Ksenia Monko R-Sport interview

Ksenia Monko: The example of Papadakis/Cizeron shows that everything is possible in ice dancing.
http://rsport.ru/interview/20150406/820910921.html

The vice-champion of Russia in figure skating Ksenia Monko, who is dancing with partner Kirill Khaliavin, in an interview with Maria Vorobieva summed up current season, in which they debuted at the European and World championships, tried to explain successes and failures and also promised that the couple will try to repeat the path of French couple Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron, who were 13th at the World championship last year, but became champions this year.

-This season pleased me and Kirill, left good impression, - said Ksenia. – We are pleased how we went through it, and the ending was happy. So everything is good.

-What was the most difficult during this season?

-The beginning, probably, when we went to Canada for the first event of Gran-Prix. You had to make yourself to stand out right there, you couldn’t fail. After that, it was easier.

-Twice world champion in ice dancing Maxim Stavitskiy, who helped you many times in your work, has said, that in the first half of the season coaches always scold sportsman for their levels, they always have to fix them right when couples must go to Gran-Prix, earn ratings, try to qualify for the final…

-This happens. However, we had no problems with elements. The only thing we worried about was our ability to skate clean and for our own pleasure compared to previous season, when either I or Kirill had some problems. We wanted to skate how we could skate, and not go to events ideally prepared but then fail for some reason.

-Banal question, to which sportsmen usually say no, but, did you feel at the beginning of this season that you will become better during it?

- We felt. I was saying right at the beginning that I feel differently and anticipated something good. All my personal changes, the attitude towards training sessions, how I prepare for the events – they only became stronger during the season. It’s going to get even better further! (laughs)

-Ksusha (shorter version of Ksenia), everything began when you staged unique and winnable programs for this season. Did you learn the key to success?

-The secret is that there is no secret. I don’t understand myself how that happen. We just picked the music that we both liked, especially the music for the free dance. Coaches supported us, believed in us. Maybe, this is the secret? I can’t tell for sure. As for the pasodoble, what can I say? Everyone has been telling us that it’s our dance, our theme.

-But seriously, what you have to do to not make a mistake when choosing the programs for the next season?

-Seems like we have to choose music that will move people. There’s an important moment here: when we decided what music we want for this season, we gave it to coaches to listen. When they approved it, we began working. It’s just that if someone in our team doesn’t like the music, it’s impossible to make a program.

-Is the result of EC accidential?

-Absolutely, there can’t be any pattern here. It seems we were just too nervous. We went to our debut EC as the second couple of the country, and it’s a big responsibility. We tried not to show it, but I really wanted to go to this event and show everyone what we are capable of. I hope in the next season we will again qualify for the European and World championships and that everything will be good there.

-How long did it take you to recover after that EC? You looked very upset at the event itself.

-Honestly, not long at all. As they say, tears don’t help. We pulled ourselves together and begin to work hard, we were preparing for the WC at full speed.

-Current World and Europe champions French couple Gabriella Papadakis / Guillaume Cizeron debuted last year as 15th and 13th accordingly. You debuted as 10th and 8th…

-Are you implying that we will become first the next year? (laughs) We will try really hard! Actually, if you look at their example you will understand that everything’s possible.

-Ksusha, experts said many times that you lack “athletic baldness”. Do you agree with this opinion?

-Indeed, we’ve been often told that we enter the ice with a look that says: “We’ll just skate here for some time, you may not even look at us”. We tried to fight it, tried to kill this uneasiness in ourselves. And, I think, at the WC we managed to overcome ourselves – we entered the ice much more baldly.

-Do you agree that if not for the silver medal at the Russian championship and not for the misfortune at the EC, there wouldn’t be such confident performances at the WC?

-Absolutely correct. This proves that you have to search for positive in each start, each result, you have to make notes. This season had a whole spectrum of emotions – happiness, sadness, worry… Very rich year.

-Are you resting now?

-No, we still skating, trying to create new elements, and slowly searching for new music. We will rest, as always, at the end of May.

-What you got in store for the next season?

-First of all, we will work on new lifts so that everyone would notice that we worked and not say “We’ve already seen this, nothing interesting here”. Plus we will try to find new interesting steps for the sequences, new unusual movements. You can’t forget about technical aspect – no matter what we will invent, it all must be based on technical skills, without quality execution of which you can’t expect high places.