A year in the life of Julia Sauter. And her ultimate goal: earning a spot for Romania at 2026 Olympics

Julia Sauter has had a rough year, with doubts, anxiety and sleepless nights. But also coaching changes she felt she needed in order to move on, and an acute sense of urgency to find her groove again, in time for Boston.

It started right after Worlds in Montreal last season, when she found herself out of the Top 24, a shock to everyone, Julia included.

It continued through the summer, with bouts of disappointment, panic attacks while on the ice, the lowest of the lows.

“May-June-July was very difficult, I was really in my mind a lot. It was really hard to find motivation again. And it wasn’t even about motivation, it was more about: I work so hard and yet… I was so disappointed with myself”.

She needed to work hard to pull herself out of that hole, one step after the other, worked on her programs, worked on her stamina, travelled to the first competitions of the season, changed her longtime coach and started working with a team instead – then made history again for Romania at Europeans by finishing 7th in Tallinn and placing in Top 10 for three seasons in a row, thus qualifying a second Romanian entry for three years in a row.

Something unheard of in the Romanian women’s figure skating before Julia.

Yet, less than a month before Worlds in Boston, the main qualifying event for 2026 Olympics, Julia found herself struggling again.

She didn’t know if the Romanian authorities would fund her and her coach’s trip to Worlds – the club had supported her journey to Europeans, instead of the country’s National Olympic Committee, due to the perpetual unsolved issues with the Romanian skating federation.

[Because of that, Julia is still in an administrative fumble with her passport paperwork, not having an officially recognized federation to stand by her, to fight for her.]

She thought about starting a fundraising campaign again, just like in 2023, to cover the trip to Boston and other pre-Worlds competition, if she needed to.

“At the end of the day, I understand all reasoning [from the Romanian authorities]: no federation, me not having the passport yet, though I sent all the paperwork again a year ago – but it’s the athlete and the coaches who are suffering, and there needs to be solutions for this kind of situations. It’s super stressful to never know what to expect”.

What to do, what to say, not making it messy and uncomfortable, as she feared it would get?

She hesitated for days before publishing that GoFundMe campaign – she didn’t really want to look for help outside the regular, official supporting system, “I don’t want telling that sad story again, I just want to wake them up: Please help so I don’t have to ask for help”.

She has been representing Romania since 2012, and it has never been easy for her.

True, switching from Germany to Romania gave Julia Sauter the chance to continue her competitive career, to go to the major championships she dreamed of going, be what she wanted to be, a figure skater – but she had to fight tooth and nail to be able to do it.

She had to put all her finances at work for the most part of her career, she had to deal with on-going administrative issues, to find solutions to so many problems out of her comfort zone, out of the skating zone.

Even in February, a month from 2025 Worlds, her sleep was disrupted because she didn’t know how to do it, how to handle it all.

***

Facing the lack of answers from the Romanian authorities, on March 5th, Julia launched the fundraising campaign she was thinking about and, in just two days, she raised the money she needed.

Once again, she made things happening – and she is here in Boston, for what may be the last World Championships of her competitive career.

She started this journey for Romania 13 years ago alongside her Romanian coach Marius Negrea, and she finds herself now working with a team of three coaches, two of whom are Romanian (Roxana Luca Hartmann and Simona Punga) and Christopher Boyadji, who is traveling with Julia at competitions.

She gave Romania more than a decade of international exposure and historic results on the world scene, and Romania needs to find ways to support Julia’s much wanted trip to the Olympics, her most ardent desire nowadays.

Julia starts her Olympic campaign this week in Boston. And we are heart-to-heart alongside her.

***

Story by Florentina Tone

***

Chapter One: IT ALL STARTED WITH A BITTER DISSAPOINTMENT

On March 30th, 2024, I travel to Brasov to meet Julia Sauter.

She made the journey from Ravensburg, Germany, to a skating gala in Brasov, Romania, to mark the end of 2023-2024 competitive season for the Romanian skaters. As one of ACS Corona Brasov’s most notorious athletes, Julia is the most anticipated guest of the night.

She doesn’t feel like celebrating though.

We’re just a week after 2024 Worlds in Montreal, Canada, where Julia, unexpectedly, shockingly even, finished 27th, not qualifying for the free skate.

She had been 18th in 2022, 20th in 2023, so finishing outside Top 24 was not on anyone’s radar, Julia’s included. “I was more worried about my free skate, the short was supposed to be like this nice training and all…”

It wasn’t.

