As it is, I have two on-ice practices a day breaking in my new skates. I must admit that it’s a painful and lengthy process, sometimes it takes as long as a month before everything’s OK. On first days it even feels like you’ve never stood on the ice before. A week later you get more or less accustomed, but still it’s impossible for you to lace your skates properly. Meanwhile you get a lot of blisters and bruises. Sometimes skaters try to better their lot by warming their skates with steam to make them a bit softer. It helps, but only for a few minutes. On first days many skaters use protecting covers in order to keep the skates from being scratched. Some of us use sticking plaster or a special adhesive tape designed exclusively for figure skating. I do without such things, I just try to skate as cautiously as I can. By the way, this year our Figure Skating Federation supplied me with beige-colored skates at my request. I’d wanted to have such skates for a long time.
Me and my coach Alla Piatova have already had my new short program choreographed and now are finishing working on the free one. For the time being I’d rather not reveal what music I will skate to. Don’t take it unkindly, I just don’t want my rivals to learn that. I can only tell you that the programs are totally different from each other, but both of them suit me exquisitely well. Now I’m going to let my hair grow, because my image in the free program demands it.
This year ISU made some important amendments to the rules. Particularly, one spiral was removed from ladies’ short program. I think it will make things harder for us, because while doing a spiral you could gather a little breath.
Not long ago I went to Moscow. I was to attend a reception hosted by the Minister of Interior, but for some reason General Nurgaliev couldn’t get round to meet with us. Still, I was given a medal and promoted warrant officer (and given the shoulder straps, too). It was very pleasing; the more so that my salary paid by the Dynamo Sports Society is going to be raised a little. There were more than 20 athletes at the reception, two of them (not counting me) from St. Petersburg: speed skaters Ekaterina Shihova and Sergey Chadaev. They turned out to be very cool kids. We arranged to certainly meet in 2014 in Sochi!
Among the figure skating news the main one is that Masha Mukhortova has teamed up with Jerome Blanchard. I was about to write ‘the Frenchman Jerome Blanchard’, but we’ve been considering him Russian for a long time! He’s been staying in St. Petersburg for several years and earlier skated with Valeria Vorobieva. He is fluent in Russian, we converse a lot. I still don’t know what future awaits the two-time Russian national champion Ksenia Doronina. She left our group in March, practiced with Oleg Vasiliev’s pairs, then with Lyudmila Velikova’s students. After that she left for the USA and now stays there at her uncle’s. By the way, Ksenia had trouble leaving St. Petersburg because of the volcanic eruption. Hope nothing of the kind happens before I go to Turkey!
You will sure hear from me when I return. See you!
