Same-Sex Ice Skating Dance Duo To Compete This Month In Finland Following Rule Change
Finland is the second country to lift gender restrictions in pairs dancing following Canada’s lead.
Featured Image via Instagram
British transplant Millie Colling, 20, and Emma Aalto, 19, will soon be lacing up their skates to compete in their first ice dance qualifier for Nationals, scheduled for October 11–12, 2025 in Helsinki. Earlier this month, Finland’s Ice Skating Federation announced a decision to allow same-sex partners to compete at the national level. This opens the door for Colling and Aalto who met two years ago, and who have publicly stated they are “best friends that want to skate together.”
Finland is the second country to lift gender restrictions in pairs dancing, with Canada having paved the way to redefine a ‘team’ as two skaters in 2022. In February, Olympic gold medalists and training partners Gabriella Papadakis (France) and Madison Hubbell (USA), broke barriers and stereotypes after retirement – performing in Zurich. Papadakis had won gold at the 2022 Beijing Games with male partner Guillaume Cizeron in ice dancing, and Hubbell, an American, had won the team event after Russia competitors had their title scrubbed over doping.
“They used their platform to further the conversation for same-sex teams within figure skating,” governing body, U.S. Figure Skating celebrated on Instagram.
Image: Gabriella Papadakis and Madison Hubbell via US Figure Skating Instagram
Finland’s contenders, Millie Colling (an art student) and Emma Aalto (a fashion student), were inspired by the Papadakis-Hubbell performance at the Art on Ice Gala event in Switzerland. Now they’re setting out to open up possibilities for others.
If they qualify, as rules stand now, they won’t be able to actually participate in the National Championships in December, as further rule changes would be necessary. But they are keeping fingers crossed for the future. And who knows, maybe the Olympics, which does not currently allow same-sex teams on the ice, will take inspiration from Colling and Aalto. We’ll be rooting for Finland’s first-ever ‘same-gendered’ ice team!
