Lara Naki Gutmann: “The hardest thing is showing four years of work in three minutes. You can be the best in training, but if you don’t manage competition well, it becomes impossible. I wouldn’t eliminate it, though – it’s part of the game.”
Interview with Lara Naki Gutmann for Venity Fair Italy. She shares insights into her training, music choices, inspirations, and the emotions behind her recent European bronze medal as she prepares for the upcoming Olympics.
original source: vanityfair.it dd. 24th January 2026 by Chiara Pizzimenti
Italian figure skater Lara Naki Gutmann reflects on the artistic and athletic aspects of her sport, her Olympic expectations, and the teamwork behind her performances and costumes. Here’s a translation of her comment.
Lara Naki Gutmann: A rest day? It’s as essential as competition and training days. You have to learn that too, because especially when you’re young, you don’t think about it. Without recovery, it’s impossible to push forward and keep going. Since I travel so much, on my rest day I like to relax at home, in my city, or I go to Lake Garda, which is close to where I live. I spend time with my family and friends. I do everything I can’t do on training days or when I’m away at competitions.
Q: What’s a training day like?
Lara Naki Gutmann: A typical training day includes three hours on the ice in Trento. I’ve always trained in Trento, and in addition to those three hours on the ice, I usually do about an hour and a half off the ice. Throughout the week, I spread out athletic preparation, ballet, some Pilates, some modern dance, and also some technical work off the ice. I don’t count things like physiotherapy, nutritionist, or mental coach as training, but they’re part of my preparation. When I finish in Trento, my day isn’t over.
Q: Do you crash in the evening?
Lara Naki Gutmann: There are days when I have a ton to do, like organizing training, making programs. Sometimes I get so tired I have to stop for a moment, even mentally. Yesterday I went out for pizza with a friend, or I’ll watch a movie. Sometimes I just have to rest, otherwise I won’t make it to the end of the week.
Q: Do you choose the music for your programs? The Jaws soundtrack was especially popular.
Lara Naki Gutmann: Jaws (the soundtrack by John Williams mixed with Hans Zimmer’s Inception, ed.) was chosen by my coach, Gabriele Minchio. He’s very good at finding original things for me. I have a hard time finding inspiration or new music before the season ends, because I’m still focused on the music I’m using. But as soon as the last competition is over, you have to start working on new ones, and I find it hard to get ahead on that. The music for my programs is something I listen to a hundred million times, so I have to like it – it has to be interesting and motivate me on the ice. It needs a lot of factors; it also has to appeal to others, to the judges, to everyone. It’s a mix that’s not easy to find. I rely a lot on my coach. He chose the free skate music, and the short program (part of the soundtrack from the TV series on Lidia Poet, The Law of Lidia Poet by Massimiliano Mechelli, ed.) was chosen by my Canadian choreographer, Lori Nichol, with whom I then did the choreography. It took me a while to decide, but in the end, it worked out well.
Q: Is it hard to skate to music you don’t like, that’s imposed, that doesn’t move you?
Lara Naki Gutmann: It comes pretty naturally for me to find inspiration in music in general, but if it’s something I have to carry with me for so long, it would be impossible for me to skate to something I don’t like. It’s not mandatory for a piece of music to last the whole season, but there’s so much work behind it, all summer, and usually you don’t make such a drastic change lightly.
Q: When is a skater’s break? When is a skater’s vacation?
Lara Naki Gutmann: Vacation is a week at the sea, usually in July. At least that’s what I do, then maybe I take a few days here and there. The competition season ends around April. The off-season goes from April to August.
Q: Was it your childhood dream to be a skater?
Lara Naki Gutmann: I started after watching the Turin Olympics. I was three years old. I saw these skaters and wanted to be like them. They looked so light, gliding on the ice. I was really little. I liked their dresses. I asked my parents to take me. There was no rink in my city, so they found the one in Trento. That’s where I started. My parents aren’t skaters.
Q: Did you like skating right away?
Lara Naki Gutmann: Yes, right away. Of course, I don’t have many memories, but my mom showed me lots of videos from my very first times on skates, and you can see me zooming around with my helmet, so happy and just spinning around.
Q: What do you like about skating?
Lara Naki Gutmann: There are moments in training when you warm up a bit without any pressure, and I like following the music, leaning into the edges, dancing to the rhythm. That’s a feeling – maybe you could call it freedom – that I enjoy. I also really like jumping and doing all the elements; the technical side is satisfying too. But maybe what motivates me most is the artistic side.
Q: Your dream as a skater?
Lara Naki Gutmann: For me, it was always to go to the Olympics, so that came true in 2022 in Beijing, but I only did the team event then. Another goal was, after four years, to compete in the individual event, especially at home.
Q: What did the European medal mean to you?
