Laura Lepistö

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. She married her longtime boyfriend, Tommi Huovinen, on July 11, 2015.

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.

Early career

In the 2002–03 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.

In the 2003–04 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.

In the 2004–05 season, she 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.

In the 2005–06 season, she competed on the 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.

During the 2006–07 season, she 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.

Senior career

In the 2007–08 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.

In the 2008–09 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. 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.

Lepistö's assigned events for the 2009–10 Grand Prix series were the NHK Trophy, where she again finished fifth, the Skate Canada, where she was the bronze medalist. 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 European 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.