Egor Bazin: this year I decided to do dances myself

This season Russian ice dance team Sofia Evdokimova / Egor Bazin are moving to seniors. I think it’s interesting to get known them better. So, here’s translation of recent interview with Egor Bazin.

Egor, your duet with Sofia Evdokimova exists for many years. Also, almost all your sporting life you represent Togliatti. It would be interesting to know your sporting fate. How started your life in figure skating? Why did you chose figure skating, instead of joining a very popular in your town hockey club Togliatti “Lada”?

Egor: To be precise, we have been working together with Sonia for 12 years. Why did I chose figure skating ?! It’s simple – like many other skaters I was brought to ice classes by mom. I started skating on a skating rink in the evening the group, then went to the skating rink, where Oleg Sudakov’s group trains. In two years, they were setting an ice dance group. Parents decided that I should try. There Sonia and I were teamed up. If I’m not mistaken, I was 9 and Sonia was 8 years old, it’s how all began.

And as for hockey, even when “Lada” entered the Continental Hockey League a couple of years ago, I didn’t have interest to cheer for this team. On the contrary, I always was a little “pissed off” that figure skating in our city is always in the shade, although skaters from our group every year went to Russian Nationals, Junior Grand Prix Final and World Championships (and for our city – it’s a big event). But the whole focus of the city is on hockey, “Lada”, which doesn’t often gets in playoffs.

Have you immediately started to understand each other well? Several years were spent on the development of your duo and in the 2010/2011 season the first prizes came. What lead to the surge in results? 

Egor: Understanding in a duo. Of course, understanding of each other hasn’t came immediately. The realization that sport – it’s life, came in 14-15 years. Then we began to work closely together, and some results appeared.

Season 2011/2012 was your debut in terms of international competitions. You competed at Junior Grand Prix in Austria. Wasn your nervous?

Egor: Of course, when we went to the first in our lifes stage of the Junior Grand Prix, there were nerves, but there was a joy too. At that time in our group we had pairs, who was going to JGP Finals, Junior World Championships, and we wanted to reach them. At that time even going to the Junior Grand-Prix seemed to me as an accomplishment of all dreams.

The season 2012/2013 was even more eventful. You had two Junior Grand-Prix – in France and Slovenia, you won Russian Cup in Samara and become silver medalists at stage Russian Cup “Idel” 2012.

Egor: There were a good competitions at the Russian level, but very often we did serious silly mistakes that prevented us, for example, to go to the Youth Olympics. We also screwed up a lot in our first two years on the Junior Grand Prix. Perhaps, because it was too early for us to go there, and we were nervous, and wanted all at once, which is why we didn’t have much luck.

The following season 2013/2014 was very short. You had a successful start – 3rd and 4th place at the stages of the Junior Grand Prix in Mexico and the Czech Republic, but the stage of the Cup of Russia in Samara, where you got silver, suddenly becomes for you the final start of the season. But the next season 2014/2015 – again new emotions. You become a bronze medalists of the Junior Russian Nationals and got to the team for World Junior Championships in Tallinn.

Egor: As you surely noticed, in the 2013/2014 season, we had only three competitions. We were well prepared, and we liked our dances very much. In the free dance we have Spanish motifs. But during the season Sonia’s back started to hurt – there was a hernia and its consequences. It was really hard. We hadn’t skated for six months, I even tried to skate with another partner, but Sonia decided to fight and she succeded. And in the following year, we got to the Junior World Championships.

However, last season 2015/2016 passed with varying success. Third place at the stage of the Junior Grand Prix in Latvia and then only forth place at Junior Russian National Championships. 

Egor: I admit, I don’t know, why last season was unfortunate. We skated smoothly, did not allow a single mistake, won the «Ice Star» tournament in Minsk, with each start were increasing our “season best”. But before the Russian Nationals, I was injured, there was a partial rupture of the patellar tendon, we trained with pauses. Preparation turned out ragged, but we still felt prepared and I think, in this situation, we performed with dignity.

How was the rest in the off-season?

Egor: After the Russian Championships we had a pause. I decided to try myself in shows, has skated there for a couple months. It was interesting, it was a new experience. I even thought that maybe it’s already enough to skate with Sonia, but then I realized that we haven’t shown all that we can, haven’t skated for pleasure. And in May, I returned to Togliatti, got the diploma in sport school and started the new season. After the sports school I will go to university, and Sonia has completed the first year in university. We didn’t have rest on the sea. While I was skating in the show, Sonia trained and passed exams, traveled to Georgia for a couple of weeks. We’ve rested from training and now full of energy and desire to work.

Preparation for the season is in active mode?

Egor: Preparation took place and goes in our Togliatti, we had a lot of lessons on general physical and special physical preparation and many hours of ice workouts.

Are the programs ready? If it’s not a secret, who is the choreographer of programs, what kind of music used?

Egor: We choosed the music. Oleg sudakov allow us to make our own decisions. In the short dance we’ll have “blues” and “swing” and the free dance –  “Latina style” – it’s the music we always wanted to skate and came to it in our first senior season. It’s a close music for us, and we wanted to have a contrast with last year’s free dance. Previously, Elena Maslennikova always did dances for us. But this year I decided to do dances myself, of course with the help of Sonia and our coaches. it’s a new experience, in two and a half weeks we did the short and free dances. Hope, turned out cool. While we can’t see the whole picture because we don’t do full run-throughs, skate by halfs. It’s difficult, but interesting, especially since we haven’t skated together for almost six months.

Still we have a lot of work. Also this time we invited my friend Erem Gazazian to work with us, he works in Moscow as an expert in physical trainings and acrobatics. He spent three weeks with our group. It was very interesting to work, he gave us a very big push forward, made a couple of new lifts, and made a great work with the other guys from our group.

When do you plan to start the season?

Egor: We do not know yet, we really want to participate in test skates and maybe to compete for the TBA spot at the Grand-Prix in Moscow.

What are your goals?

Egor: We don’t have certain goals. This is our first year in senior skating. I would like to skate for pleasure, to enjoy, to pleased ourselves and coaches. And if it be so, then the result will come. The competition is going to be very big and serious, the more interesting it is. I’m sure we’ll show ourselves and remind about us to those who have forgotten!

the source: sport-analitika.ru

+small video of their short dance:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIap3WTgZ7b/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BIapjOkgNAj/

Related topics: ice dance, interview, Sofia Evdokimava Egor Bazin, Team Russia