Maylin Hausch and Daniel Wende would like to wow the audience

 

April 19, 2011
By Titanilla Bod
Photos © Joy & Mireille Geurts

They say they still need that special, unique thing so the people say “wow” when looking at them, but they already managed to amaze the crowd in Paris at TEB, where they were third. In Bern, on the other hand, people said “ouch”, when they missed a lift, and ended up on the sixth place. Maylin Hausch and Daniel Wende however dealt with the mistake in a very appealing way, and they kindly agreed to have a chat the day after the free program.

How satisfied are you so far with your season?
Daniel: The season was good, the third place in Paris was really good and now we are a little bit disappointed about our free program here at the Europeans, because it wasn’t so clean, and the short either… We had some big mistakes, one in the short [she fell on the throw jump], one in the free [he abandoned a lift], but we have to look forward, next step will be the Worlds. But so far it was a good season and we hope the Worlds will be the best competition for us.

In the free program you made a very unusual mistake when you missed a lift. What happened?
Daniel: I don’t know. I think the problem was that it was really cold, my fingers were cold, my legs were cold… At practice this lift works always, I don’t know what happened. It was cold, the timing was not perfect and then it was just like up and down.

But maybe it’s better to miss the entire lift than to fall. There was also a nasty fall in the free skating, Stacey Kemp and David King stumbled during a lift.
Daniel: We saw it before we skated. I think it is not so good for the skaters when it’s so cold. Especially in pairs. It is dangerous, when you have freezing fingers and you can’t wear gloves. Luckily there was no injury.

Aren’t you afraid when you are lifted so high?
Maylin: I always enjoy it. Well, now in the free program it was just a short enjoy (laughs), but usually I really like it to be up there.

Did you always want to be pairs skaters?
Daniel: I started with pair skating when I was 16-17 years old. Before that I was a single skater. Some coaches asked me to try it, because I was tall and strong and I really liked it from the first moment. It was a good idea.
Maylin: I’ve always liked pairs skating, but I didn’t thought about it so much, but then I had a practice partner and he always did my steps with me just for fun. So my coach said, okay, let’s try it. Since then I’ve done pairs and I really like it.

You both skated with another partners in the past. How did you find each other?
Maylin: After Nationals my partner quit, so I was looking for a new one, but it was really hard, because there was nobody in Germany and I did my school, so I had to wait and wait and wait. Then I heard that Daniel also split with his partner, but he already got a new one, so I was too late. I waited another year, when I heard again he split up again with his next partner, so I was there!
Daniel: And now we are here.

Maybe it was meant like this, it didn’t work out for the first time but it worked out for the second time.
Maylin: It’s always important to take what you want. And to wait for it also.

Sometimes it seems it’s harder to be a pairs skater than a single skater, because even if you skate clean, if your partner makes a mistake, there is not a good result. On the other hand you are supporting each other on the ice and you are not alone as the single skaters.
Daniel: That’s the good thing in pairs skating. I hate to be alone on the ice. I need to hold the hand of my girl (smiles). And I always can say: “Oh, it was her mistake!” (laughs) Of course it’s only a joke. Anyway, I couldn’t do singles any more. I want to do the lifts and all the stuff, and single skating is boring for me. Not to watch but to do.
Maylin: For me it’s the same. I just love to get lifted, to do the throws. It’s more spectacular, more interesting for me than just to do jumps alone.

What is your favourite element?
Daniel: Normally I like lifts very much, and I also like the throws. They are special elements.
Maylin: Lifts and throws are my favourites, too.

What is your relationship with the best German pair, Aljona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy? Do you think of them as rivals or do you take them as an inspiration?
Daniel: They are inspiring us. They are two times World champions, four times Europeans champions.
Maylin: So they are like idols. We look up to them and we want to reach the level that they have now.
Daniel: They are also like friends at competitions, not like rivals. Robin is a very nice guy and Aljona is a very nice girl. We are a team, the German team, so we have a good relationship. Also here in Bern after the free program we were sitting together and talking about how it worked.

Do you have any other idols?
Daniel: We just watch the best elements of all skaters.
Maylin: And then we try to do it as well, or to make it a bit different, so maybe once we can have our own element in our way. We try pick out the best things.

How much influence do you have on the choreography of your programs?
Daniel: It consists of the ideas of the choreographer but also of our own ideas, and our coach says something, too. So it’s a mix.

How did you choose the music for your programs this year?
Daniel: As for the free, we watched the movie, Prince of Persia in the cinema with our coach together. We liked the music, so we thought about it and wondered if it was possible to take this music as our free program. We listened to the whole CD and decided to use it.
Maylin: For the short, I heard the music [tango the Roxanne], I just liked it so much. It’s from Moulin Rouge. I really wanted to skate to a tango last year already, but somebody always said no. So I asked my coach again, and he said maybe we can take it. At last he said “It’s good”.

Why did he say no before?
Maylin: Because it was already lot of times on the ice and it still is, but not so much in pairs, and that’s the reason why said okay in the end.

Do you have any special rituals before competition?
Daniel: I always, every day put on my left boot first.
Maylin: I do it the same way. And I always enter the ice with my left foot.

What are your plans for the Worlds?
Maylin: It’s hard to say, because there will be lots of good pairs. It would be great to be in the top 12, but we will see how it works. If we skate clean, it could be possible.

And what about the further future?
Daniel: We want to be medal contenders at Europeans, maybe at Worlds. The biggest event will be the Olympics in Sochi, but we take it step by step.

What do you still need to improve to be close to the medal rankings?
Daniel: We need a triple twist for sure and a second triple jump in the free.
Maylin: The rest is choreography.
Daniel: It simply takes a bit more time. We skate together for two and a half years, and it is not such a long time. In the next three or four years we’ll be able to reach the higher levels.
Maylin: Maybe we have to have something in program that nobody did before, so the people say “wow” when they are looking at you. That’s what we still need. When you look at Aljona and Robin, they are so special. That’s what we have to reach.

So what’s the ideal length of time to spend together for a pair to be successful?
Daniel: It always depends on the couple. Aljona and Robin skate together for about eight years and I think they were already good after two years or maybe earlier. For us it takes a little bit longer, but hopefully we can reach that level too. We will work hard for it.

The results of that hard work you can witness at the World Championships in Moscow next week, where they will have another chance to wow the audience. Good luck Maylin and Daniel!