And what happened on March 22nd in Montreal, on the short program day, hasn’t yet settled in Julia’s mind – she’s trying to make sense of it, we’re trying to make sense of it, while talking on a bench facing the Olympic Ice Rink in Brasov, on what feels like a true summer day here in Romania.

“NOW YOU HAVE TO DELIVER”. HEARTBEAT GOING FROM NOWHERE TO A THOUSAND

When you look back a week ago, what do you see, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?, I ask, and Julia delves into the layers of that day in Bell Centre in Montreal, in the fourth Worlds of her career – an elaborate answer that keeps building and gathering nuances, possible explanations as we talk.

The scoring protocol only records the stern, official version of it: in her Adele short program that had people in the arena clapping from the start, Julia stepped-out and under-rotated two of her three jumping passes, the triple Toe-triple Toe and the Lutz, and she could only fight her way back up from there. She did it beautifully, but exiting the ice, she knew the recovery came a bit late.

She scored 52.52 points and, at the end of the night, she found herself on the 27th place.

“I still feel disappointment, I guess. I’m just disappointed of how everything turned out.

Because if you prepare very well – and, out of all the competitions, this was the one that I felt so ready for, it was so well processed beforehand, I had a lot of clean run-throughs, felt amazing on the day, felt really good in the warm-up, good jumps, I wasn’t stiff or anything…

I was second to go, I felt really excited to start my program, I wasn’t even nervous, I remember I started and… the crowd immediately start clapping, and I just remember telling myself: Oh, now you have to deliver!

And that’s when my adrenaline kicked in – which, usually, in those big competitions it’s already there before, and when I start it’s fine – and I feel this time it kicked in later, and I feel I didn’t expect it to happen.

Then the triple Toe-triple Toe happened and… this never happens, this mistake!

That I pop out this weirdly would be more like the beginning of the season-type of scenario, but that I don’t rotate and pop out weirdly, step-out…

I didn’t expect it, let’s say it like that.

Then I got a little bit nervous and in my Lutz I didn’t push through enough, I tried to play too nice for a second, I was still in what’s happening here-kind of mode.

And, after that, I knew I was done, so I said: Let’s just try to enjoy, cause… – these were my thoughts”.

And if you go on Youtube and rewatch this particular performance [02:47:21], you notice the crowd really went with Julia, “Yeah, right from the start!” – but her reaction to it, how she internalized the support she was getting, that’s what she didn’t expect.

“My heartbeat went from nowhere, in a second, to a thousand!

And I was so calm before, everything was working out that day… Maybe I was too calm. Maybe my mind just went: Oh, no…

But it wasn’t Oh, no – it was: Oh, nice! The crowd’s helping me – now I really need to deliver! I can get a lot of points tonight!

Because I feel when the crowd helps you a lot, I just get more engaged into the program.

Maybe I was like: Oh, now I have this opportunity to in that Top 15! That was, maybe, my thought – and that made me nervous, made me freak out for a second…

I just remember that my heartbeat went up very fast, and I remember I told myself: Now you have to deliver! Maybe that «have to»…

…because I look at the jumps, and they were not technically wrong or anything – I feel they were not actually pushed through the end. If this was the first attempt in the practice, 100% I would have done the second one.

Because I had trained really well the week going to Worlds, and no one expected for this to happen.

If this had been happening at the Europeans, I would have been like: You know what? I was sick for two weeks, I was a mess, I cried every single time, I barely put my free skate, everything was a fight – and it turned out good! Even after the warm-up in the short program, it was horrible, I couldn’t do anything, I was sick to my stomach, I was so mad, I was so afraid to go out there, it was all these emotions… I was so nervous there!

And here [in Montreal] it was not the case, I was like: Nice! That’s the first time I am not nervous at all, because I know I can do it! I was actually more worried about my free skate…

And then…”

A short, bitter laugh follows – and Julia can now breathe, after what felt like a detailed X-ray of a day, a moment, a program. Her short program at 2024 Worlds. The Worlds that was meant to build her confidence towards the next one, acting as the main entrance gate to 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympics.

Instead, this whole experience left her doubting. And she’s carrying some of those doubts a week after it happened.

On the moment, she felt she couldn’t process it all.

“That’s actually why I changed my flight and went home.

I went very deep in a depressive hole and I struggled with that a lot, and I didn’t feel I wanted to open up to my coach at all.

I watched the women’s free skate at home, I was on my flight when it happened.

And I think it was good that I left because it would’ve put me down if I were at the rink. I really wanted to skate my free skate… That was my main goal, to peak at the Worlds”.

