For Belarusians, participation in the Olympic team event remains a dream, one that requires overcoming numerous challenges to achieve. The first and foremost hurdle is, of course, the suspension from international competitions. Simultaneously, many internal issues must be resolved. So far, only one Belarusian figure skater has battled through the obstacles to reach the stars — Viktoriia Safonova, the sole athlete representing Belarus at the Olympic Games for the second time.Other Belarusian figure skaters will have to work intensively to present their programs at the Olympic tournament in the future. In an interview with BelTA, the head coach of the Republic of Belarus national figure skating team, Olympic champion in pair skating Oleg Vasiliev, discussed the challenges facing his athletes amid the trends in world figure skating.

Old World school

Mr Vasiliev, how has world figure skating changed during the time our athletes have been suspended from international competitions?

Let’s start with what’s most interesting to us right now: women’s singles skating. It can roughly be divided into geographical blocks: Europe, North America, and Asia. Women’s singles in Europe has declined significantly in technical terms, and its presentation has also worsened. Viktoriia Safonova scored a total of 210.44 points for her two programs at the Best Athletes Cup in Minsk in December. In January, Estonia’s Niina Petrõkina won the European Championship with a score of 216.14 points, while Belgium’s Loena Hendrickx took second place with 191.26 points. So, if we hadn’t been suspended, our athlete could have taken a podium place at the European Championships. The American figure skating school is currently experiencing a rise, but it’s more of a specific, rather than a global, surge. There are two or three athletes in the USA who perform difficult multi-rotation jumps, skate well, and showcase mature, beautiful skating.

In Asia, Japanese skaters set the tone. They have always executed difficult ultra-C elements, triple axels, and some even attempt quadruple jumps. At the Olympic Games in the singles tournament, we will see a very interesting picture: the Old World school, with good skating skills but technically «toothless», will compete against the strong and consistently competitive athletes from the USA and Japan.

Men’s singles skating has leaped to new heights largely thanks to one athlete — Ilia Malinin, already an Olympic champion in the team event. Despite his Russian name and surname, he is American. Ilia was born and raised in the USA; his parents are figure skaters who put him on the ice from a very young age. Today, Ilia Malinin is unattainable for his rivals. He has set such a high technical bar that the former idol of men’s singles skating — Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu — seems like a novice in comparison, even though just a few years ago, he too seemed untouchable. Malinin’s current standard is forcing all skaters to strive higher, to learn quadruple jumps, and to include the maximum number of quadruple jumps in their free programs.

But even if we count out Malinin, men’s singles skating hasn’t failed. In the United States and Asia, there are athletes accomplishing the seemingly impossible. Mikhail Shaidorov from Kazakhstan is one of the best figure skaters of our time, even though Kazakhstan isn’t exactly a figure skating powerhouse. Russia has produced a galaxy of technically brilliant athletes capable of performing the most difficult jumps. Yes, they’re currently suspended, but upon their return to international competitions, Russian skaters will strengthen an already formidable pool of single skaters. Generally speaking, men’s skating is more spectacular and attracts more attention than women’s. This isn’t just due to quadruple jumps, but also to the compositions they’re incorporated into. Programs are becoming more interesting, and men’s skating is more athletic, which draws viewers. Therefore, in my opinion, men’s singles skating dominates figure skating today in all aspects, including technical, artistic, and even geographical, as there are strong athletes on every continent.

What’s your take on the most difficult discipline — pair skating?

It’s a very challenging discipline, including technically, physically, and psychologically. Traditionally, pair skating was dominated by major skating nations like Russia, the USA, and Japan. They have a large pool of singles skaters and the flexibility to form pairs. Without Russia, the level of world pair skating has declined. Many athletes now competing for European countries and the USA are originally from Russia. In other words, Russia is a donor to world pair skating, and today, within Russia itself, there are many good, even outstanding, pairs who could compete for top spots at major competitions but currently lack the opportunity.

 

‘Why would I need it?’

Mr Vasiliev, how have you kept our athletes motivated during the four years they have been barred from international competitions?

