Lambiel talked a little about Misha in
this podcast. Nothing we don't already know (Misha needs to stop overthinking things and just do his job? What a novel idea!), but some nice thoughts.
I assume Stephane will be with Deniss at Golden Spin, so I really hope he can give Misha words of encouragement before the SP.
Stéphane: ... I tell my skaters, ‘Don’t try to get the stress away, do it. Do with the stress, it’s your friend, it’s what will bring the performance up there. With the stress you will succeed, not without.’ I feel a lot of people try not to be stressed but all skaters are stressed, all skaters are nervous, all skaters want to do their best, so it’s the one who will use it the best way.
Clara: That’s the last thing I wanted to ask you about because you worked with Mikhail Kolyada this season. We love his skating, he’s amazing, he’s got such beautiful skating skills, but he seems to suffer with nerves, right? I’ve seen him at 3 competitions this season, [and at] two of them he just wasn’t able to perform the way he wanted to. So I was wondering how, as a coach, how do you think about that psychological element? Do you work with sports psychologists for your skaters?
Stéphane: I do work with a psychologist, I was seeing someone back when I was competing. And I think the trust is really important, I think the keyword for me is trust. Sometimes, for example Mikhail,
I’m not too worried because he’s a strong guy pray
, not only physically, I feel mentally if he lets go, he will be stronger. He can do everything, he really can and I’ve seen him in practice, he’s so strong, he’s so capable, but he wants to control everything. And in competition you just have to do your job, don’t try to control because you’re late on what you have to do if you try to...or try to see yourself doing things. Just do them, don’t try to control everything, put the energy in action. That’s my feeling but I think that’s something you should probably discuss with the skater as a coach. And if you’re not willing to do that, then to find someone [who] can do that approach of making it happen.
Clara: So it’s the coach's first step and then...
Stéphane: I think so, I think if the trust between the skater and coach is strong enough to face that and to discuss together, it’s possible. Then that’s totally feasible.
Clara: Good to know, I hope he manages to let go this season, I want to see Carmen clean.
Stéphane: Yeah, once he will let go, it will feel very easy. But right now because he’s not letting go, it feels really complex. That’s how I feel. (Clara: Yeah, I can only imagine.) It just feels like a mountain. Once he will do it, he will be like ‘Oh my god, that’s actually not that difficult.’ So to be on that edge is always...as a skater, it’s very frustrating because I’m sure he’s ready to skate a great performance, and he will just need to, right, ‘let go’ to do it (laughs).
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Shoma and Nathan haven’t been at their best, so in his Nepela form Misha could have even challenged for silver or gold at GPF (it would have been hard, but not impossible). It just goes to show that everybody is struggling this season, but apparently he has to struggle more than the rest. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
