Listen: it all came together for Julia Sauter this season.
The 28-year old born in Weingarten, Germany, who has been representing Romania since 2013 and making history for the Romanian figure skating ever since – entering Top 20 at World Championships and Top 10 at Europeans on more than one occasion, qualifying a spot for Romania in the women’s event at the Olympics after a 20-year hiatus, having the 6th best (!) free skate at 2026 Europeans in Sheffield, just a couple of weeks ago, –, the stubborn, persevering, hard-working, skating-with-her-heart Julia Sauter is living her Olympic dream, these days, in Milano-Cortina.
Julia Sauter (right), with her main coach, Roxana Luca Hartmann, and the Olympic rings – these are Julia’s first Olympics
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Julia Sauter has become a Romanian citizen last October, but she has been ours, we felt she was ours right from the start of this life-changing, career-changing journey.
“It was in 2012, around February, when I first came to Romania with my mom – we came by car to Cluj”, Julia remembers, and the two started doing the needed paperwork for Julia’s switch.
She was 14 at the time and still going to local competition in Germany. Her release to Romania would happen in 2013 and Julia would then go to Coupe de Printemps, in Luxembourg, her first international competition as a Romanian representative.
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And to have her enter Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium, on February 6th, carrying the Romanian flag at the opening ceremony – she had been appointed Romania’s flag-bearer right after Europeans –, well, that was the icing on the cake for the incredible athlete that Julia Sauter is.
Significantly, she was not alone while marching into the stadium.
Alongside Julia, it was her coach, Roxana Luca Hartmann, taking photos, smiling, waving a flag herself and documenting this emotional adventure for both them.
Because these two women are inextricably linked.
Roxana Luca Hartmann is Julia Sauter’s main coach, but she is also the last Romanian representative in the women’s figure skating event at the Olympics – it happened 20 years ago in Torino, also on Italian soil. And Roxana was holding all the accolades and records in the Romanian women’s figure skating until Julia came along.
Two decades later, Julia Sauter and Roxana Luca Hartmann entered the Olympic stadium together, as skater and coach, and they carried with them decades of history and Romanian representation on the international scene.
And how can you not be moved by it?
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Story by Florentina Tone
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4 years ago, at the end of 2022 World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France – which also marked the end of an Olympic cycle –, we talked to Julia Sauter extensively and understood quite fast: going to an edition of Olympics wasn’t on her radar.
It had never been, actually. And she only envisioned one season ahead of her anyway.
She’d walk us through.
“When I first started [competing for Romania], in 2012/2013, I was so far away from 2018 Olympics that we never asked for the passport.
And then, after 2019, I stopped for a whole year, and Olympics were so far away again… I think we always thought: OK, if it were to happen to get a spot, we’d figure something out. And even if not…
Obviously, if you’re going to the Olympics, it’s that dream – but for me it was really like making it to a Final at Worlds or Europeans. To me, that was fulfilling enough.
Going to the Olympics would have been the top of the top, la crème de la crème – but my life isn’t worse even if I’m not there…”
But then again, Julia had never envisioned finishing 2022 Worlds on the 18th place – the first time in the history of Romanian figure skating a woman would get into the best 20 skaters of the world – and that particular placement opened a whole new area of possibilities.
And a whole new way of looking at things.
“I did not expect to be Top 18 in a World Championships! And now I am!”, proud Julia would burst into laughter at the end of our talk in Montpellier.
And when we meet again, ten months later, at an international competition in Romania, we gather things were about to change considerably.
Having received an offer from Corona Brasov, the club she’s been representing ever since, Julia looked decided to commit to the full Olympic cycle ahead – and the Olympic dream had finally made its appearance.
“Honestly, after last season, I thought 2022/2023 was going to be my final year.
But as it seems right now, I’ll start getting a little support from a new club in Romania – I will get support for the Olympics. Corona Brasov, they’ve been really looking into me, and gave me an offer. And we’re really hoping that, after this season, I can switch clubs and get supported for the competitions and also receive a little salary.
And if that’s the case, and if this is really signed, I’ll go all in for the entire Olympic cycle!”
And that’s exactly what it happened – and, finishing 2025 Worlds in Boston on the 19th place, Julia Sauter qualified a spot for Romania in the women’s event at the forthcoming Olympics.