“I MEAN, THERE’S ALWAYS A POSITIVE”

This palpable, acute sense of disappointment hasn’t left her yet, and suffocates everything like this thin layer of paint.

And when I ask her about what else she takes from Worlds, she finds it difficult at first to utter one.

“Well… I mean, not taking for granted that every time you’re going to…

Even if you look at things, there is always someone not where it was supposed to be. Boyang, for example, he didn’t qualify for the free. And I think Adam was very lucky that he stayed in the game…”

But then she finds it, she finds the path she needs to take.

“I think you just need to move on.

After all, every setback can make you stronger in the end, even though I might not see that at this moment.

Obviously, it’s still very fresh and you still ask yourself, and say: Oh, you should have done that more, or that, but No! I did everything I could!

I was more ready than ever, I pushed my body to the limits, I just need to believe more in myself.

And I probably need to work more on my mind: people clapping should be something very positive. It shouldn’t be like: Now I have to deliver! But more like: I want to deliver! Maybe those type of things…

Because if I look at this entire season, minus Romania, where I was sick, every competition was not bad. I had three clean short programs – the season before I had one.

So I really need to look at the season as a whole. Unfortunately what happened happened at Worlds – it could have happened at Europeans, it could’ve happened at the beginning of the season…

Obviously, you wish for a different outcome, but right now I just need to move on from Montreal”.

Is there a positive in all that?

“I mean, there’s always a positive.

At the end of the day, you participated in the World Championships – it’s the hardest competition of the year, and I still participated in it, still Top 30 in the world, probably not where I wanted to be, but maybe it’s for the better, you know?

At next year’s Worlds I need to be in the Top 24. Which is doable, of course, and it was supposed to happen this year too.

But maybe it’s good, it [showed me that] I don’t need to take it for granted, I need to work on that, I need to work on my emotions – but right now I just need to move on and figure out my next steps”.

PLANNING FOR 2024-2025 SEASON, EYES ON WORLDS AGAIN

“I am a very bad plan-maker”, she then smiles, sun on her face.

This spring to summer day in Brasov, at the end of March 2024, in the middle of a park filled with green, filled with smiles, a group of men playing backgammon nearby and threatening to cover our conversation with their happy noise, feels almost therapeutic. Nothing feels as dramatic, not even a missed Top 24 at Worlds.

Understandably, Julia didn’t have the time, or the mood to plan ahead, she’s figuring out things as we speak.

“I don’t know yet what I am going to change, one program or both.

My short program came very natural for me. I really like it and I kind of feel it deserves a better ending, so maybe keeping it, but I would go for a new dress, new step sequence… But then I know we go to the US next year for the Worlds, so there may be clapping again right from start and [laughing:] Am I prepared for this? But it’s a fun program”.

On the other hand, “I didn’t feel as connected with my free skate this season. But I love the music so much… [“Inspiration”, by Florian Christl & The Modern String Quartet]. So maybe my focus would be to find a new free skate music and then maybe make a short program-decision later on.

I also have small injuries in my right leg, so I want to heal and recover, and then take a couple of weeks off, because I haven’t done that last year and I feel I was burned out already by the summer.

And then just go to the US”, as she usually does during summer.

“WORK ON THE QUALITY, GET NICE JUMPS LANDED, WORK ON THE PLUSES”

What does she take from the season, lessons she’ll be needing to move forward?

“It was a lot of process until now – and, for the next two years, I just need to figure out how to break more quality into the process.

This season, the short program was easier, because I already had my triple-triple, but the free skate was seven triples, with Flip and Lutz, and those new jumps are not performed as much as my Loop or my Sal, I don’t have that muscle memory and, physically, it was very challenging for me.

So I don’t want to push myself more, I think next season is not the season to push myself more.

I just want to get my stamina up from the beginning of the season, and then work on the quality, get nice jumps landed, work on the pluses – I think that’s the difference to what that other people have”.

And when it comes to her most recently acquired jumps, Flip and Lutz – remember, Julia landed them first at the age of 25 (!) –, she laughs again and brings forward a training session when she shared the ice with Ilia Malinin, the 2024 World champion.

“I’m really impressed with him, he has a really strong mindset – and for him it’s all fun.

It’s really impressive to see that: it’s really easy for him. I think I spend more energy on a triple Flip than he would going for a quad Lutz. He is really good, you can see that”.

More competitions for her throughout the season, less competitions? Has she found the perfect balance yet?

