Alina Zagitova: “I don’t like to watch my bad performances, it presses me a lot psychologically”
Alina Zagitova talked about watching her performances, whether she listens to commentators and what she thinks about during her routine.
source: Channel 1, text version sports.ru
Do you watch videos of your performances?
Alina Zagitova: I do, when the performances are good. When they are bad ones … well, I kind of have to watch, analyze the mistakes. But I don’t like to recall how it was, because it presses me a lot psychologically. And I am the kind of person who can be quite harsh with himself, without any people’s “help”. When the performances are good or more or less, I watch how everything looked on the camera. Sometimes I also look at the comments.
It is interesting to listen to the other people’s opinion, who are also figure skating professionals, Tatiana Anatolievna (Tarasova) in particular. Of course, I still first of all listen to my coaches, and then everyone else.
Where is it more interesting: be at the stands or watch on TV?
Alina Zagitova: These are completely different things. I remember, as a child, I watched some competitions that were held in Megasport. It was a different experience. It’s more atmospheric at the arena.
And those who want to drill into the elements that skaters do are helped by commentators on TV. It is better when they speak, reason so that the viewer understand why an athlete get more points than the other. It is probably better when they comment on mistakes and speak in a professional manner.
Can you understand even before the jump whether it will work out or not?
Alina Zagitova: It seems to me that I already have an eye for all these mistakes, so during the jump I can understand whether I will rotate it or not. On the lutz – loop combo, already on the entry I know how I will land it.
I thought that I could distinguish it, but Yuzuru Hanyu, Nathan Chen and other skaters show us the opposite: they can jump and it seems that now they will fall and break, but they land these jumps. Now skaters can save jumps in very different situations.
What else do you keep in mind during the performance?
Alina Zagitova: By the way, our brain should work very accurately in the program – when the element failed, we need to figure out how to build the program further and not to lose points.
Now skaters are being taught this from childhood. I don’t know how it was before – I started not in Moscow, but in the provinces – we were not taught that. Sometimes I had four combinations when I needed three, sometimes I mixed up the jumps that I did – I could do several flips, loops. In Moscow, St. Petersburg, I think they teach this in advance.
Do coaches have a calculator in their heads?
Alina Zagitova: Even when I was performing, I get off the ice, and they immediately say how much I will get – enough or not enough. I don’t think about it during the program. I think we need to do it well, as cleanly as possible. And they are calculating something. When we choose a program, everything is calculated to the smallest detail.
Related topics: Alina Zagitova
Replying to the person named “Oliver”,
Sir or Miss, put the hatred aside. Right now we are trough harsh times in the entire world. It doesn’t matter past victories and defeats. Alina is in the books of Sports history, because she is a Champion.
This is a joke, right? She had many bad performances – Worlds 2018, Russian Nationals 2019, European Championships 2019, GPF last season and more. Even when she skated clean she was never perfect. She lacks elegance, her posture was always bad, same for her skating skills, especially her second and third season even her jumps were often underrotated.
Emmm GP Final 2019? I like her a lot, but as a human being everyone makes mistakes. As she said in her interview it is important to review the mistakes in order to progress.
Forgive me. I must laugh very hard. Alina does not like to look at her “bad” performances, which is very understandable.
When, o when, did she ever have a bad performance? NEVER. NEVER, EVER, NOT ONCE!
She is the Queen of the ice skating world. She was the best, the most gracious, the most friendly, the kindest, the most helpful and modest of all. Her skating was exquisite and so is she. If she lived in America, one day she would be President.
I agree with you that Alina is one of the best in the figure skating world. But look at Donald Trump, does the word “President” really mean something so good LOL