Bela Papp

Background

Bela Papp was born on 9 March 1994 in Kuopio, Finland. His mother, Ulla, is a figure skating coach, and his siblings — Beata, Bettina, Benjam — have all competed in the sport.

Career

Selected to compete at four consecutive World Junior Championships, he qualified twice for the free skate. In the 2007-2008 season, Papp was sent to Lake Placid, New York to compete at his first International Skating Union Junior Grand Prix event. After winning the Finnish national junior title, he was assigned to the 2008 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria but did not qualify for the free skate.

He was eliminated before the free skate again at the 2009 World Junior Championships but was successful at the 2010 World Junior Championships in The Hague, Netherlands, where he finished 24th.

He was assigned to the 2011 World Junior Championships in Gangneung, South of Korea, where he placed 22nd, and the 2011 World Championships in Moscow, where he was eliminated after the preliminary round. Surgery on the L5 bilateral pars in his lower back kept him out of competition in the 2012-2013 season.

Achievements

• He is the 2011 Finnish national champion. The following season, Papp repeated as the Finnish junior champion. In the 2010-2011 season, Papp won the Finnish national title on the senior level