“The last two seasons I had a lot of competitions. I feel I need to have at least one competition a month, to push myself and to stay focused”.

Chapter Two: WHERE JULIA GETS TO RISE AGAIN

A PAINFULLY EMOTIONAL SUMMER

Seven months later, we meet again.

Julia travelled to Otopeni, Romania, for 2024 Crystal Skate – a competition she would win for the 3rd time, also winning her ninth Romanian champion title in the process – and our conversation starts from where we left it.

But so much has happened in between, and I only know what the official data have recorded: that Julia started her 2024-2025 season in Budapest, finishing sixth, and what an impressive roster of participants CS Budapest Trophy highlighted. Alysa Liu won gold in her return to competition, followed by Kimmy Repond (silver) and Lorine Schild (bronze). Lindsay Thorngren came 4th, Madeline Schizas 5th – and Julia was next, scoring 62.98 points for her brand new short program and 94.77 points for the updated version of her long.

Such an impressive start for Julia, coming after such a troubled summer, she shares.

“After Worlds, I took one month off, and then I restarted in mid-May, I think.

May-June-July was very difficult, I was really in my mind a lot.

It was really hard to find motivation again. And it wasn’t even about motivation, it was more about: I work so hard and yet… I don’t know, I was just so disappointed with myself.

I was already in the US [for the summer training] and started having panic attacks on the ice, crying on the ice… My husband needed to come with me to the rink, it was that bad.

And I remember, one day, this woman who was at the rink came to grab my hand, and she was like: I’m doing my master’s degree in sports psychology. Call me anytime you want.

I talked to her for a couple of times, she was there and she helped me, made me write the things I want to accomplish… And Mid-July, that’s when I started to pull myself up, with those little steps.

Then August, when I got back home, I worked really hard, I didn’t miss any practice, I did all off-ice practice… but towards the end of September, I started having a very severe shin inflammation. Before Budapest I couldn’t even walk or land the jumps anymore, so that was very challenging.

But then I just tried to do my best.

And I remember, I woke up the day after short in Budapest, I had a very early practice, I think 6:30 am, and I felt so good. I just love first competitions, ’cause you’re always excited to show new programs. I was focused on one element at the time, and it worked out quite well.

And, actually, just last week [middle of October] I went to full training again.

Now I feel physically the strongest I have ever been. I worked with Dasha [Grms]’s boyfriend, he’s a personal trainer and he’s making an individual plan for me every week for the off-ice work, to have more strength, to have more control.

I now have more power and I really feel good about that”.

NEW SHORT PROGRAM AND AN UPDATED VERSION OF THE LONG

Remember, when we talked in Brasov post-Worlds, Julia was more inclined to change her free skate – but her free skate to “Inspiration” is still here, in October 2024, and she has a new short program instead, to “Una noche más” by Yasmin Levy. And what a stunning program this is for her, and thoroughly addictive. How did that happen though?

Julia smiles, she remembers our lengthy conversation.

“I wanted to change the free and I was looking for some Spanish songs, and I actually had a different song, but I needed to cut it, for a short or for a free, and it was just not fitting right.

But I saved a couple of different ones, tried some things on the ice, listened to it, interpreted it – and I realized: Wow, that’s good! Because I wanted a music that could show my personality while not being too fast though.

And when I realized I couldn’t cut this into a free skate, I was like: Why not cut it for a short program?

And then I cut it, let it sink for weeks and then I went into the US and started it. And, with the time, it got a little more together”.

Now it’s not only “more together” – it’s a short program that suits her beautifully.

As for the free skate, it’s not quite the version we saw during previous season.

“I went one week to Slovenia, to Dasha, and we decided to change the start of the free skate. We kept the music, but we actually changed the choreography in the first part, in the last part, added 2 more seconds – and maybe I’m gonna make some more changes, I don’t know yet”.

Competition-wise, Julia had it somehow figured out: “I will go to Warsaw and then I might have to come back here [for EduSport Trophy]. Then we were thinking about Sofia Trophy, in January. And then Europeans, then we’re thinking about doing two competitions after Europeans because the break was too long last year. One for sure, maybe two, depending on the situation.

And then I just hope I can peak in the short program at Worlds”.

Chapter Three: BIG CHANGES FOLLOWED

And Julia did go to 2024 CS Warsaw Cup in Poland, at the end of November, but she finished on a troubling 17th place, having scored only 46.12 points for her short and 87.69 for the long.