But for that to happen, and her Olympic dream become reality, she badly needed her Romanian passport.
And time was running out.
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What follows is the anatomy of a dream, if you may.
Because (Olympic) dreams are always made of parts we don’t get to see – the efforts underneath, Julia’s work, her coaches’ work, in Germany, in England, but also Julia’s team in Romania, acting on her behalf, easing the process, for that passport to be ready on time and Julia’s journey to the Olympics to go as smooth as possible.
THE START OF JULIA’S OLYMPIC SEASON: 2025 NEBELHORN TROPHY IN OBERSTDORF
On a typical Sunday at the end of September, around 10 a.m., Julia has just finished coaching the kids at her club in Ravensburg, Germany, and she’s now making herself a coffee, while chatting with us at Inside Skating.
This last part is not typical, you’ve guessed it – but Julia just returned, the day before, from Oberstdorf, and we want to catch up while emotions are still raw.
After all, 2025 Nebelhorn Trophy was Julia’s first competition of the season – and this season is, “most likely”, the last one of her competitive career.
But then “you never know what’s gonna happen”, she smiles, and adds layers to it.
“Despite it maybe being my last season, I still go in as I would always get in: I’m trying to get better every day. I put a lot of work in this summer and I’m physically in such a great shape. I would almost say I’ve never been in that good of a shape, so it’s very disappointing and frustrating right now how the first competition went down”.
7th in the short program, 11th in the free, she ended the competition in Germany on the 11th place.
LOTS OF COMPETITION NERVES, BUT SO MUCH GRATITUDE FOR WHERE SHE IS AT
Host to Nebelhorn Trophy since the beginnings of the event, in 1968, the city of Oberstdorf is just one hour and a half away drive from Ravensburg, the city where Julia Sauter lives and trains, so the little skaters she’s coaching at her club made the trip to Oberstdorf as well, to support Julia, their coach and choreographer – and that collective trip of students, family, friends made things even more emotionally charged.
But Julia Sauter-the competitor had even more reasons to be emotional about, since it was the first time in many years she was accompanied at an event by her coach, Roxana Luca Hartmann.
They have been working together, well, since forever, but Roxana didn’t usually travel with Julia at competitions – her former longtime coach did, Marius Negrea, no longer on Julia’s team.
And, this time, Julia really wanted Roxana to be there.
“I needed to do a couple of competitions with Roxana at the boards – I’m going to the Olympics with her, and it’s been such a long time since us having a competition together. I think the last time we went together was in the Bavarian Open, when I was still a child.
So I said to her: I am used to having you every day in my practice, but I’m not used to having you on my competitions, and I can quite be a lot on a competition, you know?
I think she now understands what I meant.
Because I was doing so great in practice in Oberstdorf, there was nothing to be concerned about, my warm-up was good. But then, right before the free skate, I was nervous. I was kind of shocked how nervous I was”.
And that nervousness translated itself into the actual performance, leaving Julia disappointed with how everything turned out.
But then it struck her: she had the support system at hand.
“I’m not even used to coming down from the ice and getting a hug for no matter what I was doing.
I was so disappointed after my free skate, but just the fact that someone was there and… It wasn’t that big of a deal that I screwed up. It was good, it was fine, you know?
Having the first not great competition, and having the support system right now, it was a different experience.
I haven’t had that, ever”.
Julia Sauter and her coach, Roxana Luca Hartmann, at 2025 Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf
Sharing a hug before the free skate in Oberstdorf
Julia and Roxana in the Kiss and Cry, at 2025 Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf
Remember: last season, Julia Sauter stopped working with her longtime coach Marius Negrea and only kept Roxana Luca Hartmann in Ravensburg, her main coach now, to which she added Christopher Boyadji in Swindon, UK, and also offered a more prominent role to Simona Punga, coach at the club Julia represents, in Brasov, Romania.
And she’s so very happy with this team, and she’s almost sad she has them for presumably such a short time of her competitive career, the last part of it.
But once again, she’s thrilled she found the needed balance, coaching-wise, support-wise.
“It was so nice, because I was at the competition with Roxana, but I was able to talk to Simona and I was talking to Chris, and they would give me feedback on what needs to be improved”.
