Alexandra Trusova: “I like skating with a complex content better”
Interview with Alexandra Trusova. About Worlds, the importance of mental preparation before the competitions, pair skating and changes over the year.
source: olympicchannl.com dd. 7th April 2021, by Tatjana Flade
Sasha, it was your first World Championships. You have been waiting for this event for a long time – last year the debut did not take place due to the pandemic. Tell me, what are your impressions of this unusual championship?
Alexandra Trusova: Yes, it was a very unusual World Championships. It was very strange that there were no spectators. It was not that strange at the competitions, as it was at the gala. Usually gala is for the audience, but now we just skated our gala programs. But in general, of course, it is very pleasant that the Championships took place, and this is a great experience for me. I hope to correct all my mistakes and skate better.
What experience did you get? What did you learn, what did you learn about yourself at this competitions?
Alexandra Trusova: I realized that I haven’t learned how to set my mind up for the performance. I looked at Nathan Chen, how he well prepares mentally, skates well with quads. It was very interesting to watch it live. But still, every competition is an experience, and it was very important for me to participate in the World Championships.
Have you already made any conclusions after your performance at the World Championships?
Alexandra Trusova: I concluded that I still need to jump a complex content. And regardless of whether the content is easy or difficult, I still have to prepare mentally for the performance. I still can’t do it, but I will try to make it possible for me to skate both options. But I like skating a complex content better.
You were in good shape at Worlds. In training, you jumped quadruples and triple axel, did a run-through with all the elements. What exactly is this difficulty – to set yourself up for it? How can you improve this?
Alexandra Trusova: Probably, I will try different approaches, different techniques. I don’t know why I’m not able to mentally prepare for the performance. Both in training here in Stockholm, and in training at home, I often skated cleanly, and my jumps were very stable. Even comparing to the last year, the stability of my jumps has increased a lot. But at the competitions it does not work out yet.
How do you see your development this season?
Alexandra Trusova: I think there is a big improvement in terms of components, in terms of skating skills. We worked a lot on this, so now I like not only jumps on the program, but also skating and spinning. I believe that I have improved this season in all the program components.
After all, you have also worked with ice dancers.
Alexandra Trusova: Yes, at the beginning of the season I skated at Maria Valerievna Borovikova, the wife of Denis Eduardovich Samokhin. I skated with there with ice dancers. When we just started, for the first or second time, I skated in pair with Dmitrii Sergeevich (Mikhailov – ed) – in order to bend the knees correctly, legs …
Did you like skating in pair?
Alexandra Trusova: It’s very interesting. And, in my opinion, it is very easy, because my partner is pushing me. Maybe I just didn’t know what to do, so it turned out that he was pushing me, and it was very easy and convenient for me.
Maybe you will switch to pairs? With Nathan?
Alexandra Trusova: No, I won’t.
Speaking about Nathan, you said that you cheered for him, watched his skates, trainings. Did you communicate with him?
Alexandra Trusova: Yes. I asked him to jump a quadruple lutz together. He said that he needed to warm up a little. He warmed up, and then we jumped.
And you won this “competition”, right?
Alexandra Trusova: Yes. I win everywhere except competitions.
Everything is ahead. In the offseason, you switched coaches. What has changed with this transition? Evgeni Viktorovich (Plushenko – ed) always says that he has his own training system. And what exactly does he have differently?
Alexandra Trusova: It’s different. Different training schedule, many new exercises that I have not done before. It’s very interesting to try something new. And I my ice training starts earlier, because I asked for it so that I could finish earlier. After training, I have school – I’m in the tenth grade. And I also have the semi-weekends. Previously, there were two workouts six days a week, but now there are two semi-weekends.
When you just switched, you said that you really wanted to work with Evgenii Viktorovich, because he is not only an outstanding athlete, but also a performer. Did you have any expectations from your work and have they come true now?
Alexandra Trusova: I imagined this work in different ways, but in fact expectations were justified, and it is still very interesting to work. I would also like to add that he is an ice artist. Before the World Championships, we performed at the anniversary of Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin in St. Petersburg, and Sasha, the son of Evgenii Viktorovich, traveled with us. And there for the first time, I think, I saw him in a costume and his entire performance, from the beginning to the end of the program. I was really surprised how much they are alike. Sasha is so small but already so emotional, artistic.
And what exactly did you take from Evgenii Viktorovich?
Alexandra Trusova: A lot in technique, he added different exercises to prepare for jumps, as they did with Alexei Nikolaevich Mishin. A lot of what he took himself.
Have you watched his performances?
Alexandra Trusova: Yes, I always watched when I was little, and we always cheered for him.
Evgeni Plushenko showed a video with the house where you live now. Is it comfortable?
Alexandra Trusova: It’s very convenient because it’s close to the rink. We live there with my mother and three dogs all week, and on the weekend we go to our place, to the rest of the family.
In Stockholm you were without your mother and without dogs – it was unusual. How did you cope with it?
Alexandra Trusova: We often had video calls with my parents, they showed the dogs, just talked to me. Sometimes they even called at night, we talked all the time. Of course, it’s harder for me to be alone, I want to travel with my mother, just to have her there, so that sometimes I can say something, ask or just talk. We always watch movies together. And in Stockholm I lived alone in a room.
Let’s hope this was the first and last time. And how did you feel in general at “Worlds”, in this atmosphere?
Alexandra Trusova: In principle, it’s okay. The only thing, of course, when there was no competition, I wanted to go somewhere, go out, but it was impossible. We watched the men’s competition, played tennis, played basketball, just watched how others played. Did everything that was possible.
How do you think, have you changed if you compare Sasha a year ago, after the European Championships and Sasha after the World Championships?
Alexandra Trusova: I can’t say that something has changed a lot in me. I don’t know, I can’t say. Maybe I have matured.
It just feels like that your outlook on figure skating has changed a bit.
Alexandra Trusova: Yes. For example, I have a slow short program and I tried to correspond the music very well.
Do you want to change programs for the next season?
Alexandra Trusova: I change them every year, so I think so. I don’t like skating the same program for two years, I like to have a new one every year.
You said that you will participate in the music choice of music, so will offer something?
Alexandra Trusova: Of course. Now we’ll start choosing the music.
Does the maximum content for next year mean that you want to perform a triple axel?
Alexandra Trusova: Of course. I want to perform the triple axel consistently, it’s about time. And I want to jump the quads clean, I will try.
Related topics: Alexandra Trusova, world championship
Sigh. She makes her programs TOO complex in terms of jump content (certainly not choreography or transitions). If she focused on attempting and landing only three clean quads in the long program (I would suggest two quad toes and one quad lutz since those are her best and most consistent quads), she would win almost every time. She needs to stop attempting four or five quads. She’ll never be clean if she keeps attempting that. Plus, the program will suffer due to lack of transitions.
I kinda have an impression that she thinks that jumping 5 quads is the only way for her to win. And to be honest I can understand why she thinks so(