It all started as early as a 4-year-old in 2001. The little girl who would blossom into a formidable force on ice started to skate in the small town of Ravensburg, Germany. But not before making a decision, even at that tender age. “I wanted to do both [ballet and figure skating], but my mom told me to make a decision, and it was figure skating. I think it was the fact that she couldn’t afford both for me – my parents are regular people, not a lot of money…” she had said. As a grown-up, she knows why she chose figure skating.

“Actually, my mom used to play ice hockey, but I didn’t know that when I was 4. But maybe that’s the reason why I chose figure skating, and then it came really natural,” she said with a proud smile. Genes spoke, and they spoke quite early. “When I started, I honestly loved it – like I won every competition I entered. I remember it was an open ice rink in Ravensburg, people took me in and said I had a lot of talent. I learned all double jumps by the age of 8,” she recalled. Growing up, she was a great admirer of skaters like Kiira Korpi, Yuna Kim, and Kaetlyn Osmond. A turning point in her career came when she was 13.

She crossed paths with her future coach, Marius Negrea, with whom she would work for 13 long years. Meanwhile, she had to take another decision. She decided to represent Romania in 2011 after not being invited to enter the elite group of figure skaters in Germany because at the time, she could not perform specific elements that were required of her. Eventually, she went on to win nine Romanian championships. But her greatest success came in January when she finished seventh at the 2025 European Championships—the best-ever finish for a Romanian woman. However, if there is one thing that has pained the skater time and again, that is financial hardships.

Back in late 2022, she was already scraping by, unsure if she could afford to keep skating. With little to no support from her federation, she relied on the generosity of her coach, who covered training expenses when money ran out. But even that wasn’t always enough. To make ends meet, she took on small jobs, working as a kids’ aid in a school while juggling intense training. It was a harsh reality—balancing part-time work with the demands of an elite athlete. She started a GoFundMe to pay for the travel expenses to go to the 2023 World Championships in Saitama, Japan. And now the champion skater has come down to the same path once again.

Despite proving herself on the ice time and again, the 27-year-old Julia Sauter’s road to the 2026 Winter Olympics now lies at the hands of generous supporters. With no major sponsors or national support, Sauter has turned to crowdfunding once again. In a heartwarming message, Sauter has outlined her goal: “It is my absolute dream to qualify in the upcoming World Championships in Boston this upcoming March to go get an Olympic Sport for Romania. I am nothing but proud to represent my country, and I am more than grateful for everyone who has helped me in the past and is also helping me right now to go achieve my ultimate goal.”

The World Championships in Boston are scheduled to be held in March. Julia Sauter further added, “After finishing 3rd in a row in the Top 10 at Europeans, I would have assumed to have financial support to cover my expenses for my team and me to go to the World Champions 2025 in less than 3 weeks.” But things didn’t work out, and without sponsors, her dream now hangs in the balance. “The money donation would go towards my World Championship travel and my preparation competition in 2 weeks in Poland,” she added. While we hope she will not get the opportunity to chase her goals, she will not get her trusted aide.

Julia had to sail through a bitter fallout

Last year in December, Julia and her coach Negrea ended their association abruptly. But the ending of the partnership was not amicable, so to say. It was Julia’s choice, according to reports. “I changed my coaching team and now I am mainly trained by Roxana Luca Hartmann, who was also part of my team, but was more in the background,” she had announced. However, the decision did not sit well with Negrea.

Negrea, who discovered Julia, said that he did not understand the reasons that caused the breakup after 14 years of collaboration. “I started working with Julia in 2010 and it ended in December of last year. I thought we would last until the end of her career. Last fall, we had two weaker international competitions. She was very sad, very angry and I think she was looking for someone to blame for all the problems. In individual sports, it’s like that, when an athlete gets angry, he kicks out the coach.”

“She just told me that she wants to work in a team with others. I am sad and disappointed by this breakup, which was not fair play ,” Negrea had alleged. The two meet at the Ravensburg ice rink where the athlete is training with Roxana Luca, and the coach has several initiation groups. “Since December, we have been seeing each other every day at the ice rink, but we haven’t spoken,” Negrea had added.

Julia began this season by competing on the 2024–25 ISU Challenger Series, finishing sixth at the 2024 CS Budapest Trophy and seventeenth at the 2024 CS Warsaw Cup. Between the two events, she would win the 2024 Crystal Skate of Romania. We hope, she gets all the support she deserves on her way to fulfilling her dream.