“Gladiator didn’t work out of me”: Danielyan about his programs, free skating of Hania and a foot injury due to boots

- For the time that has passed since the moment of the performance, it was hard to believe that you are not yesterday’s junior, but the vice-champion of Europe? Or did this understanding come to you even before the award?

- To be honest, I still have not realized this, as it seems to me. It seems like a silver medal is a reality, but it seems to be some kind of fantastic dream, as if it were not happening to me.

- After all, according to the results of the short program, you were already with a medal, albeit with a small one. Didn’t they torture themselves with thoughts that a big medal is just around the corner?

- Tortured - not the right word. I was just thinking about this: what place I can take, how many points I can get ... I understood that all these thoughts would not lead to anything good, but I could not get them out of my head, no matter how I tried. The friend with whom we talked on the phone helped. She generally knows how to put my head in place. So by joint efforts we still achieved the fact that I focused solely on rental.

- The fact that you were the first of the top three in the free program, at least made it easier for you to cope with the excitement?

- As soon as the draw was over, and I realized that I was the first to ride, I thought: if by this moment I have the best result from those who have already performed, I will surely stay in the top three.

- So you still continued to think about a possible medal?

- Well, yes, before the rental was like that. He managed to switch his thoughts later when he went out for a warm-up. I thought only that I had to demonstrate the work done. That we have not practiced so much in vain.

- Many skaters like to repeat that during competitions they don’t hear other people's ratings. Is this true or just a catch phrase?

- I can speak for myself. At that moment, when the grades of the one who skated in front of me in the short program were announced, I was talking with Elena Germanovna (Buyanova. - RT ), who tuned me in to speak, so I heard nothing but her words and did not look at the scoreboard. But during the warm-up in the hall before the free program, I watched on TV how those who had performed before skated.

- What for?

- I do not know. It was that period of time when I was still spinning in my head thoughts about a possible medal. Therefore, I looked at everyone in a row, calculated something, built some constructions in my head.

“I used to be offended by the coach’s harsh shout”

- Have you ever been scared to go to the start?

- In the last two or three seasons, definitely not. Probably, it all depends on the willingness to start, on whether the coaches believe in you. In Graz, my trainers believed in me, perhaps even more than I did in myself. In this regard, in general, the last two weeks of preparation have gone very well with us. Very fruitful and very easy. Therefore, I didn’t even have thoughts that I could be mistaken.

“But nevertheless, they made a mistake twice.”

- Yes, I made a completely uncharacteristic mistake for myself - on the triple lutz. It’s not difficult for me to complete this jump. A complete surprise.

- After all, in your short program, a rather uncharacteristic mistake occurred on the triple axel.

- Yes. Not enough concentration. The jump is easy. I thought I could deal with him once - after the fourth salchow, but it didn’t work out. But this is also an experience.

- This season you started by participating in the junior Grand Prix. Thought then that already in the middle of the season you will perform among adults, and even so successfully?

- Yes, although the tasks at the beginning of the season were different. First of all, I tried to qualify for the Grand Prix finals. But when this did not work, he began to think that he should now somehow rehabilitate himself, even in his own eyes at the adult national championship. Try to qualify for the European Championship, for example. Moreover, I already knew that I would not go to the Youth Olympics.

- Does adult success change anything in your mind?

- Is that even more stimulates the desire to work.

- I’ll ask the question differently: what are you thinking more about - the junior world championship, which will be held in Tallinn in early March, or the adult world championship in Montreal?

- For now, I’m not thinking about anything at all. For me it’s like chasing two hares. Let my coaches think about the plans.

- Yevgeny Rukavitsyn said to his student Dmitry Aliyev that he is very independent in everything regarding training and performances. And how independent are you in this regard? Or are coaches still tending to you?

- At first, they patronized me when I just joined the group. Not anymore. Before the performance they always ask, for example, what is my action plan for the warm-up, that is, they give me the opportunity to make decisions on this matter myself. I myself begin to understand that it has become much better to feel my condition, my body, my abilities.

- Does the need to constantly submit to such a tough mentor like Buyanova not cause internal protest in your ardent Armenian character?