And she is also in the best shape of her life, Julia says, on this Sunday morning, just half a day after returning from the first competition of the season and getting it out of her system.
She’s where she needs to be.
“Honestly, last year, I felt more and more defeated. This year, I feel like I know what I work on every single day. I feel good, the practices have been good, and they’re continuously getting better – we’re not going to change anything from practices, because however I’m training, I’m training well.
We’re treating this season not that much different than any other season. The only thing is, we’re trying to obviously peak at Olympics, not at Europeans.
My main goal now is to work hard, but then also go out and enjoy.
I want to fully enjoy the process leading up to the Olympics, and not just being so stressed, and so stubborn, and so annoyed and angry all the time, like last year.
And I think, at one point, it’s all gonna come together”.
THE OATH? “I LEARNED IT ALREADY!”
Back in September 2025, Julia had everything planned – what competitions to attend, when to break into new boots, when to go to Swindon and work with Christopher Boyadji, “and then come back, and then go to Lausanne, and then have two weeks, and then another competition, another two weeks, another competition…”.
What else she had?
The peace of mind and the contentment to practice, every single day, the oath she needed to take in the process of becoming a Romanian citizen.
“They can call me any day now – I’m prepared, we did everything, it should be OK. All of the paperwork is already done, I think the only thing I need to do is say one sentence in Romanian”.
And she had that sentence, alright, and she knew it by heart.
“I already learned it!
…Jur să fiu devotat patriei şi poporului român, să apăr interesele naţionale, să respect Constituţia şi legile României.
That’s it! I learned it last Monday, so every day I’m saying it and remembering it.
Wait, I forgot something!
[she hurries:] Să apăr drepturile şi interesele naţionale, să apăr Constituţia şi legile României – now I got it!”
I hear her practice the oath, in a lovely Romanian with a touch of German, a daily routine already, and I’m so emotional myself and very proud of how far she’s come.
From the teenager that she was, when Marius Negrea suggested she could represent Romania and continue her skating journey – and she made quite a leap into the unknown, travelling to Romania with her mom and figuring it out – to competing and getting to know the country and the people with each visit, to the beautiful grown-up that she’s become, the 28-year-old Julia Sauter, now doing the final steps, and leaps, and run-throughs of her competitive career.
She had done her homework.
And Romania needed to do its part, and make Julia officially its own.
[“Paperwork” has been such a constant word in Julia’s vocabulary all throughout this journey of representing Romania, that we wanted it dropped in the history bin once and for all.]
ROMANIAN CITIZENSHIP? CHECKED!
On October 9th, 2025, a short notice on the Romanian Olympic Committee’s Facebook page springs to my eyes: Julia Sauter has been granted Romanian citizenship, the prime-minister has just signed the Government Decision.
1.675 km far, in Ravensburg, Germany, Julia Sauter is in a bit of a fog. A happy kind of fog, but still.
She writes us back, emoticons included: “I am so confused 😂. I got the message today that everything got approved, but I’m not holding the passport in my hand yet, and I didn’t do the swearing in 😂”.
We assure her: all is well.
First: the decision of granting the citizenship has to be adopted by the Government. Done. Then: is has to be published in Monitorul Oficial / Government’s Official Gazette. And then she’ll be called to take the oath.
“Ok, so the paper is signed, haha”, Julia’s reply comes fast.
And we sense the relief – this has been such a long and challenging journey, and she deserves a smoother path to the Olympics, including the much needed financial support, sometimes strangled by Julia not having the Romanian citizenship.
Now she has it, and things finally come together, as she hoped.
JULIA AT THE END OF 2025: “ON THE GO-GO-GO”. BUT ALSO: “I’M REALLY PROUD OF HOW I ENDED MY FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON”
Still: there were some additional bureaucratic steps to be taken, Julia confirms when we next talk, in December, right after she had won her tenth national title (just like her coach, Roxana Luca, in her competitive years).
And Julia took them all, and did what she had to do, even if that meant to be on “go-go-go” mode for a couple of weeks.
But then, finally, “on a Friday”, she has that very clear, she came to Bucharest with her husband and picked up the passport.
First thing she did afterwards? I hear her laughing: nothing out of this world, just ordinary things, Julia-things.
