Press Conference after the Free Dance

By Helga Dobor
Photos © Titanilla Bőd

Oksana Domnina, Maxim Shabalin (RUS) Oksana Domnina : I don’t have any words right now. And no emotions either, as I left them all on the ice. I’m just happy that we survived the competition. I want to congratulate Maxim on his birthday today and I thank him for his courage and strength. Maxim Shabalin : It was a very difficult competition. We knew this from the beginning because of my surgery (on his left knee) one month ago.

It was a risky decision to come and to compete, but it was a right decision. I decided to come here on the 9 th of January when I went out on the ice and knew that I would be able to do some run throughs and could prepare. The doctors warned me and said I should swim for two weeks and ride a bicycle and watch Europeans on TV.

How was it skating with Maxim tonight?

Oksana Domnina : I enjoyed skating with him tonight! He was on the top of his game in his courage and strength. I felt his inner support and his support from outside too.

How did you choose this music?

Maxim Shabalin : It was an idea of Tatiana Tarasova. She suggested it to us at the end of last season. The program was done by our choreographer Sergei Petukhov. I think you can understand the story – poor Oksana is forced to marry Maxim from St. Petersburg, who is not a very nice character.

Isabelle Delobel, Olivier Schoenfelder (FRA) Isabelle Delobel: Firstly, tonight there were a lot of emotions when we skated this free dance. Of course we didn’t keep our title, but we will work for the next competition and we’re looking forward to Gothenburg. Olivier Schoenfelder: We are very happy with our skating tonight. We are disappointed because we lost this title. There is one more big competition to come and we will work to be ready and maybe win Worlds.

Do you want to change your program for the Worlds?

Olivier Schoenfelder: I think we made a good choice. We changed some lifts and steps and now we beat our best score of the season. We will watch our performance and we will see. On some steps we didn’t get the level we wanted to, so we have to work on the technical mark.

You changed your costume. Why did that happen?

Isabelle Delobel: We changed the colour of my dress because the old brown colour was too sad. We decided for me to wear red, because this is a colour of passion and it’s a story of passion and love.

Jana Khohklova, Sergei Novitski (RUS) Sergei Novitski: It’s our first medal at European Championships. We still don’t completely realize it. We feel fantastic. The air on the ice was full of electricity, the audience was magnificent, there was so much support. Jana Khohklova : A big thanks to the audience, we felt their energy, they gave us energy. It was so pleasant for us!