- Firstly, no one is pushing me. Elena Germanovna can shout hard at a training session, but this is a work process. A hard shout always helps to bring an athlete to life very effectively.

- Some are offended.

- I used to be offended too. It seemed to me that the coach was yelling at me because I was doing something wrong or not good enough. Now I try, firstly, not to give a reason to shout at me, and, secondly, very clearly differentiate information. At the same time, for example, I was pleased in Graz that Elena Germanovna praised me for my character. It was generally the most pleasant thing that I heard from the results of my speech.

- Have you already been told in Graz that you strongly resemble Javier Fernandez in the manner of skiing?

- I read it on the Internet. Javier has always been my idol, and it seems that such comparisons should be pleasant, but I was even more pleased to read that in terms of skiing, my own style is beginning to appear.

- Your coach noted that you have always been very interested in what is happening in the “big” figure skating. And you know your sport like not every skater knows.

- If it were my will, I would watch figure skating competitions around the clock in 24/7 mode. I’m really interested in everything: who rides, what elements he does.

- It seems to me that this should have greatly distracted you in Graz from your own performances? It is necessary to warm up, and you look around.

- I won’t say that it distracted me very much: at first I did all my work, and then I sat down to look at the others. It is very cool to be among those whom I had previously only watched on the Internet.

“And who do you especially remember?”

- Dima Aliyev - with his performance in the final. Of course, I knew how he rode, I saw many times, but Dima can’t remember such a rental.

- Jealousy did not prick you, that Aliyev managed to skip unmistakably, but you didn’t succeed?

- Not. Still, Dima is already the second European championship. I don’t know if it was easier or harder for him, but this is the same experience that I did not have.

“I also read that you really like Yuzuru Hanyu.”

- It's true.

- What attracts you to it?

- The ability of Hania to convey emotions very accurately. His inner freedom. As it seems to me, not a single skater in the world rides so freely.

“The gladiator didn't work out of me”

- Was riding in Graz really painful?

- In the excitement of the competition you don’t notice such things. Everything starts to hurt usually during demonstrations.

- By the way, what is wrong with all shoes this season? You are far from the first to have problems.

- From what I know, the Edea company, in the shoes of which I ride, changed the block of the Ice Fly model. Therefore, almost every second skater complains that a bone or some other place has begun to get trapped. When I started rolling out new shoes at the beginning of the season, a big enough bump formed on my leg. Because of this, I even flew out a certain amount of training. Then I returned to the old and much softer model, which usually rolls out in two days, that is, very quickly. But because of the bumps on the leg, this process also dragged on. Just when everything was more or less normal, the shoes broke. I had to return to the Ice Fly model again, and it seems that I was even used to it, but now this couple is starting to fall apart. What we will do next with shoes, I just don’t know yet. Although I still have an uncut pair.

- Many skaters do not like to skate classics too much, considering it too serious and obliging. You do not so much interpret the music on ice as you play with it.

- There is one.

- This is taught?

- My current free program is that program that I rolled in juniors a year ago. At first, when we were just starting, I did everything as the coach and choreographer told me: here I stood the position, smiled there, made a gesture. This season, when we decided to return to the previous program, the coaches suggested that I try to ride more freely, not being afraid to express my own emotions. And I felt that I could ride this music much more freely and with great pleasure.

- Why didn’t the matter go with the new Gladiator program?

- The initial idea was to take some serious and strong image for an arbitrary program, but ... In short, the gladiator did not work out of me. There it was necessary to ride more sharply, hard, that is, as I still do not know how well. Although I do not exclude the possibility that coaches and I will return to this program.

- During the rental process, do you manage to pay attention to the audience?

- Of course, and not only on them, but also on the judges. We are constantly working on this. Sometimes I smile at those who are sitting on the side, I can even wink at the end of the program when all the elements are already done.

- If you had the opportunity to speak at the European Championships again, what would you rather change?

- I would definitely find an opportunity to still squeeze this lutz, leave it.

“But it still would not allow you to win a gold medal?”

- So what? But now I would not be tormented by the feeling that a silver medal went to me with a fall.