Samokhvalov's interview with Gleikhengauz

TAHbKA

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Anatoly Samokhvalov's interview with Daniil Gleikhengause for ria.ru

AS: Please comment on Anna's and Maiia's skates in Turin
DG: We're in the middle of the season, hence there are things we were happy about, unhappy about and things to work on. But all and all it's just yet another competition, part of the preparation to the Nationals and the Olympics.

AS: The skates here though were quite good, at least all the planned quads for both Scherbakova and Khromykh worked. What are you not satisfied with?
DG: The SP of course. Anna's shape here was much better, the way she trained the first day and the day of the SP - nothing pointed there would be such a mistake, so we had to get to the bottom of it. Knowing how she is and how many times she competed on a much higher level competitions than a GP I understand it's not the nerves. So we'll figure it out. Of course the combo with a loop is different - there is no time to think between the jumps. When your second jump is a toe or euler-Salshow you can change your body position after the landing and even fix it in the second jump. That would not work on a loop. Either you do it immediately or there is that stop in the middle. Of course if the lutz goes wrong we'd want her to add a 3T or a 2T at once.

AS: Anna said she wanted to integrate a 4lz in her LP but the coaches were against.
DG: She landed the lutz here in the practice and the warm up and it went well. But we have not trained both lutz and flip with the music yet, hence I decided not to risk it because flip as a 2nd jump is harder than the first element. The second quad is more energy consuming and the odds to land it are lower. Had she landed the quad lutz and failed the quad flip the whole programme could go wrong. Hence I told her I believe in her flip more, she just has to land it clean, get her positive GOE for it and skate the whole programme clean. Here in this competition - that was more important.

AS: How many quads can Scherbakova do when on the top of her shape?
DG: You've seen yourself she was practicing two here. We can never tell how the preparations will go and what will happen tomorrow. Right now the plan is to show both lutz and flip in the next competition. But no one knows how will that go.

AS: But she'll probably need three quads at the nationals?
DG: We'll see.

AS: Her neck injury - what was that taping in Budapest?
DG: As you can see there is no tape now. She is fine. Every muscle injury that an athlete experiences are taped. Should we talk in details about every tape they have you can write all of them are injured every week.

AS: Trusova is missing the GP in Japan because of the foot injury
DG: Her leg hurts. Unfortunately I haven't been to Moscow for two weeks so it's Dudakov who you should be asking. We are in touch, but I can't give any more details about it.

AS: Can you elucidate? Is it a stress fracture or something completely different?
DG: That's a question for a doctor who can give a professional assessment.

AS: But the said doctor needs an ok from the coaches to comment.
DG: True. Last time I saw Alexandra through the video when she was in the USA where she performed great and won. It's all I can tell about Alexandra right now.

AS: Ok, let's move to Kostornaya
DG: Our beloved.

AS: What is her shape and her chances? What is she working on besides the 3A right now?
DG: All the other jumps

AS: Can you be more exact?
DG: Alyona posted a nice and heartful post where she thanks us for working with her. It would be nicer if instead of thanking us in the instagram she would thank us with her work... We don't need her thanks, our goal is to help her to live up to her full potential. When we reach that she'll show all she can do. What she is showing now is not all she is capable of and think everyone understands that.

AS: What is wrong with her training process?
DG: The amount of the run throughts is not on the level of the other athletes in the group.

AS: I.e. she does not skate enough?
DG: Right

AS: Why?
DG: That's a question to Alyona, I can't get into her head.

AS: But she does show up to the practices?
DG: Thank god most of the time.

AS: Does she have a motivation problem?
DG: It's hard to say whether it's the motivation. She has to figure it herself. I can't tell she has a motivation problem, but it's just that people are different and not all of us are capable of repeating the same things day after day, turn off the emotions and just repeat the same things. Repetition - that's the toughest part of our sport. Going on wearing a gorgeous dress in the competition, making the audience happy and skate it once is the highlight for them. But doing the same day after day in the practices - that's the hardest part.

AS: Are there communication problems between Alyona and the coaching team?
DG: No. We discuss it and she understands everything. The question is how to help her with the routine so she could work to the top of her ability every day. Because in the competitions every time she shows so much more than what she does in the practice.

