Jason Brown: “For many years I had complexes about quads. I thought I wasn’t good enough. Actually I was devaluing my success.”
Jason Brown about skating at Finlandia Trophy 2021, quads, free program to “Schindler’s List” and Russian skaters.
source: sports.ru dd. 9th October 2021, by Maiia Bagryantseva
Jason Brown: I’m happy that the season has begun. Of course the task is to skate as clean as possible. I’m happy, but there is still a lot to work on – there is a whole season ahead.
There was a quadruple salchow planned, but you didn’t jump it. What about it?
Jason Brown: Every day I work on it – it’s getting better and better. But at this moment I cannot skate the program with it without compromising the quality, so it’s too early to put it now. I plan to do it at Skate Canada in two weeks, we’ll see. It’s planned in the program, I open the program with it, but today I was simply not ready. Again, I lost a couple of weeks of training due to injury. I will try to catch up.
You beat the guys who jumped several quads – you won without a quad. Not everyone likes it. What do you think about this?
Jason Brown: I think it’s a sport. Everyone plays their trump cards and tries to do it in the best possible way. I don’t do a quad (yet!), Not because I just decided not to strain or I don’t want to jump. But what I do well also not a simple things at all. Transition, skating quality- it’s not an easy task to do it at the highest level.
For many years I had complexes about quads. I thought I wasn’t good enough, that I didn’t deserve my victories, that I didn’t live up to the standards set by other people. Actually I was devaluing my success. But I’m just a skater who works every day to be better. This is a sport. You go on the ice and show what you are capable of.
Why did you decide to take already skated programs for this season?
Jason Brown: When we were back on the ice after quarantine, in the summer of 2020, my choreographer Rohene Ward and I choreographed two short programs, completely different. One was Sinnerman. Then I returned to Canada, showed both programs to the coaches – and they chose it. We immediately decided that it would be an Olympic program, we planned to skate it for two seasons, given how short the previous season was.
And we could not show “Schindler’s List” program in all its beauty. The 2020 World Championships, where I was supposed to perform it, was canceled, and we felt that we just could not give up this program, it turned out too good. Of course, we changed it a lot – both the music and the content.
I must admit, when I first heard that Mikhail Kolyada would also skate to Schindler’s List, I thought “Oh, noooooooooo!” You just need to understand how much I respect Mikhail and how I look up to him from the technical and artistic sides. He’s great.
But then I thought: well, okay – the more the better. After all, this is a chance to show that figure skating is about interpreting music. Everyone approaches music with a different understanding and vision, so I overcame the first shock and waited to see what Mikhail would prepare. And now I’m just happy to realize that our costumes are very different, and the music cuts are different, and my heart relieved, ha-ha. I love this music so much that its popularity only means that other athletes have great taste in music. Congratulations, Mikhail.
Do you follow Russian skaters? Have you already seen someone’s performances this season?
Jason Brown: Russian skaters are incredible. They have such a technique, such quality of the elements! Today I warmed up together with Kolyada: the way he jumps even on the floor is amazing. I look at him and learn. And this applies to all of your athletes – they bring high level to figure skating. Maybe it does not seem unique to them, but believe me, from the outside it looks exactly like that. I repeat, even in training on the floor.
I am grateful to fate that I had the opportunity to train with Zhenya Medvedeva, I learned so much from her, thanks to her, I was able to understand how figure skating works in your country. I have a unique opportunity to train with athletes from different parts of the world, but from Evgenia I learned the most. We have a special relationship with her, which we fortunately maintain.
And of the athletes who skate this season, if you really need to choose one, then let it be Alena Kostornaia. I really like her. From an artistic point of view, she is extraordinary, it is so pleasant to look at her. The season before last, when she just started performing in seniors, she astonished me.
The American team has a tradition to hold joint training camps – Champ’s Camp, “Camp of Champions”. How does it work? I would like to compare it with the training camps of Russian figure skaters in Novogorsk.
Jason Brown: Yes, the federation gathers the athletes together for training camps. There is a sporting component – we show the judges our programs, short and free. Although no marks are given there, the judges then discuss with us what they have seen. They make changes, make comments, advise on levels – that is, this is just a great chance to get feedback on new programs.
There is also off ice work. The federation arranges seminars for us on working with the press, on the situation with the covid, plans for the year and all sorts of other things. They conduct photo sessions, record interviews. But it is also a unique opportunity for the athletes to communicate in an informal setting, to meet and make friends.
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