Interview with Angelika Krylova

It is always difficult to skate when you are second in your own country. But paradoxically, it is even more difficult when you're the first. This year, when we arrived at the first Grand Prix event in Canada, Kaitlyn and Andrew were stiff as never before. I didn't even quite know what to do when I saw it. But the experience was useful. You need to psychologically cross the line that separates you from the leader, if you are planning to become a long time leader.

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I always knew that while Tessa and Scott were natural born dancers, Meryl had never mastered such skating skills and never had such natural talent. Behind her achievements in ice dance, there is a tremendous amount of incredibly hard work, iron discipline and determination. No one else had ever executed such complex elements with such ease. And year after year, they kept working even harder. As a coach, I was amazed. The Canadians had relaxed when they won the 2012 World championships. They decided that they were always going to be first. I think, it was mostly Tessa who had relaxed.

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Q: How difficult is it to say to the American or Canadian athletes that he or she has gained weight?
A: Of course, it's a littlle bit easier in Russia. But I say that to my skaters openly. And immediately. If an athlete is going to fight for medals, he must be aware from the very beginning what elite sport is. That there should be discipline, strict control and so on. That the right attitude is a very big part of success. If a skater is not able to control his condition himself, I resort to tough measures.

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It is much harder to train a Russian pair abroad. And I would be very cautious considering such proposal.
Q: Why?
A: Russian figure skating federation always tries to control everything. It is understandable, but it creates too many problems for a coach: you need to bring athletes for assessment, and it entails big financial expenses, loss of time.

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Before, a program originated from an idea. And choreographic decisions were wrapped around that idea. Sometimes the dance became properly polished only by the end of the season.
Now, you do the elements layout first, and then you start to invent transitions. But the athletes have to be in a good shape already by the time of their first competition. Therefore, you try to set the program in such a way that even without much mileage it looks as a complete program and not a set of elements.

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GF2445 said:

Which season did Tessa gain weight? I never noticed at all!

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apple123 said:

And anyone who watched the documentary of V/M knows how hard they train day in and day out. If we wanna talk about doing moves with ease, it's V/M. They brought new things every single year, and did the most difficult elements like nothing. I would certainly call the team doing the same twizzles for years a bit lazy.

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unokid said:

See but this is the problem. Why do we have to bring D/W down or call them lazy in order to say that V/M were not? Both teams were extremely hard workers. Otherwise they wouldn't have been able to achieve what they did. Let's leave it at that.

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golden411 said:

For the record, the first instance in this thread of contrasting Virtue and Davis is from Krylova herself -- in the OP.
The subsequent post that referred to Davis/White did not come out of the blue.

(But I agree that both couples obviously are extremely hard workers.)

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unokid said:

Thanks for the welcome guys! And I agree that it wasn't out of the blue - she clearly does the same thing in the article, in bolstering D/W to bring V/M down. That's what my issue with her statements are actually. I just wish that people didn't feel the need to tear anybody down to make someone else look good.

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Matt K said:

She is not "bolstering" anyone to bring down V/M, most certainly not Davis/White, who she says are inferior in talent and in skating skills.

Funny, but D/W have been doing the same twizzles and programs for years, while V/M did Carmen in 2013. In 2014, both teams received typical generic Zoueva Olympic FDs with D/W having the more accessible well known warhorse so I do not see where D/W challenged themselves. Both teams had generic Zoueva FDs while D/W got the more popular audience friendly music choice. The only program D/W did that was different than Samson & Delilah, POTO, Notre Dame, Scheherazade, was a typical Igor tango. A TANGO. If this is the furthest a team can stretch themselves over one's senior career, that is rather sad IMO. Both teams have had typical Zoueva drudgery but I think it is easier to do the same programs/twizzles every year, as D/W did.

I thought V/M were better skaters after Igor left, in fact, it was much more obvious to me how much better their skills were in 2013/2014 than 2010, IMO; their edges were even deeper, they even had much more power and ice coverage (getting levels does not equate to quality. I do not like it when skaters ugly their way to an element to eek out level 4). It is called ice skating/ice dancing, not gimmicky hopscotch/speed skating. But this kind of topic is for another thread.

Weaver/Poje do not have the most natural talent so Krylova may be trying to use a D/W work ethic model to model themselves after. I just hope W/P choreography does not turn into hoppy reused, collect-all-points at any cost kind of thing. I sure hope not. Because Krylova/Camerlengo have generally done good work with their teams.

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I always knew that while Tessa and Scott were natural born dancers, Meryl had never mastered such skating skills and never had such natural talent.

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I always knew that while Tessa and Scott were natural born dancers, Meryl had never mastered such skating skills and never had such natural talent.

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Matt K said:

You mean, in spite of a lack of natural talent and skating skills. You left that out too.

If one were to say Individual B never mastered such skating skills and never had such natural talent as Individual A, does this equate to saying Individual B is inferior to A in skating skills and talent? Yes.

Again, the quote:

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