A same-sex female duo will perform for the first time at an ice dancing tournament in Finland.

For the first time in history, a same-sex female duo consisting of 19-year-old athletes Emma Aalto and Millie Kolling will perform at an official ice dancing tournament in Finland. This was announced on September 4 by the portal Kirkko ja kaupunki.

"Aalto and Colling <...> are Finland's first same-sex couple dancing on ice. On their initiative, the Finnish Figure Skating Association introduced a rule change in the spring, thanks to which in the future couples will be able to compete in pair ice dancing in Finland, not only men's and women's pairs," the publication says.

It is noted that the figure skaters do not intend to "play man and woman", but to show programs corresponding to their gender, while not sexualizing the sport.

It is specified that the athletes from Finland are friends who previously performed solo in ice dancing.

Earlier, on December 13, 2022, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, was outraged by the admission of same-sex figure skating duets in Canada to competitions. She explained that "in the rules, instead of the definitions of "man" and "woman", the concepts of "figure skater A" and "figure skater B" or "partners" will be used.

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