Coach of Vasilisa Kaganovskaya and Maxim Nekrasov, Honored Coach of Russia Alexey Gorshkov. Part of the couple's big interview for Vlad Zhukov.
— Alexey, let’s start with Vasilisa and Maxim’s season results.
– I think everything went pretty well. Their skating quality kept improving, from tournament to tournament they added more. Even though at the very beginning we had a small setback – Maxim was out for about three weeks with health issues.
For me as a coach, it was especially important that they performed well at the last tournament – the Russian Grand Prix Final. Because it’s one thing when you’re fighting for the top three, and another when you realize you’re already fighting for the win. I was curious to see how much psychological stability they had. No, they didn’t skate at 120%, but they absolutely skated at their 100%. That was very important – to see how they felt each other, how they controlled the situation. In that sense, Angelika (Krylova) and I were very pleased with them.
I also really liked how things went at the "Russian Challengе", how well they got into character. Yes, maybe there wasn’t enough work done on that dance, but we understand it’s a commercial tournament – it’s also more for development.
– In your opinion, what did they improve this season? And what still needs work?
– Maxim made a big breakthrough in "Suicide Squad". He did a huge amount of work on himself in terms of facial expression and emotions. I’m not saying he didn’t feel anything before – but at that moment it was obvious that he was literally radiating energy.
Vasilisa worked a lot on the technical side. They’ve already made progress individually, but as a pair they are only just starting to truly feel each other. That’s why the Grand Prix Final was so important for us.
– The Grand Prix Final was important mainly as a test – to see if they could handle the burden of being leaders?
– Yes. We know how it usually goes. Especially with juniors – they go all out, not caring what place they get. And then later – they get lost.
That’s a very important point. Because if we look at Olympic champions, we see how strong they are psychologically. You need to go through several Olympics to really feel that concentrated energy hanging over the arena. To feel that your whole life is packed into those 3–4 minutes on the ice.
And it was always those who were strongest psychologically that won in the end. Yes, of course, also in terms of skating – but the thing is, there were many strong skaters, yet only one could win.
– So the Russian Championships were more of an unfortunate mishap?
– A mishap, yes, that happens. Maxim missed his twizzles for the first time in a very long time – I can’t even remember the last time that happened.
There’s a certain danger here too – when a person realizes they’re doing something well, they start to relax. It’s important to find the balance between going all out and maintaining self-control. It’s the same in singles – sometimes people even fall on the simplest steps.
That’s why it was so important for us that in the Final they skated clean. To avoid carrying that shadow with them.
– How did you take the Olympic qualification decision?
– Well, we’re not the number one team in the national squad. The qualification scheme is very complicated – a lot depends on whether the number one team gets status or not. If they don’t, then nobody gets in at all.
It doesn’t depend on us in any way. Most likely, there won’t be access to the Grand Prix stages or other tournaments. And as for Olympic qualification, there won’t be an internal selection for us. So there’s really no point in thinking about it.
If we talk more broadly about participation, it’s not clear what the outcome will be even if some Russians make it to the Olympics. We don’t have our own judges – they’re suspended too. So the result will likely have a certain political shade to it.
And yet it’s very important that our athletes are there. It gives a big foundation for the future fight. And in that sense, I’m very curious about the reaction of the press and experts. Because before, we always came only for victory, we even criticized our athletes: “What, just participation? Just the Olympic principle?!” We ourselves presented it as a very negative thing.
But now, even simple participation will be significant. God willing, at least someone in some discipline will get there. Maybe not a full team. But it’s very important to break through that wall.