“I think it was the 7th of November, it was on a Friday, and it was just me and my husband that time – I took a couple of pictures with my passport, and I actually had to scan and send it as fast as possible, for the Olympic Committee – and I got the job done!”
This is so Julia, “I got the job done” – knowing her for so many years already, we know she’s very efficient, and has a tunnel-vision for everything essential.
“It was a long road, and I didn’t know how close we were to the finish line, in terms of deadline.
So it felt nice to have everything done – and, honestly, I am so into my season right now! I came, I did my thing and I left again, and, in my mind, I was: I have to have the season going, that’s the most important thing right now”.
And, yes, Julia had already used the passport – to go to Cup of Innsbruck, in Austria, and Skate Fehervar, in Hungary.
“Every time now when I go to a competition, I can just bring my passport, it’s really nice…”
Looking back, “it’s been a lot traveling in the last 6-7 weeks, because I also went to competitions with kids from my club as a coach.
And then, obviously, adding the trips to Romania, and then still competing by myself – it was a lot that was happening and I feel like the time is flying so fast! Last week, or a week and a half ago, I was really tired from just being on the go-go-go.
But now I feel like I’m so happy with how the first half of the season went after all.
Because I started the season lower than I wanted to, but then I was building myself up: I had a good free skate, and then I had a good short program, and now I got both of the programs combined, and just to have that, it feels really rewarding right now.
Because I didn’t give up, and I worked through all of the obstacles, and I didn’t let myself down, and I showed up every day for practice, so, as I said, I’m really proud of how I ended my first half of the season”.
“JUST TO BE IN THAT POSITION IS ACTUALLY AN AMAZING FEELING”
Having to sort out all of those administrative issues on top of training, on top of competing, that required a lot of flexibility too, but Julia had a good team around her.
“Obviously, sometimes it clashed with my training, and we had to be very open-minded: Okay, this week it’s going to look like this, and then this week it’s going to look like that.
But having Roxana as my main coach, she just handles everything so great. And she prepares me on some weeks so good, that if something happens sometimes, it’s just not that big of a deal anymore.
I still know I’m in shape and I can do my thing whenever and wherever.
And just to be in that position is actually an amazing feeling, because I’ve never had that before, it was always more of a fight to survive. And now I just always feel really prepared, and it takes a lot of stress out of my mind.
And the amount of me getting feedback from people saying I changed, and I’m so much more open and so much nicer, like a different personality even on the ice and in day-to-day training, I knew this was the right step I took, you know?”
Julia is once again stressing the importance of her team of coaches, Roxana – Chris – Simona, and she will do that every time we talk.
She really thrives in this environment, with this new energy around her, three coaches on board.
“I went with Roxana to Nebelhorn Trophy and to Innsbruck Cup. And then in Switzerland [at Swiss Open] I was with Chris, and this weekend [at Skate Fehervar] I was with Simona”.
A happy laughter follows.
“I just love them so much”.
“I REALLY WANT TO ENJOY WHAT’S LEFT”
At the beginning of December, Julia’s eyes were already set on 2026 Europeans in Sheffield (where the above photo was taken), but with a very different attitude and mindset than in recent years.
Her ninth Europeans – tenth, if we count the one she needed to withdraw from after getting COVID, in 2022 – and, presumably, the last one of her competitive career.
“I will work as hard as possible to be prepared as good as possible.
I mean, when you step on the ice, you never know what happens – obviously, you hope for a good performance – but to me, at the Europeans, I just want to enjoy.
Cause it’s most likely my last one, and I don’t have any expectations. I think I proved myself three times in the places I took, so I just want to go there and have a good time.
Obviously, when you end up better than the year before, you’re always really happy. But for me, it’s more about really enjoying the second part of the season, because those moments are going to be so rare, and I want to have the emotions filled in my heart, versus: Oh, I have to achieve this, and I have to achieve that!
I feel that sometimes you get so lost in your own mind, so I just want to really enjoy what’s left”.
As for the Olympics approaching, “I’m just really excited to experience it all.
And I will try everything in my power to be in the best shape of my life – I’m already in such a great shape, but I will push more, I will try everything, off ice, mentally, how I train… and when it finally comes in, the moment I step on the ice all I wanna do is enjoy that performance.