She didn’t travel back to Romania, for EduSport Trophy, in December, but her longtime coach Marius Negrea did, and shared with us that Julia had changed her free skate and things had been going well in her training with those changes.

Not that well, though.

At her next competition, 2025 Sofia Trophy in Bulgaria, 11 to 12 January, just before Europeans, it was Christopher Boyadji who accompanied and advised Julia Sauter at the boards.

And Julia would finish the event on a meaningful 3rd place, with the second best short program of the women’s competition and an overall score of 176.05 points.

She was on the rise again.

THRIVING AT EUROPEANS

The coaching change was made official at 2025 Europeans in Tallinn, where Julia finished 7th, her best-ever placement at Europeans and the best-ever placement for any Romanian woman at European Championships, for any Romanian skater at Europeans.

Not to mention qualifying an additional spot for Romanian women at Europeans for the third year in a row – this has to mean something for the Romanian sport, for the Romanian authorities, right?

“My coaching team is now Roxana, Chris and Simona”, Julia shared in a message to Inside Skating.

Roxana is Roxana Hartmann (Luca), coach and choreographer at the same club in Ravensburg, Germany, and Julia’s longtime choreographer – you don’t see her at the boards, but she is Julia’s main coach.

Not to mention Julia’s role model from the very start of her journey – remember Julia’s words from 2022? “In the rink where I trained, I really remember watching Roxana Luca’s performance [at the Olympics] – and I was really fascinated by her”.

Chris is former pair skater Christopher Boyadji, who’s been coaching alongside Zoe Jones at Better Link Centre in Swindon, Great Britain. And Simona is Simona Punga, coach at ACS Corona Brasov, Julia’s club in Romania – and Simona has been supporting Julia through thick and thin during recent years.

“I JUST REALLY LOVE FIGURE SKATING”

Right after her free skate at the Europeans in Tallinn this January, Julia talked more with the ISU media team about the hardships she encountered, the changes she made, the progress in her training – and what she wished for Boston Worlds.

“I’m really happy, obviously – I did my ISU season’s best [110.68 for the free, 172.64 points overall].

I’m happy about my progress, with my new team. It was not easy for me today, but I managed to do now three times in a row a Top 10 finish, so I’m really excited about that.

I changed my team because the personality didn’t work out too much anymore.

We have done now two competitions together [with the new team] and they have been amazing.

I train now in Germany, sometimes in Romania, and then sometimes I go to Great Britain to Swindon”.

Julia was also asked, of course, about her ardent wish to go to the Olympics and how Boston was an essential part of it.

“I think if I just stay focused and do what I do in training every day, I think everything is possible.

That would be my major goal before I retire, because I’m quite old. Right now I just really love figure skating and want to see where I can improve for the next few months or years, and we’ll just see what happens.

…I’m also dealing with a little mental health issues, so I’m working really much on them. It’s about getting my anxiety in order and, one step at a time, I’m just trying to get better throughout the season and then, hopefully, I make the Olympic spot in March in Boston.

But it’s also the first time that my family is going to come, so I really want to skate good for them”.

You might have noticed that as well: in Tallinn – and even before that, in Sofia – Julia skated her new long program to “Rain, in Your Black Eyes” by Ezio Bosso, “That Home” and “To Build a Home” by The Cinematic Orchestra.

And though we don’t know much about how this free skate came to life, the process, the choreography, we remember the change was much desired, and she’s now having such a good home in it.

And the choice of music is surely meant to tell a story – her story.

And, the way we see it, she has also surrounded herself during this last phase of her career with a home full of people wishing her well.

Chapter Four: “MY NAME IS JULIA SAUTER, I’M SKATING FOR ROMANIA AND I’M ASKING FOR YOUR HELP”

With all those good things happening at Europeans, for herself, but also for Romanian skating as a whole – with every season that passes, Julia adds layer after layer in & for the history of our sport – you wouldn’t say she’d be facing financial, administrative hurdles yet again.

Well, it must be a national trademark this one: take pride in the results and brag with them, yet not doing everything in one’s power to support the outstanding athlete that Julia Sauter is – and instead hide behind a wall of “Legally, we can’t help you”.

Legally, yes, in the absence of an officially recognized skating federation – but morally?

***

SETTING UP A FUNDRAISER AGAIN

Julia Sauter didn’t say those words – we at Inside Skating did, and stand by them.

What Julia did instead was worry. A lot.

How could she travel to Worlds in Boston, how could she pay for coach Christopher Boyadji’s plane tickets and accommodation at Worlds, if the Romanian sports authorities wouldn’t give her the financial support she needed?