AS: Her 3rd place in Canada was expected?
DG: Yes, but that's not what we want for her. We spoke to her about doing two 3A in the LP and hot just hope for one.

AS: Her 2nd mark went down. Why?
DG: The 2nd mark went down because she does not perform the choreography and misses the transitions. She can't put enough energy on that because she knows she needs to skate her programme till the end and not miss the jumps.

AS: How is Valieva doing? Does she have a feeling should she perform all her elements she would always win?
DG: I hope not. She came back from Canada in a good mood. In Moscow once her luggage with her skates arrived she immediately went on the ice and started practicing. She is working on her programmes, getting ready for her next GP event in Sochi. All goes well.

AS: Were you waiting for the luggage to arrive for 3 days?
DG: Well, mine arrived to Turin two days later. The day of the SP half an hour before the competition I finally had a chance to change cloths.

AS: I.e Kamila could not practice because her skates did not arrive?
DG: I think they arrived the day after. Just that I left by then and I didn't need my luggage in Moscow, so I asked for it to be sent here, to Turin. In the end my luggage flew Vancouver-Toronto-Paris-Moscow-Milan-Frankfurt-Turin and then it was brought to the rink.

AS: Kamila gets her well deserved 10th in the components, and she might get more of those, even though some disagree. What do you think?
DG: Who disagrees? The viewers?

AS: The fans, the professionals.
DG: The professionals, those who we see during the competitions and not those who just give the interviews somewhere there to whomever, they always approach us once the competition is over and congratulate our girls when they perform well. They say it was a great skate. That was the case with Kamila in Canada. A great programme, a great skate, hence the marks she received were justified.


AS: There is still quite a lot of time till the 2022 Olympics, but the training plan is usually decided upon by now. Do you plan any camps outside Moscow or you'll only be working in Khrustalny?
DG: The whole team Russia will have a training camp once the team is decided. Till then nothing is planned, we will be working on our rink.

AS: One of your pupils, Medvedeva is participating the `Ice Age' show. Did you have time to watch her skates?
DG: I jus saw some photos and some pieces. Both Medvedeva and of Zagitova, who is hosting the show. The schedule is too tight working on the programmes, changes and the exhibition numbers, so I certainly have no time for that. But I wish Medvedeva to win the show. Zagitova already won everything possible, she is hosting it, so there is nothing to win. Perhaps she can beat her co-host Yagudin.
 

ЭPiKUilyam

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Right? The kid gloves are off now. No more secrecy about her! But knowing how Eteri is such a stickler to hard work, it must be killing her to have to keep Alyona around this season if she's not even trying. Eteri didn't need to take her back. Maybe this is part of the penance Eteri must endure to get Diana on the Team? lol
 

hanca

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Exactlyl what good does it do for him to trash Kostornaia in the press?
Does he trash her, or is he just being a bit too honest? He is Russian after all, and Russians do say what they mean, even when it is in interview. Clearly beating round the bush is quite unknown concept in Russia. Don’t hold back, Gleikhengauz, just tell us how you really feel…
 

rfisher

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Lot of shade in there and not many straight answers.
He pretty much repeated what is known, IMHO
1. They don't care what fans think about scores. They care about what the judges think and Kamilla is right where they want her to be.
2. Aliona has a poor work ethic. She did before she left, she did while at Plushenko's (she missed practices a lot according to Plushenko and his wife), she still has it. She's got the talent, but won't put in the work. Frankly, they have too many good skaters who are more than willing to do the work to deal with the drama. My take is they've had it.
3. They are keeping Trusova's injury close mouthed. Good strategy, IMHO, with their biggest weapon. NHK isn't the prize
4. Contrary to fan's assumptions that they make the poor skaters do things beyond them, they plan for the long game. Ergo, having Anna only do the quad flip in Italy. They knew it would be enough. I knew they trained with contingency plans if something were to go wrong with a combination, but, as he said, the loop won't allow that. Anna has said that they do deliberate mistakes in practice so the skater can learn how to make an adjustment on the fly.
 

