Q: Alena, let’s talk about pleasant things. How did you celebrate the New Year’s Day?
A: Jolly good, together with my family. We went to a rented country cottage, 160 kilometers away from St. Petersburg. It was very calm and quiet there. We and the other two families had a lot of fun. First there was a three-hour floor show, then the New Year began, and we started dancing our feet off (laughs). In short, I liked our New Year party very much and would like to celebrate the next New Year the same way.

Q: For most Russians the New Year holidays has just ended, but for you they surely are a far-off past. Or did you go the length of taking a rest and relax a little?
A: I’ve returned to the ice as early as on the evening of the 2nd of January! I’d been missing practices so much that I decided it was high time to start thoroughly preparing for Europens. That’s why I came to the ice alone, while Alla Yakovlevna was still enjoying her holydays (laughs).

Q: Russian Nationals have ended a couple of weeks ago. What grade on a 1-10 scale would you give to your skating in Saransk now?
A: On the whole, I’d give it at least 9 points. My both programs were performed almost perfectly clean; I’m especially glad for the way I skated the free one, because I’d never skated it well neither at practices nor at competitions. It can’t be said about my short program, but that time I made a slip-up or two anyway, so there will be a room for improvement at Europeans. As for the free program, I’d like to skate it just as well as I did at Nationals. 

Q: What are your impressions of Saransk? What can you say about the local audience?
A: I’ve already happened to compete there, and for me the ice in Saransk has been very lucky, so I had no doubt that I would receive a warm welcome. So, it was rather easy to perform there, everything seemed so familiar to me that it felt like home. Though I can’t say I like to compete at home, I do it better abroad.

Q: And where do you like to skate the best?
A: In Japan. The audience there is great. They have a warm spot for Russia and even try to shout something in Russian, they always shower the ice with toys. All the toys, by the way, are kept at my place. I collect Teddy bears, but I’m afraid there’s no place left even for them.

Q: Let’s get back to Nationals. You skated your free program cleanly, but were surpassed by 14-year old Adelina Sotnikova all the same. Wasn’t it vexing for you, a one-time World Junior champion, to be a footstep away from the gold medal and once again lose the chance to win the National title? Or were you so overcome with joy after the clean free skating that you just couldn’t feel sorry for the lost gold?
A: Most likely the latter. I didn’t know how other girls had skated, because I skated last, and I never watch my rivals perform. But I’d known that Adelina would gather herself and that she always skates her free program well, always skates it cleanly. So, I was thinking that I would place either first or second. And I placed second, which is not bad. The more so, that the main thing for me was my clean skating.  

Q: What was the reason for your not being able to convey in full the image created for your free program by Olga Volozhinskaya? As Tatiana Tarasova mentioned in her commentary during the live broadcast on TV, Alexei Yagudin always skated well if he did his first, most difficult jumps well. Is it the same with you?  
A: Generally speaking, yes. If I fail the first jump, the rest of the program may go on just like at the Cup of Russia: "come what may, it’s all the same to me”. Surely, it is better to start well to have an incentive to collect all the elements one by one. As for my failing to convey the image, the thing was, I think, that I was somewhat uncollected or maybe my physical shape hampered me. It was very good for me that I could get in perfect shape by Nationals!

Q: What were your impressions of the Finlandia Trophy, where you placed third, and the Coupe de Nice, which you won?
A: I skated a very poor free program in Finland, I even fell three times on end. I’d never skated like that, falling three times right on my... in one program. It was my worst performance ever. And somehow I managed to place 3rd, which was nonsense of a kind. As for Nice, I skated my both programs very well there, taking into account it was the beginning of the season. For the first time in my life I performed well when skating last. After that I skated last at Nationals, and once again did well. So I’m beginning to wonder if the last starting number has become lucky for me.

Q: And which number do you want to draw least of all?
A: The first. It is, so to say... (pauses to think) the most boring one, because judges are just waking up and looking at you inobservantly. Surely, it is better to skate towards the end of a warm-up, to be a final titbit (laughs).

Q: How did the audience at the Cup of China receive you this year? They seem to be hard to rouse...
A: There weren’t too many spectators, indeed. When I competed in Beijing in 2008, there were more figure skating fans in the stands. But the main thing for me is to make an audience applaud me in the end of a program.

Q: What is more important for you now, to win a medal (like at the Cup of China, where you won the bronze despite your imperfect skating) or to skate cleanly, to fight down your nerves?
A: After the Cup of China I was soothing myself saying that the skating would be forgotten, while the result would remain (laughs). But now, of course, I’m eager to skate two clean programs and let the judges decide for themselves.  

Q: Did it take you long to recover after the unsuccessful performance at the Cup of Russia?
A: No, it didn’t! Because my birthdsay was two days after that. I just had to forget it all! (laughs)