Kostner returning to Oberstdorf

[ballettmaus]

Here's a translation of the article.

Three time European Champion Carolina Kostner is fed up with the big world. After 15 months she ends her guest appearance in LA and returns to longtime coach Michael Huth. “The change from a small town to the metropolitan of LA has been too enormous. She recognized that. Now we’ll have to see how we’ll build her back up.” Huth said.

This Friday will be Kostner’s first public appearance. She’ll perform in the show “Greatest Hits on Ice”. The event is the highlight of a training camp (Ice Dome) with more than 130 skaters from 20 different nations. The youngest are just 7 years old – and charmed by Carolina Kostner. Exactly like the provisional CEO of the Oberstdorf skating club, Harald Löffler. “The return of Carolina Kostner is certainly enriching for the Oberstdorf skating scene.” Lately, the career of the St. Ulrich native, who first came to the Oberstdorf sport school at the age of 13, hasn’t run smoothly.

Leaving to train with Christa Fassi and Frank Caroll hasn’t brought her any closer to her ultimate goal. On contrary: she placed sixth at the World Championships and fell down to 16th place at the Olympic Games. Kostner was devastated – and soon contacted her former coach Huth. “The door has never been closed. I think we can offer her more than day in, day out, doing run-throughs of her programs,” the married father said and who is practically like family to Kostner. If the cousin of retired skier Isolde Kostner will be able to reach her dream, needs to be seen.

Right now, Huth has to serve primarily as a psychologist. “Caro lost a lot of her natural character in the US. She has to get comfortable first before she’ll have that back,” he said. Next to the ice, his protégé is missing her sovereignty as well. She didn’t want to answer any questions prior to the skating show tonight. The reasoning: Too much stress…

[MikiAndoFan#1]

No, what she needs is to do full run-throughs. If she's going to be lazy about training then no amount of talent in the world will get her to the top. She could have gone far with Frank but her refusal to do run-throughs and commit herslef 100% to training harder than she had in the past screwed her over, and now she's going back to her previous coach where she can continue to rest on her talent- which is simply not enough.

If what she has done up until now hasn't given her the results she was seeking, she should realize that she should make a change. Changing coaches without changing her training habits won't do squat.

It's just wrong to call Carolina lazy. The girl works her butt off. As Ziggy said, Carolina and Frank just weren't a match.

[MikiAndoFan#1]

Thanks for the translation, ballettmaus!

[jlai]

People are attributing all sorts of problems to her (laziness, headcase, whatever). But I wonder if she really can get very consistent considering how tall she is.

Are there actually tall and consistent jumpers out there or has there been any?

[Ziggy]

The height might be an issue but I think I remember some posters mentioning that her technique was in some ways less than stellar and Huth has been either unable or unwilling to correct that.

ETA: Ahhh I think I remember now.

Jacek Tascher who is a coach and Polish Eurosport commentator is often making comments about Kostner rushing her jumps (I don't remember the details of what he said though).

I guess that can be a psychological issue as much as a technical one.

[barbk]

Here's a translation of the article.

"Right now, Huth has to serve primarily as a psychologist. “Caro lost a lot of her natural character in the US. She has to get comfortable first before she’ll have that back,” he said. Next to the ice, his protégé is missing her sovereignty as well. She didn’t want to answer any questions prior to the skating show tonight. The reasoning: Too much stress…

Thanks for the translation, balletmaus -- if she's too stressed to answer questions prior to a pre-season skating show, she's pretty dicey. She had the unfortunate experience of doing very well (results-wise) early along despite rarely being able to skate anything close to clean, and I think there was a lot of backlash that must have been personally painful when she did so badly at Worlds a year ago and then the debacle at the Olympics.

[Ziggy]

I'd like to see Kostner work with an actual sport psychologist and not just Papa Huth.

[ioana]

I'd like to see Kostner work with an actual sport psychologist and not just Papa Huth.

But his foolproof methodology has taken her so far! Truly an inspirational training environment he's built in Dortmund.

[Iceman]

She should become a speed skater.

[IceAlisa]

She should become a speed skater.

Exactly.

[tangerine_dream]

It's just wrong to call Carolina lazy. The girl works her butt off. As Ziggy said, Carolina and Frank just weren't a match.

An elite level figure skater who flat out refuses to do full run throughs IS lazy. Not just lazy, but ineffective at practicing in a way that would yield better results. Let's say you don't think I can call Carolina lazy because she practices 100 jumps a day...well, that just means she likes jumping, but doesn't like doing run-throughs. Someone who is lazy isn't necessarily someone who puts forth no effort, but rather someone who doesn't put forth any effort beyond what they "feel like" doing.

