- Before the start of the European Championship, rumors were constantly circulating that any failure of Russian single skaters could affect the composition of the Olympic team.

Were you sure that this would not affect Mark Kondratyuk?

“I wasn't too worried about that at all.

The only thing that really bothered me was that nothing prevented my athlete from showing everything that we had worked out with him.

At the same time, we did not think about the place at all.

I just wanted to perform well, skate no worse than it was at the Russian Championships.

As for the Olympic selection, we didn’t even have a reason to worry about this topic.

Mark is the champion of Russia, healthy, full of desire to skate.

Why should we be bothered by anything?

- Did you have any reasons for unrest in Tallinn before the start of the competition?

- Not.

In training, Mark skated well, I liked everything.

I generally like to watch him ride.

Mark, moreover, is different from most athletes, he is different.

- What exactly is the other one?

- He likes to be looked at.

The more fans, the more people in the stands, the more energy he gets.

I can even see it in Mark's eyes.

Why did we leave for a training camp in Novogorsk for a week before the European Championship?

Yes, because there was someone to look at us, and we had someone to ride for.

We trained on the same ice with hotbeds, with dancers, so Mark was not bored.

Is Alexander Samarin different in this respect?

- Yes.

He can train alone.

- It is common for debutants, having arrived at major tournaments, to experience such severe stress that they begin to compete already in training.

Kondratyuk did not suffer this fate?

“The fact of the matter is that we were not nervous with him.

At the Russian Championships in St. Petersburg, the stress was really great.

But after Mark was selected for the team, we agreed with him that we would just follow the knurled.

Do not want anything, do not plan anything, but just do your job as well as possible.

Not someone else's, but yours.

Well, yes, I am often asked about the Olympics, what we expect from these competitions.

But what can I say about this?

I have never been to the Olympics in my life, just like Mark.

So why are we going to worry about this ahead of time?

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- In relation to the European Championship, did you set up as a student?

- Don't believe me, no way.

We just changed the city, changed the ice rink, the environment, saw new people.

It is really very important for Mark to be cheered for and supported.

By the way, he admitted that he was very worried before the free program.

So even tired of it.

- He knows how to worry.

Like me, in fact, that's why I tried to do everything in my power so as not to get hung up on performances.

It gets difficult.

Very.

And besides, I perfectly understood why Mark was worried about the start.

It's not that this is the European Championship, or some kind of selection.

It's just that at the Russian Championship we managed to set a certain and rather high bar for the result.

And I did not want to be in Tallinn below.

I want to always go on the rise.

- Is it important for you that Mark, having won in Tallinn, increased his personal record so much?

- Absolutely not.

I don’t even know, to be honest, exactly how many points he increased it.

For me, as a coach, it doesn't matter.

— What is important?

- That Kondratyuk was given the third level of difficulty for the step sequence and for the rotation.

Yes, and jumping trips left much to be desired.

And this means that we have no end of work with him.

— By the way, did you manage to understand why Kondratyuk had lower difficulty levels?

- Certainly.

I was afraid, to be honest, that we would be given a second track.

There was almost no work of the hull, apparently, fatigue and stress had an effect.

Emotions came from somewhere deep, and the body hardly moved.

And on rotation there was another error.

Mark, apparently, was already so strongly tuned in to the jumps of the second half that he hurried the element.

- Didn't it seem to you that in the final Mark ran out of strength in the middle of the program, after the second quadruple salchow?

- It seemed to me that there was no strength left after the first quadruple sheepskin coat.

- Wasn't it scary?

- Of course it did.

I even thought that the first of the triple axels Mark would jump, but the second one is unlikely.

But he pulled out.

- So they teach you how to save a skater's landings in training?

- Certainly.

You can't say it in one word.

“So I don’t limit you to one word.

- To do this, I teach Mark to roll out programs when he no longer wants and cannot skate them.

This usually happens on a Sunday evening.

We have a day off on Monday, so Saturday and Sunday, when fatigue accumulates the most, are the most important days for us.

I sometimes see that an athlete is already really loaded and unable to endure the load, but with some jokes and jokes I force him to overcome this state.

Mark, it seems to me, does not even always understand what I am trying to achieve.

- Now all the programs of the skaters are so saturated with elements that there is no time to take a breath during the program.

Do Kondratyuk's productions provide a place to relax?

- We're fine with that.

Just after the rotation, you can stand, relax, drink some water ...

- I'm talking about the competition.

So I'm talking about the competition.

We have a pause in the program, where Mark bends down and seems to scoop up some water from a stream.

At this moment, he comes to his senses, restores his breath.

So everything is calculated.

- What feelings did you experience standing at the boards at the moment of the final performance?

She just stood there, unable to move.

And I believed that everything would be all right.

- You shouted something to Mark in the course of skating.

- Honestly?

I do not remember.

What could I scream?

Probably, "Don't give up!".

I don't even know if Mark heard it - I never asked him about it.

Although usually I generally keep quiet.

Sometimes I look at other coaches who somehow gesticulate at the boards, and I think: probably, I need it that way.

But every time I just get numb and pass out.

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Posted by Mark Kondratiuk (@ninety.ninth)

- It is generally accepted that the excitement of the coach is transmitted to the athlete.

- So who sees him, my excitement?

I don't show it.

I'm kidding, talking about something abstract.

The same Kondratyuk does not need to be especially distracted at all.

He always watches all the competitions, from the very beginning.

Turns on the phone and goes everywhere with it.

I even like it, because at some point I realized: no matter how the rivals skate, Mark is motivated by it.

The higher the results of others, the more powerfully his emotions grow, they help him tune in to his own rental.

- Is the theme of the Olympic team tournament in your conversations?

- Not.

We do not raise this issue at all.

They say go, let's go.

They won't say we won't go.

- And theoretically Kondratyuk is able to skate four programs in a row?

- Why not?

If someone else rides, then why can't we?

I don’t see any problems at all in skating the short program in the morning and the free program in the evening.

In training, we do this all the time.

Four times a week.

- Did you dream of skating between the short and free programs in Tallinn?

— God forbid.

In general, in recent years, I have changed my attitude towards competitions.

Stopped twitching.

Even now I have no inner delight: “Wow, the Olympics!”.

Yes, getting into the Games is cool.

But it's just competition.

Are you taking any measures to minimize contact with the outside world?

- Certainly.

For example, I forbid traveling by public transport.

Mark lives outside the city and fortunately his mother has the opportunity to bring her son to training.

As a last resort, she sends a driver with Mark.

Walking around Tallinn is not forbidden now, but, of course, with all possible measures in order to protect yourself from possible contacts.

I know Mark was going to go to the museums after the competition.

- You must have been at personal exhibitions of Kondratyuk.

- Oh sure.

- Is there any connection between how your student draws and how he skates?

— You know, yes.

This is inner freedom.

He draws as he wants and rides the same way.

At the end of the free program, for example, he fell to his knee.

This was not in our production, but in Tallinn it appeared.

And not the fact that something else will not appear.

This, again, is the whole Mark: he constantly needs to come up with something new.

-

Tamara Moskvina always adhered to the rule to put an indicative number in such a way that the skater could go beyond the rules in it, do what is impossible in competitions.

On what basis do you choose performances?

- It's easier for us.

Since Kondratyuk has two quadruple salchows in the second half of the program, our task is to bring this element to absolute automatism in any conditions - in the dark, under stage light, with a screaming audience.

Therefore, in the demonstration number, we jump these Salchows.