^
Mika might be a late bloomer for all we know like Caro, another nervous inconsistent sensitive soul, who won her World title at her 10th (!) Worlds.
Being happily married might give him a sense of stability and help his consistency (or not
).
What I believe is that he wants to come back, that despite his struggles with nerves he genuinely likes competing and there is still plenty of fire in him.
His talent is so immense and the technique so pure, the judges will reward him if he shows any consistency at all.
As regards a coaching change I am just afraid that later in life looking back he will bitterly regret not taking a chance. And we never will know what if...
I hope he will dump Chaplin because if to think of it from the start it was an unfortunate program for him. Consider this: it was introduced as an EX but he never got a chance to skate it as such at any serious comp due to an illness (RusNats) or an injury (Euro) or not being invited (Worlds) . Then he made a competitive program of it and stopped competing so again it was never skated as such...
@ QueenOftheRoad
Caro had some specific problems with her jump technique she went to work on with Mishin. I don't see any technical problems in Mika's jumps but one - his nerves, he rushes into a jump with too much speed and fails having done that very jump perfectly just moments before in a warm-up. When he keeps his focus (as in the LP at Saitama) all is well and he even shows he can save jumps when is determined (his second 4T - stepout could easily become a fall had he been in his 'usual' mindset')
And that mental preparation so badly needed is unfortunately not the strongest point of Valentina, far from it but...