On My Own

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He pretty much repeated what is known, IMHO
I think the interview does come off as shady... But the main points you gleaned from it are nonetheless clear. I thought it would be much worse than this when I saw people sad about Kostornaia over on Twitter, though.
 

hanca

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I wonder if Alena is suffering from after effects from the plague. She herself may not even know why she doesn’t have the energy to do the run-throughs.
And the poor work ethic before she left Tutberidze to go to Pluschenko, before she got C0vid, was caused by suffering from before-effects from the plague? Or maybe she ‘felt’ that she would get C0vid in the future, so she was already tired ahead?
 

Wyliefan

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And the poor work ethic before she left Tutberidze to go to Pluschenko, before she got C0vid, was caused by suffering from before-effects from the plague? Or maybe she ‘felt’ that she would get C0vid in the future, so she was already tired ahead?
Ah yes, that poor work ethic that brought her a Grand Prix Final title, a European title, and two medals at Russian nationals in the deepest field in the world.
 

hanca

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Ah yes, that poor work ethic that brought her a Grand Prix Final title, a European title, and two medals at Russian nationals in the deepest field in the world.
No one denies that she has a talent. But as you see from her current results, talent on its own is just suddenly not enough. Many posters are unhappy with her current PCS, but her current skating is no where as good as she was a few years ago.
 

Wyliefan

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No one denies that she has a talent. But as you see from her current results, talent on its own is just suddenly not enough. Many posters are unhappy with her current PCS, but her current skating is no where as good as she was a few years ago.
And her current results are post-C0vid. Just saying.
 

On My Own

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And her current results are post-C0vid. Just saying.
I guess it depends on the severity of the illness... Shcherbakova had a bout of C-19 as well, and a foot injury, and then also a neck injury, and did land a quad recently. I think this is what Daniil is insinuating. Using a reference point of someone else in his own group (and also Tuktamysheva's own C-19), and comparing it with Kostornaia. Again, maybe Kostornaia just had a much more severe bout and we don't know, but this could be why he vented.
 

hanca

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And her current results are post-C0vid. Just saying.
But her current results are not quite what it could have been. Many people think so, including her coaches. So why are you talking about her current results as if it was some success? Hurray, she scores internationally 214 and 218, while in her peak season she scored 234-259?
 

Wyliefan

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But her current results are not quite what it could have been. Many people think so, including her coaches. So why are you talking about her current results as if it was some success?
I wasn't. You misunderstood me. I was saying, she had great results, then she got the crud, and now she has subpar results.
 

mjb52

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They seem - or he seems - quite grumpy this year. I wonder if the pressure of your athletes basically being expected to win all the time is getting to him/them, as well as just having too many top athletes competing directly for too few spots. IAM is making it work - or it seems that way - but they are in a discipline with, for better or worse, a pretty clear hierarchy, which may make it a little easier to avoid too much tension.

I guess I can relate to being grouchy - I'm grouchy too! - but I don't know that I personally would have given an interview if I was in this bad a mood.
 

love_skate2011

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Kostornaya loves to unwind and shop
her thank you post has been deleted in intagram, a grown man bordering on can we say it ? well she's 18 so...


You'd think DG isnt that spiteful, Tutberidze camp needs a PR publicist
 

VGThuy

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I think DG's comments towards Kostornaia, though coming from an honest place, are past the Tom Z. level of inappropriate and may bite him in the ass a few years where people collect "receipts" IF one of his skaters come out with their experiences with him (or fans do it themselves).
 

antmanb

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Sorry nothing to do with this interview but i'm only just watching the Italian GP LPs and i'm laughing so hard at DG sitting in the kiss and cry with Scherbakova with Kraftwerk playing in the background and he looks like he's come dressed as a Kraftwerk tribute :rofl:
 

BittyBug

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He fancies himself to be quite the fashionista.

Also he didn’t seem grumpy to me at all.
 

kwanfan1818

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Kostornaya isn't the first and won't be the last major talent who hates the repetition needed at the highest/most elite level. Sometimes coaches will try to make the hard work fun or challenging. I don't know what he means by "The question is how to help her with the routine so she could work to the top of her ability every day.", ie, whether that's trying to plan a way to mix it up in training to keep her interest, trying to convince her she needs to take her medicine, or what.

What he said sounds reasonable to me. It's not like he disclosed that she lets her personal life get in the way, like Mishin said about a period in Tuktamysheva's life.
 

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