 2022–23 Finnish Championships, Pelkonen won the silver medal behind Janna Jyrkinen. Selected to represent Finland at the 2023 Winter World University Games, Pelkonen finished ninth.
She would end the season by winning gold at the 2023 Nordic Championships.

### 2023–24 season

In the summer of 2023 Pelkonen decided to leave Koovee FSC and transfer to Tappara FSC, where Susanna Haarala became her new coach.
Pelkonen started the season by competing at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy, where she placed seventh in the short program but won the free skate, moving up to fourth place overall. Selected as a host pick to compete at the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, Pelkonen finished sixth of the twelve competitors at the event.
Competing at the 2023–24 Finnish Championships in December, Pelkonen won the national title and was selected to compete at the European and World Championships.
At the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, Pelkonen finished twenty-first.
Shortly before the 2024 World Championships, Pelkonen began feeling pain in both her feet. In spite of this, Pelkonen pushed herself to compete anyways, finishing twenty-fourth. Following the World Championships, Pelkonen would spend four weeks off the ice to recover.

### 2024–25 season

Although originally assigned to only compete at the 2024 Finlandia Trophy on the 2024–25 Grand Prix series, Pelkonen was later selected to compete at the 2024 Skate Canada International to replace Ava Marie Ziegler, who withdrew from the event due to injury. However, Pelkonen also withdrew from the latter event two weeks before it was set to take place due to illness and stress fracture precursors in both her legs. At the 2024 Finlandia Trophy in late November, Pelkonen finished the event in eleventh place. She said that while it had been a good performance given the circumstances, she was also disappointed: "I'm not yet at the level I want to be or was last season. It's been hard to accept."
Pelkonen would ultimately withdraw from the 2025 Finnish Championships.

## Programs

| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2024–2025 | Be Italian (from Nine) by Maury Yeston & Fergie choreo. by Elina Ikonen | Tourner Dans Le Vide by Indila choreo. by Elina Ikonen | |
| 2023–2024 | Los Vas A Olvidar by Billie Eilish & Rosalía choreo. by Elina Ikonen | Tourner Dans Le Vide by Indila choreo. by Elina Ikonen | Kohti valoo by Ilta |
| 2022–2023 | Los Vas A Olvidar by Billie Eilish & Rosalía choreo. by Elina Ikonen | Tourner Dans Le Vide by Indila choreo. by Elina Ikonen The Dressmaker by David Hirschfelder choreo. by Elina Ikonen | |
| 2021–2022 | Audition (The Fools Who Dream) (from La La Land) by Justin Hurwitz performed by Emma Stone choreo. by Elina Ikonen | The Dressmaker by David Hirschfelder choreo. by Elina Ikonen | |
| 2019–2020 | The Dressmaker by David Hirschfelder choreo. by Elina Ikonen | Paramour (from Cirque du Soleil) by Guy Dubuc & Marc Lessard choreo. by Elina Ikonen | |

## Competitive highlights

* GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
* JGP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
* CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
* WD – Withdrew from event
Competition placements at senior level :
| Season | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
| World Championships | | 24th | |
| European Championships | | 21th | |
| Finnish Championships | 2nd | 1st | |
| GP Finland | | 6th | 11th |
| CS Finlandia Trophy | 14th | 4th | |
| Nordic Championships | 1st | | |
| Trophée Métropole Nice | WD | | |
| Winter University Games | 9th | | |
Competition placements at junior level :
| Season | 2019–20 | 2021–22 | 2022-23 |
| Winter Youth Olympics | 16th | | |
| Finnish Championships | 1st | | |
| JGP France | | | 7th |
| JGP Latvia | | | 11th |
| Nordic Championships | 18th | | |
| Open d'Andorra | 4th | | |
| Santa Claus Cup | | 14th | |

## Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 179.31 | 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy |
| Short program | TSS | 62.60 | 2024 European Championships |
| Short program | TES | 34.02 | 2024 European Championships |
| Short program | PCS | 28.58 | 2024 European Championships |
| Free skating | TSS | 120.58 | 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy |
| Free skating | TES | 62.00 | 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy |
| Free skating | PCS | 58.53 | 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy |

### Senior level

Results in the 2022–23 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Oct 5-9, 2022 | 2022 CS Finlandia Trophy | 10 | 55.44 | 16 | 87.00 | 14 | 142.44 |
| Oct 18-23, 2022 | 2022 Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur | 7 | 48.26 | – | – | – | WD |
| Dec 16-18, 2022 | 2023 Finnish Championships | 3 | 53.35 | 2 | 104.22 | 2 | 157.57 |
| Jan 12-16, 2023 | 2023 Winter World University Games | 14 | 52.37 | 8 | 100.21 | 9 | 152.58 |
| Feb 1-5, 2023 | 2023 Nordic Championships | 3 | 57.57 | 1 | 119.24 | 1 | 176.81 |
Results in the 2023–24 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Oct 4-8, 2023 | 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy | 7 | 58.78 | 1 | 120.53 | 4 | 179.31 |
| Nov 17-19, 2023 | 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo | 8 | 58.12 | 5 | 114.76 | 6 | 172.88 |
| Dec 15–17, 2023 | 2024 Finnish Championships | 2 | 59.44 | 1 | 120.29 | 1 | 179.73 |
| Jan 8-14, 2024 | 2024 European Championships | 7 | 62.60 | 23 | 87.41 | 21 | 150.01 |
| Mar 18–24, 2024 | 2024 World Championships | 21 | 56.82 | 24 | 88.63 | 24 | 145.45 |
Results in the 2024-25 season :
| Date | Event | SP | SP | FS | FS | Total | Total |
| Date | Event | P | Score | P | Score | P | Score |
| Nov 15–17, 2024 | 2024 Finlandia Trophy | 12 | 52.14 | 10 | 103.08 | 11 | 155.22 |