That’s the most difficult part of my job as head coach. Without international competitions and serious challenges, you can only sustain motivation for one season using domestic resources. That’s how it was during the first season after the suspension; the athletes worked on inertia. But by the second year, people were already asking, ‘why do I need this?’ As head coach of the national team, I give myself significant credit for maintaining the athletes’ motivation. Various methods were used to achieve this, both carrot and stick. Where are we now, four years after the suspension? Six athletes competed in the Belarusian Men’s Singles Championships. Not a large number, but all of them have mastered quadruple jumps. The fact that they not only remained in the sport but also developed technically is a huge credit to the coaches, the leadership of the Skating Union of Belarus, and the Ministry of Sports and Tourism. We don’t have many people involved in figure skating, and in four years we could have lost our entire talent pool, because in today’s reality, parents may not see the point in sending their children to this difficult sport. Yes, we lost some athletes over these four years, but we retained and developed the top tier. When our athletes are allowed to return to international competitions, we won’t be ashamed of them. Belarusian figure skaters can now represent the country at a high level. They are in good competitive shape, as each athlete competes 7-10 times a season, which is quite substantial given the suspension.

Is there any progress on the return of figure skaters to international competitions?

National Olympic Committee President Viktor Lukashenko has held talks with International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry.

Following this, Belarus was permitted to host international tournaments, and the question of allowing our junior athletes to participate in international competitions is under discussion. All of this pertains only to Belarusian athletes. The National Olympic Committee, led by Viktor Lukashenko, is taking very serious steps that are yielding positive results. This is a positive aspect. However, there is a negative one. After the suspension of Russians and Belarusians, the International Skating Union was significantly impacted — it lost a portion of its sponsors, and interest in figure skating declined without Russian athletes. However, by the second year, things largely returned to normal: medals began to be distributed more evenly across countries and continents, whereas before, Russian athletes were taking 11 out of 12 medals. Medals went to teams that previously could only have dreamed of them. For the ISU, this distribution of medals across countries and continents is more important than having one strong team from Russia. Therefore, the ISU will not be in a hurry to reinstate the Russians.

Plenty of work to be done

Given that, for the first time in the history of Belarusian figure skating, the same athlete is competing in the Olympic Games for a second time, can we say that the objectives you faced at the beginning of your work in Belarus have been, if not fully, then at least partially achieved?

I will criticize myself. The tasks have not been completed. The fact that the same athlete will represent Belarusian figure skating at the Olympic Games for a second time is good. But it’s not entirely what I wanted. I wanted us to participate in the team event; for that, we needed to compete internationally and earn ranking points, but it didn’t work out, even though those were our objectives. There was a goal to develop pairs skating. It has not been achieved. But it’s important to understand that pairs skating depends on the number of single skaters. We only have five or six single skaters competing at the national championships, and if we take at least two of them for pairs, what will be left of the singles discipline? Pairs skating is an extremely complex discipline that requires mastering over a dozen new elements, on top of everything a skater already knows and can do. Under the current suspension, an athlete can quite logically think: ‘Why work harder?’ Today, we have one young man and two young women who are capable and willing to start work in pairs skating. But for now, there is no pairs skating in Belarus.

As for men’s singles skating, we have managed to raise its technical level by ten floors compared to five years ago. Back then, we had only Konstantin Milyukov, who could do one quadruple jump, and no one else was close. Today, all our athletes are performing quads, meaning the overall level has risen. That’s a plus. But if we look back at the global men’s singles skating scene, against the backdrop of what Malinin is doing, our athletes feel somewhat left behind because the level rises every season. For example, just two years ago, a quadruple jump seemed unattainable, and today we are already demanding not one but two quads in the free program; next season there could be three. So, we are pushing the coaching staff and athletes in a direction that previously seemed impossible. You can’t stop and stay where you are. As it is, we’re running to catch the last car of the train on this path, and we need to push ourselves hard to jump aboard. Our men’s singles skating is not lost, but it’s still quite far from the locomotive.

Regardless of how they turn out, the Olympic Games will pass. What else awaits Belarusian figure skaters this season?

While the Olympics are going on, we will hold domestic competitions — the fourth leg of the National Cup in Pruzhany on 12-15 February. The second leg of the Best Athletes Cup is scheduled for April. There is plenty of work to be done.