Lara Naki Gutmann: There were so many emotions last week. I knew I had an opportunity because the first part of the season went very well and I was ranked high internationally. But every competition is different, so I had to give my all and try to perform my best. I gave everything, especially in the second half of the free skate, so I’m really happy with the result. I felt so many emotions after the competition – my choreographer and coach were there. Carolina Kostner was there too, one of the skaters from Turin 2006, a role model for my whole generation.
Q: Do you take inspiration from others, past or present?
Lara Naki Gutmann: As a kid, I was never one to watch all the competitions. I just did my thing and trained. But I always admired Carolina, and also Yuna Kim, Michelle Kwan, Patrick Chan, Stephane Lambiel, who did my choreography and who I still work with. All those skaters were so artistically engaging and moving when they competed. I’ve always tried to give a lot of weight to the artistic side. I think I was very lucky to be able to talk to these former champions. Carolina was super nice and gave me advice. Those tips are so valuable because they have incredible experience, and the insights you get from them are about mindset and mental order. I think that’s something special.
Q: Is skating an art or a sport?
Lara Naki Gutmann: Both come together. The technical part is very important, but it should go hand in hand with presentation, interpretation, skating skills, use of the edges, and the quality of the skating. So yes, it’s art.
Q: Do you think during your program? When you skate, do you think about the exercise, is your mind empty, do you focus on the routine – what’s the ideal state for you?
Lara Naki Gutmann: There are competitions where you enter a state of flow, so you do everything without thinking about anything, and you finish the event barely remembering some moments. Other times, you think about things related to the performance, things that help me. We learn to reset after each element, mentally reset and move on to the next. Whether it went well or badly – especially if it went badly – you have to reset and focus on what’s next, otherwise it’s impossible. Plus, we have to keep going, sometimes even smiling. You might be furious for missing a jump, but you have to stay in character, in the role, in the interpretation, so that’s training too.
Q: The best and worst moments on the ice?
Lara Naki Gutmann: I don’t like long waits. You have to manage waiting well to stay calm. Some competitions have long waits, others you’re first in the group and it’s all over in ten minutes. The best thing, depending on the competition, is the audience: when I see the crowd engaged, clapping. Recently, when they threw all those little sharks on the ice, it was a great moment. I love having a big audience, it energizes me. In Beijing 2022, the emptiness (due to Covid) was strange. It was wonderful to be there, but in a particular situation. Now I’m happy to experience the village in a different way. I hope there’s a big crowd.
Q: What do you expect from these Olympics?
Lara Naki Gutmann: I expect to enjoy every moment I can. So, enjoy the experience, the village, the stadium, and as for results, I don’t want to expect anything. I always try to do that, keep my focus on my performance, my training, and arrive prepared. But it really helps me to enjoy the moment, to have a positive mood.
Q: Other sports in your life?
Lara Naki Gutmann: As a child, I started with skating and artistic gymnastics. But I quit gymnastics pretty early, because at a certain point skating started to require a lot of commitment. I’ve always liked watching basketball, but on TV I watch a lot of other sports: skiing, volleyball. My dad has been watching a lot of tennis lately. I’m not a die-hard fan of any sport, but if there’s a game and I can go, I’m happy to go. Mostly basketball, but also volleyball, and I’ve even watched hockey.
Q: When did you realize skating was becoming your profession?
Lara Naki Gutmann: Until the end of high school (sports science in Rovereto, then a degree in Motor Sciences last year), thanks to my parents who always encouraged me to value school, I kept studying. I only trained in the afternoons. I remember a competition in Japan, a team world championship, the first I did, and the atmosphere was different, we were in a group, end of season, a fun event. That competition changed something in my perspective and I said: ‘I want to keep doing these competitions, I want to keep reaching my goals and being at those kinds of events.’ That’s when I decided I wanted this to be my life, my job. It all became real when I joined the Fiamme Oro sports group, which gave me great support.
Q: Do you cheer for others?
Lara Naki Gutmann: Yes, of course, for my teammates. At Europeans, I didn’t watch many other events while I was competing because I tried to stay calm, but the next day I watched the men’s event, all the Italians, and the dance. I really like supporting others.
Q: Who chooses the costumes?
Lara Naki Gutmann: That’s a team effort too. It starts from the music and the character you want to convey. The seamstress makes a first sketch and we discuss it with my coach. My mom helps a lot and looks for ideas.
Q: Does the costume matter?
Lara Naki Gutmann: It’s part of what you present – it’s a technical program, but also a story, a character. It’s all part of the performance. Like in dance. The important thing is to feel good, comfortable. It helps the performance too. Off the ice, I’m sporty, but I like to dress well at competition banquets and for outings.
Q: What would you eliminate?
Lara Naki Gutmann: I wouldn’t eliminate it because it’s part of the sport, but the hardest thing is showing four years of work in three minutes. Mentally, there are no shortcuts. You can be the best in training, but if you don’t manage competition well and don’t fully believe in yourself, it becomes impossible. I wouldn’t eliminate it, though – it’s part of the game.”
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