Skating in Sweden – one on one with Kristoffer Berntsson
Text
by Magdalena
Osborne
Photos © EMJO
For Kristoffer, the 2004/05 season started out with an injured foot, but he later dazzled the audience at the European and World Championships. His historic 10th place in Torino earned Sweden a second spot at the European Championships in Lyon next January. For some time his results seemed to be at a stand still, but the last couple of seasons this talented Swede has continued to progress. Nicknamed “Chris” by fans, he’s also fast becoming a skating heartthrob. Now preparing for the new season, Kristoffer came to Malmö for a few days, and took the time to answer some questions. The setting was very informal, but his sharp mind was in high gear and the answers candid, as he talked about his injury, the past and future seasons, the Code of Points and more. |
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What happened to your foot last season?
During practice last August, I slipped while landing an ordinary
toeloop. At first I thought it would heal if I just took it
easy, so I continued skating and jumped on the other foot.
But things didn’t get better, and finally I had to totally
stay off the ice for 3 weeks. I realized I would miss Skate
America, (his first Grand prix event ever) and my coach and
I decided that the European and World championships were more
important. They are the major competitions and if I wanted
to be in good shape by then, I had to take the necessary time
to heal.
Why do you think there are so
many injuries among the men? Is it because of the triple
Axels and quads? |
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Your results from Europeans and Worlds have improved
dramatically in the last couple of years. Has it increased
the pressure on you to perform even better?
Pressure, well... I want to perform better! It was very hard
during those years when nothing happened. And besides the
injury in the beginning, the past season turned out well after
all!
What were the Swedish Nationals last December like?
It was a very hard competition. My foot was ok, but I hadn’t
competed since the Worlds last year. And the pressure at Nationals
is always huge, I have to win! At Europeans I can set forth
to do my best, and go after a higher placing than the year
before. But at Nationals I have to defend the title. All the
(skating related) Swedes are there and they expect me to skate
perfectly, so yes, big time pressure!

The top Swedes at Nationals in December 2004. Kristoffer Berntsson - gold, Filip Stiller - silver, Duran O`Hara Lindblom – bronze
What do you remember the most from The European championships?
It was like a pre-Olympic competition and I enjoyed it very
much. As far as the competing... I skated next to the last
in my warm-up group. I was in 4th place with 11 skaters to
go. I was so nervous while waiting! But things worked well
for me and it’s wonderful that Sweden gets 2 spots next
year. I really hope Filip Stiller and I can go, although Adrian
Schultheiss is coming up as a senior, and he’s good!
(Adrian is the Swedish junior champion.) Still, Filip and
I are good friends, and we have competed for Sweden’s
single spot for so many years. He deserves to go since I’ve
always beaten him. He has fought very hard, and it would be
so cool if he got the second spot.
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What did you think of the Palavela
arena in Torino? |
What was your experience at The Nordics?
Well, this year was different from last year; I had competition
again because Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari and Filip were there. But
it was like at Nationals, I had to win, so it was a big relief
after I had. There was a lot of pressure, and Nordics is always
such a rush-rush competition. We skate the free program on
Sunday morning, preferably as early as possible so everyone
can catch their plane. There’s practice, rush back to
the hotel and grab all your stuff and bring it to the arena,
compete, medal ceremony and then off to the buss or plane.
There’s no time to hang around and enjoy the competition
or talk to the others. But the competition was good. I skated
after Adrian Schultheiss, but I only saw the end of his performance.
He did a double Flip and fell on a loop, and Filip wasn’t
happy about his skate either. I got on the ice and the marks
for Adrian came up, and it was 5.3, 5.5... He had very high
marks and I was quite shocked and thought “What did
he do before I started watching him??? I have to get a grip
here!” But I had a good skate, better than at Europeans
even. I fell on the quad toe, but everything else was fine.
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How is your quad coming? |
After a full season of the Code of Points, what do
you think of it now?
Having 4 levels is a good idea. It used to be that the difference
between level 1 and 2 was very big, and level 3 footwork was
almost impossible to reach for the men. On the other hand,
for the ladies it seemed almost impossible not to get level
2 on the spirals... The problem has been that it paid more
to do a sloppy higher level element, than doing a perfectly
executed lower level element. One hardly ever gets GOE + on
steps or spins, at least I don’t, one only gets base
value. So if my choice stands between base value at level
1 or 2, of course I will go for level 2, since it’s
worth more points! But there are many things which are good
about the new system, for instance the fact that you can really
advance in placement between the short and long programs.
Sure, you can drop a lot too, but if you have a bad skate
and fall several times, you should drop, so I think that’s
fair. But I felt sorry for the French guy (Contesti) during
Worlds. His qualifier was great, and then he didn’t
even make the final! His triple Lutz in the short turned into
a double, and he fell and took a deduction, so he ended up
with a minus value. If he’d just skated and done nothing,
he would have gotten more points, and I don’t think
anyone should get a minus value for trying something! But
I guess it’s these kinds of bugs in the system they’re
trying to fix. It was also interesting to note that the World
Champion got 7s and 8s in the program components. If he, the
best in the world, gets that, who’s supposed to get
the 9s and 10s? He wasn’t even close so that makes it
impossible to reach! And one of the ladies skated almost flawlessly,
yet she was 30 points under her personal best. And it wasn’t
because of the jumps, but in the program components. I don’t
think points should vary like that from one competition to
another.
Gwendal said all the ladies’ free programs
are too much alike, do you think he’s right?
That’s nothing new; it’s been like that for a
long time. There are many ladies who skate to slow and beautiful
music, that’s not even an opinion but a fact. The ladies
skate to classical music and it’s slow and beautiful
and many people like that, so it works! And it’s up
to each individual, if you’re good at slow and beautiful,
take advantage of it! Don’t change your style just because
someone thinks it’s boring, do what suits you! But sure,
one can wonder why it is that so many ladies are good at slow
and beautiful...
The Prince Igor costume for your long program
surprised a few since you said you didn’t care
for glittery stuff or ruffles... Do you already have plans for this season’s
costumes? |
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