After all, I will only get to experience it once”.
And then?
Has she made any plans, competitive plans, post Milano-Cortina?
“I will for sure do Worlds in Prague, I will continue the full season. And I will actually make my decision after the season ends.
I really love this sport, so I will sit down with my entire coaching team and my family, and we will make the decision on what’s going to happen next”.
Making sure we got that right: is another season in the cards?
“It is an option, maybe – maybe half of the season. I will really look into how I feel, because I really want to finish on my terms.
I mean, I always said I wanted to have my last performance on Olympic ice, but see, I changed my mind again, and I won’t finish at the Olympics after all”, Julia laughs.
“I will finish the season for sure, and then I’ll decide”.
LAST STOP BEFORE OLYMPICS: 2026 EUROPEANS IN SHEFFIELD
You had to be in Utilita Arena Sheffield, in January, to see just how much support Julia received from the audience.
No wonder – Julia travels frequently to UK, to work with Christopher Boyadji and Zoe Jones at the Link Centre, in Swindon, and she has made a lot of friends amongst the skaters training there. And she has been in Sheffield once before, for the GP Wilson Trophy, in the autumn of 2022.
You almost get the sense Julia feels at home at this edition of the Europeans, and at home you’re bold enough, and comfortable enough to try now things, such was Julia’s triple Lutz-triple Toe combination, that she tried – for the first time in competition – in Sheffield, in her short program, on January 14th.
She wanted to show the amount of work she had been putting with her team lately – who said you can’t learn difficult jump combinations at 28? –, and she did just that, she went for it, and fought for it.
But then a second of missed focus, and she popped the triple Loop, hence the frustration she was carrying in the mixed zone, minutes after her short program.
“The triple Lutz-triple Toe, it’s the first time I tried it in competition.
So, obviously, nerves were there, but I’m happy I pushed through, and I finally got the combination somehow done.
But then I just questioned myself for one second going into the Loop, and I popped it.
Honestly, I’m really mad right now, because I know I trained much better. Like, I was probably the most prepared going into the event ever, so it’s disappointing that it just didn’t work out. I do double short programs clean, and you come here and… it is what it is”.
But then, two days after, Romania’s Julia Sauter has the best free skate of her career.
And not just that, she has the sixth best free skate of the women’s event at 2026 Europeans – that’s her true potential right here! – and she climbs back a considerable number of places, finishing the event just outside Top 10, on the 11th place.
(Julia was 10th in 2023, 9th in 2024, 7th in 2025, all historical results for Romanian figure skating – and her sixth place in the free skate at 2026 Europeans is also unprecedented in Romanian women’s figure skating.)
And that particular skate, Julia’s skate – beautiful, serene, like a long, almost therapeutic exhale – becomes one of the biggest moments of the women’s event in Sheffield and has her on her knees, crying happy tears at the end of the program, and then in total shock in the Kiss and Cry, alongside coaches Chris Boyadji and Simona Punga, when the scores show up.
121.84 points for the free skate, Julia Sauter’s season best and the highest free skate score of her career, and 174.37 points overall, a season best again and also a personal best for Julia.
And if we close our eyes, we can still reminisce every little thing about that skate, that moment.
And we’re still cheering for Julia when she arrives in the mixed zone, happy, thrilled, emotional (only to find us in the same, euphoric, state of mind).
“I’m so shocked! I never had that calmness in my life!”, she bursts with excitement.
“Actually, all of my practices have been really good here. I cried a little bit yesterday, before practice, because I was still a little disappointed after the short, but then I got this calmness and I just tried to do one element at a time and do my job.
I was in my starting position and I was just calm and I was able to do what I do every day in practice”.
Is it as if she found a home in that particular music, we tell her – by Ezio Bosso, by The Cinematic Orchestra, and having “home” almost like a leitmotif.
Julia nods: “The ice has been my home since I was 4, and I’m 28 years old now. And I just love this music”.
As for the free skate scores, “it’s been a goal to achieve 120”, and she credits her success to, once again, the work she’s been doing with her team of coaches.
“I just wanted to have my redemption, because they put so much effort – especially Roxana, she writes me plans every day, she writes me mindsets every day, she’s there every single day lifting me up, and I cannot thank her enough.
