Q:  Not much time has passed since you graduated from high school. Do you miss school?

-Not yet, but I come to visit, talk to my teachers, ask them how they are doing and how is everything. Not too often, though. I also bring photos that my teachers ask me for.

Q: Was it easy for you to get into Lesgaft Academy?

-No, not really. It took me two hours to write the essay (one of the exams) and I was thinking that I’d rather be skating right now.  Skating suits me better. 

Q: You’ve been preparing for a new season, as usually, in Spain. Who got the idea to make a program to  “Bolero” by Ravel?

-Actually, it was Alexei Nikolaevich.  We skated a group number to this music on Tom Collins Tour.  I liked it very much and called Mishin from America. He suggested giving it a try.

Q: When does the season start for you?

-In October I am going to skate at “Finlandia Trophy,” then, in November, a “normal” season starts with Grand Prix events…

Q: Besides the event in Saint Petersburg, you are going to participate in NHK in Japan and in Nation’s Cup in Germany. Are you pleased with your assignments?

-I skated in Japan and in Germany many times before and I like the atmosphere there, the way those competitions are organized, the way athletes are treated and the audience. That’s why I am quite satisfied.

Q: What is going to be your “trump card” this season?

-It’ll still be my jump combination. We might add a bit more difficulty by changing the last jump into a triple loop. I am  also working on second quad, a salchow.

Q: What else do you wish to achieve in sports, besides becoming an Olympic Champion?

-My dream is to learn all quadruple jumps. It goes differently in practice: sometimes I come out on ice and can land quad without any problems, the next day they appear. Actually, this task seems pretty real to me, I already landed four quads. I don’t know how much time it would take to make them consistent, but it’s possible. You just have to lay stress on jumps but I can’t do only that because I have to keep working on spins and footwork as well, not to mention preparing new programs every year and two interpretive programs for GPF.

Q: What do you think of such innovations? A few years ago an idea to hold a jump competition was seriously considered…

-Why not? All these years we've been skating only long and short programs! I think if there was  a competition on such elements as spins, jumps and combinations, people will show more interest in our sport and sportsmen would find out their weaknesses. Not to mention that performing not one but two long program demands other strength.

Q: Do you have any weak sides yourself?

-Like any another  athlete I do have them, it's the  jumps,  steps, spins... In any case, that’s my opinion, perhaps, somebody would disagree. If we find the weak elements, we work on them.