New interview with Mika:
http://www.fsrussia.ru/intervyu/255...dalo-dopolnitelnyj-stimul-rabotat-dalshe.html
He says that not so good result at CoR is a motivation to do better at NHK.
Translation:
-- Misha, when was it harder to skate at CoR in Moscow – this year or the last?
-- This year, of course. I definitely can say that it was harder morally to get into the right mindset.
-- Why?
-- Maybe because there were no particular objectives set for me last year. I competed and did what I could, and overall last season was a success for me. But when results appear, you understand that it also creates responsibility. And responsibility always brings some pressure with it.
Besides, I can’t say that starting a season is easy for me. I spend more time than others getting my long program ready, because I need to really feel it through for it to work well. This year there were three competitions before CoR, last year – four. Also CoR this year was 20 days earlier. This is a substantial difference.
-- Plus you also started preparing for the season later.
-- As it happens I did not have a proper rest after last season. And it is possible that everything comes harder because of the missed holiday. First I spent some time at an army camp. Then I returned home to St. Petersburg and finished my diploma project. It was ¾ ready, I had been writing it myself over the previous year. I defended it with Excellence and then started my Master’s degree. I will continue my studies. Due to all this I began my preparation for the season later. And I couldn’t train as I normally do during my studies. But now there is no time left to relax. The season is in full swing. My second Gran Prix event is in Japan, not that much time is left. I need to mobilise and get ready for it.
-- Men’s single skating is becoming harder every year. Skaters are learning new quads – flip, loop, lutz. Can you please explain for the non-experts the difference between a triple and a quad lutz, for instance? Since this was the topic of your diploma project.
-- My diploma project was on the methods of teaching multi-rotation jumps to figure skaters. And to simplify, the difference is force. To do a lutz well, a lot of effort is required, as the figure skater has to rotate four full revolutions. On the toe loop and salchow it is possible to “steal” part of a rotation. For the salchow, for example, it is around ½ a turn. Yes, it will be a prerotated jump, but it makes it easier to perform these jumps. But on the lutz you cannot “steal” anything, so you need to be better prepared physically to do it cleanly. [He is obviously talking about proper lutz technique because we have seen that it’s quite possible to have a ¾ turn pre-rotation on the lutz – vorravorra].
Let’s say someone has a very good 3Lz. You’d think that it shouldn’t be too hard to add an extra revolution. But in reality it’s not that simple. In addition to the issues of physics, there is also a psychological barrier. Especially considering that this jump has a backward entry and it can be plain scary.
I have been trying to do 4Lz in practices. I will continue learning it throughout the season. I can’t promise anything, we’ll have to see how it goes. At the moment, my plan is two quads in the long program – toe loop and salchow.
-- At CoR in Moscow you were 4th. Were you disappointed?
-- It gave me an additional stimulus to continue working. I can’t say that I had psychological problems, rather they were physical. It was a bit hard to skate the long program. Although I wasn’t excessively nervous. To be honest, I myself did not expect to make mistakes on simple jumps. I liked the choreography side of it and put effort into the PCS. But the mistakes…
Of course, it’s early in the season and I haven’t quite entered a competitive mindset. It will become easier from one start to the next. For instance, it was hard to skate at Finlandia, a little bit easier in Moscow. Now I need to arrive home, break down the programs with the coaches, analyse what happened at this competition. When it is all clearly set out on paper, it’s easier to analyse. And it’s possible to eliminate problems and perfect the programs. As I have said, there is a lot to do before the event in Japan.
) Unlike many I am not mad about the choreo - it seems to me disconnected, there are great elements and they work but lots of music accents left out just IMHO...
Now hopefully he will continue the upwards trend and get better again at NHK!