I mean, if hadn’t been for her, I would not be skating anymore, and I wouldn’t be… not just the skater, but she actually helps me grow, and be a more confident woman”.
And one could tell Julia had all three coaches with her at 2026 Europeans: Simona Punga and Chris Boyadji, physically in Sheffield, but also Roxana Luca nearby, through phone calls, video calls, messages; and Julia even had a moment with Roxana on FaceTime right before the free skate.
“She was like: Breathe. And just to have her there, it felt like home”.
A free skate like an offering – Julia Sauter in Sheffield, at 2026 Europeans
“SHE SKATES WITH HER SOUL”
And Chris Boyadji in the mixed zone, alongside Zoe Jones, and Simona Punga, they’re all beaming while listening to Julia, and seeing her that happy. They too love Julia and want only the best for her.
And they know Julia’s qualities by heart.
Chris Boyadji: “Julia is very consistent at training, the quality of her jumps is extremely good. She will land five triple Lutz out of five triple Lutz.
I think for Julia sometimes it’s about being in the moment, and being able to focus. And tonight she was outstanding, she gave us all tears.
We’re here to support her, and we’re here to guide her, but she was very calm and she knew what she was doing. And I think that’s what really is important for her.
I don’t think there was a winning formula tonight, she was calm and confident, that’s what she said: When I was on the ice, I knew what I had to do.
And she was fantastic”.
The stand-out moments of that free skate? Chris Boyadji and Zoe Jones will complement each other and make for a beautiful summary, just wait and see:
Chris: “The triple Lutz was fantastic! And the choreo sequence!”
Zoe: “Seeing her, knowing that she’s really given everything, and she’s gone out there, and done more!”
Chris: “She skates with her soul”
Zoe: “Yeah, it really comes from the heart”
As for the welcome Julia had in Sheffield, at the Europeans, with so many British skaters in the audience cheering for her, “That’s what we like to see”, Chris says, and Zoe: “She’s a good teammate and a good friend to them all, they were all happy and excited to be here”.
“We are all very happy”, Chris Boyadji encapsulates what we all feel.
“WE ALL KNOW WHAT WE HAVE TO DO”
Sitting nearby, eyes sparkling, is Julia’s coach in Romania, Simona Punga.
The coordinator of the figure skating section of Corona Brasov, the Romanian club Julia is representing, Simona has been around Julia for a couple of years already.
But she has become an essential part of Julia’s team starting last season.
That means coaching, travelling with her at competitions, helping with every little bureaucratic thing, handling communication, handling finances, finding solutions to problems – and they were many, as you already know from our previous stories about Julia’s journey.
“Julia has always wanted to have a team around her – and I joined the team at her request. I mean, she’s experienced enough to choose the people she wants to work with by herself.
And Roxana, her main coach, does a textbook work: everything is planned, every training session, every minute, and we all know what we have to do. At the end of the day, we all talk on FaceTime and see what went well, what didn’t, what we can adjust…
You can’t perform without a team.
But the difference is, with every skater out there, there’s a federation behind, that does all the work, the paperwork – and we don’t have that.
In Julia’s case, everything is done through the club – requests, procedures, money… – so she doesn’t feel the hassle and focus on her training. I sometimes try to keep some of the information, the problems encountered, from her, but then she realizes and she’s like: «Simona, you didn’t tell me this and that…».
But I just want her to do well and to be ready – this season, from competition to competition, she made improvements, she raised her technical level in the short, she’s very well prepared, only clean programs in practice, and I think it’s wonderful what she’s been able to do this whole time”.
And this “whole time” might very well translate into next season, we’ll just have to wait and see.
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But until then, this huge moment finally arrived for Julia Sauter: her first Olympics.
On February 6th, 2026, at the Opening Ceremony, she entered Milano San Siro Olympic Stadium carrying the Romanian flag.
And she was ready for the adventure of a lifetime.
Story by Florentina Tone
Photos by Alberto Ponti at 2025 Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf
and 2026 European Figure Championships in Sheffield
Other photos courtesy of Julia Sauter, Roxana Luca Hartmann, Simona Punga
Homepage photo by Alberto Ponti / 2026 Europeans
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Get to know Romania’s Julia Sauter. A strong-willed, self-made skater