On February 20, she was at a loss of words.

She knew her situation had to be discussed again during the National Olympic Committee’s meetings, she knew no solution had been found yet – but she also knew the clock was ticking.

So she was ready to take matter into her hands again, as she had done for Worlds in 2023, and set up a fundraiser campaign. She couldn’t see any other option, but she was still waiting for a sign, a helping hand, from the Romanian officials.

She was upset, frustrated, disappointed, to say the least.

“At the end of the day, I understand all reasoning [from the Romanian authorities]: no federation, me not having the passport yet, though I sent all the paperwork again a year ago – but it’s the athlete and coaches who are suffering, and there needs to be solutions for this kind of situations.

It’s super stressful to never know what to expect. All I want is to work hard and make my dream happening”.

She found it really difficult, but saw no other option that to get that fundraiser ready, and the motivation of it all – why does she keep asking people for money, when the support should come on an official route.

“Everything is very complicated, and it was difficult to even write it down, to explain it in a proper way, because I don’t want the sad story again. I just want to wake them up: Please help, so I don’t have to ask for help.

But I really, really don’t want to start anything, and I have a feeling it’s going to get messy and uncomfortable. And I hate that I’m put into this position again”.

***

With no support coming, “They said it’s not legal, because the federation is not allowed to get anything. So I need to find sponsors”, on March 5th, less than three weeks from Worlds, Julia published the fundraiser.

In her own words:

“I am unfortunately put in a very, very difficult situation once again. After finishing for the 3rd time in a row in the Top10 at Europeans, I would have assumed to have financial support to cover my expenses for my team and myself to go to the World Champions 2025.

It is still the same situation as it was 3 years ago, maybe we will help you, maybe not, you don’t have the passport so actually we can’t help you, the federation still has not resolved the problem that’s why we don’t want to help you, and so on and so on.

(I was told when I sent in all the paperwork for the passport, which I did a year ago, they will support me, which apparently is not true again.)

I understand every reasoning why it is so difficult, but, at the end of the day, I am the athlete who has been suffering for 14 years now.

I should be concentrating in preparing for the best way to go make my goal happening, but I have a hard time falling asleep not knowing if I will get the support or not.

I hope with this fundraiser the authorities will realize how stressful, hard and sad it is for their athlete to go and ask for help. I need to find a quick solution, so I can concentrate on working towards my goals.

The money donation would go towards my World Championship travel and my preparation competition in 2 weeks in Poland.

I thank everyone who takes the time to read this, makes a donation or simply shares my journey, so the right people might read it, so they are realizing that the athletes are suffering the most in a situation they have zero control over.

If a company ever wants to help me with a sponsorship, I am more than grateful to talk to you”.

POURING SUPPORT FOR JULIA

Julia published the fundraising campaign on March 5th and by the evening of the following day she would have almost all sum gathered – for plane tickets to Boston, hers and Christopher Boyadji’s, and hotel accommodation for her coach.

That’s what she wanted really.

Some certainty, knowing for sure her trip was covered and she would also have the coach with her in Boston, so she could focus on her training in the last three weeks prior to Worlds.

The feedback was so good, so reassuring, so many people donated to support Julia’s journey, family, friends, skaters and fans worldwide helped and also shared the fundraiser – and, at the end of the day, that meant a lot to Julia, and proved her she is loved, admired.

We’ve got you, 138 people said by the evening of March 6th – 177, when we last checked – and Julia’s journey could now go further.

With or without Romanian authorities’ support (moral, official, much needed, much earned), Julia put things into motion, she made things happen for her again, and that speaks so much of her will, her strength, belief.

She could have said more, be even more vocal than that – after all, she skates for Romania, and what does Romania do for her? –, but with the fundraising reaching its purpose (“We booked the flights and the accommodation”) – Julia’s focus smartly shifted on her training.

She prioritized what she needed to prioritize.

“I really want to just focus on Worlds right now”.

And in the evening of March 6th, she could finally rest well.

…with an appendix, and a see-no-evil monkey emoticon from Julia – you know her well by now: “I just need to stop putting more pressure on myself, because my mind wants to now prove that the money was worth it”.

***

[Story and interviews by Florentina Tone
Photos by Alberto Ponti at 2024 Worlds and 2025 Europeans
Other photos by Florentina Tone in Brasov and Otopeni]

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Julia Sauter: “Maybe my path was supposed to be that of a late bloomer. Would I still be here if things happened differently?”