I'm not saying she would definitely place better if she did do full run throughs, but I am saying that if she refuses to do full run throughs then she is jeopardizing the chance of placing better that she could have.

There's honestly no reason other than nursing an injury or illness that would warrant an elite skater (and even non-elite skaters, to be perfectly honest) *not* to do full run throughs of programs.

[tangerine_dream]

How do you know she was refusing to do full-runthroughs?

The mouths of people who were working with her at the time. I'm not going to name a specific one, but I'm more confident about this source than I was about my Sasha doing pairs rumor, and even that seems to be true

I keep forgetting this forum doesn't consolidate 2 replies into one post unless I do it manually. Apologies for double posting again.

[Marco]

Her problem has been 3-fold:

1. the speed she maintains, while impressive, makes it difficult for her to control her jumps and this worsened when she got older and taller/ fuller

2. she doesn't have the stamina, consistency and muscle memory like other skaters who do full run-throughs

3. she is a headcase except at the occasional Euros where she has very little competition. The fact that she also telegraphs allows plenty of negative thoughts to creep in while she glides forward/ backward on two feet.

Carroll got her to pace herself and slow down a little which was good, but her confidence must have been seriously shot from the previous season for them to work right away. If Kostner had been more patient/ obedient with Carroll (and vice versa) she probably would have had a better second half to her Olympic season.

I don't recall the last great triple I saw from her.

[IneZR]

I am really glad that Caro is staying. Her skating is just gorgeous, she has the smoothest edges and the deepest knees out there - the way she gains speed from just couple of cross-overs is just . I could watch her do simple cross-overs all day long and still be

But back to the topic: her jumping technique is just fine, but she often rushes into her jump entrances and, IMHO, it's all due to the nerves. What she really needs right now is a good sports psychologist. I don't mind her staying with Huth as long as she feels comfortable training in Oberstdorf. After all, it's Huth who coached Carolina to World Silver and Bronze and two European titles: he can't be THAT bad, huh?

[IceJunkie]

At the Olympics on NBC, didn't Bezic say that Carolina wouldn't do full run throughs?

[alhrayth]

I'd like to see Kostner work with an actual sport psychologist and not just Papa Huth.

she did work with one in the past, I remember having the very unpleasant experience of meeting him during Worlds in Torino. If it was that guy, I would very much prefer she didn't get back to him, he was just hyperexcited, rude, arrogant and annoying (and I was not the only one thinking this!), and I can't see what good could he do to anyone, actually, not only to Carolina's already complex situation.

[olympic]

she did work with one in the past, I remember having the very unpleasant experience of meeting him during Worlds in Torino. If it was that guy, I would very much prefer she didn't get back to him, he was just hyperexcited, rude, arrogant and annoying (and I was not the only one thinking this!), and I can't see what good could he do to anyone, actually, not only to Carolina's already complex situation.

Whatever the case may be, it sounds like Caro doesn't have a good track record in choosing her support team --- or having them chosen for her.

[Eislauffan]

I saw Carolina Kostner just the day before yesterday in Oberstdorf. She said she hasn't made a final decision yet regarding her coaching situation and training location. She attended the Ice Dome summer camp in Oberstdorf and now will attend Alexei Urmanov's summer camp in Aosta.

[briancoogaert]

She seems to be such a nice person.
The problem with Frank Carol is that she tried to relearn her jumping technique. But in an Olympic season, it's very difficult to fix your technique in 5 months !
I think she needed time with Frank and Christa. But I hope she will find something new with her former coach.
Good luck !

[ballettmaus]

I saw Carolina Kostner just the day before yesterday in Oberstdorf. She said she hasn't made a final decision yet regarding her coaching situation and training location. She attended the Ice Dome summer camp in Oberstdorf and now will attend Alexei Urmanov's summer camp in Aosta.

Maybe it would be best if she sat out a season in order to get her coaching issue settled. She seems like someone who needs some steady foundation and I'm afraid if she's not entirely settled for the season her results will suffer.

What Huth said in the article sounded sort of degrading. Frank Caroll cannot be such a bad coach, he produced a 4 time World Whampion (I think) and an Olympic Gold medalist. Recently. I don't know about his past.
I don't want to judge Carolina but there's always two to make a partnership work, so I guess they both were on different pages. As someone who has been there though, I can say that not always do you understand immediately that what the coach is saying is best for you. For some people it's hard to accept different training methods after they have been training for so long under one coach and method - even if that stalled your development at some point. Maybe that happened to Carolina.
I hope she can sort through that problem though because she's such a sweet girl and I would love if she could skate to her full potential at a World and/or European Championship because she's great if she skates clean.