Angelina Kuchvalska:"My dream is to go to the Olympic Games."
Angelina recently had an interview with the Latvian press so I thought you might be interested. I tried my best to translate and I'm sorry for any grammatical errors!
Interview in Latvian: http://sportacentrs.com/ziemas_sports/slidosana/04022015-angelina_kucvalska_mans_sapnis_ir_noklut_
At EYOF (European Youth Olympic Festival) Kuchvalska didn't compete so well and earned 5th place, but already a couple of days later she surprised Europe by finishing 7th in her debut at European Championships in Stockholm. Even her coach Ekaterina Platonova doesn't have an explanation for this kind of change in her skating although she points out some other conditions (lack of training right before competition, long road to the rink, first starting number) what could have affected the performance of the young athlete.
Angelina herself admits that even before the start at EYOF her mind was already thinking much more about European Championships, but agrees that the complicated road from hotel to rink might have affected her. "The road to the place of competition was about hour and 30 mins long. While you're driving, you've had too much time to think about everything and all the thoughts are messing with you. At Europeans everything was easier. Everything was close. If I wanted to go to hotel and sleep, I could do it, but in EYOF I had to spend all the day at the rink. But I was not afraid to start at either EYOF or EC."
Young athlete says that seeing rivals who she had known only from TV screen wasn't actually terrifying."They're just normal people, exactly like me. And at Europeans I felt very light and welcoming atmosphere and I didn't feel any pressure at all. Of course, I could have started even better because there were some mistakes, but my goal was clean and good skating."
"I liked when I had the ice on my own. That's when I could have the most productive training with my coach. There wasn't any attention from coaches from other countries or other athletes. Of course, some skaters and coaches congratulated me, but I didn't feel any special attention" Says Angelina, but coach adds that everyone was very surprised that this young and talented skater is from such tiny Baltic country Latvia.
"My closest target is to be in Top 24 at World Championships which will happen at the end of March in Shanghai. Before WC there are World Junior Championships but I won't be there - another skater Diana Nikitina will compete for Latvia." Tells Kuchvalska. "But my main goal is to go to the Olympic Games."
Angelina doesn't hide that this season she has missed a lot of school, but teachers are very understanding and support the young skater. "I try very hard and my grades are OK although at the end of this semester there were some "sixes" in my degrees. After high school I would love to study so I can be a coach but after that I could even think about getting another degree in different subjects."
P.S. In Latvia there are grades from 1-10. 1 - very, very weak; 10 - perfect.
Angelina recently had an interview with the Latvian press so I thought you might be interested. I tried my best to translate and I'm sorry for any grammatical errors!
Interview in Latvian: http://sportacentrs.com/ziemas_sports/slidosana/04022015-angelina_kucvalska_mans_sapnis_ir_noklut_
At EYOF (European Youth Olympic Festival) Kuchvalska didn't compete so well and earned 5th place, but already a couple of days later she surprised Europe by finishing 7th in her debut at European Championships in Stockholm. Even her coach Ekaterina Platonova doesn't have an explanation for this kind of change in her skating although she points out some other conditions (lack of training right before competition, long road to the rink, first starting number) what could have affected the performance of the young athlete.
Angelina herself admits that even before the start at EYOF her mind was already thinking much more about European Championships, but agrees that the complicated road from hotel to rink might have affected her. "The road to the place of competition was about hour and 30 mins long. While you're driving, you've had too much time to think about everything and all the thoughts are messing with you. At Europeans everything was easier. Everything was close. If I wanted to go to hotel and sleep, I could do it, but in EYOF I had to spend all the day at the rink. But I was not afraid to start at either EYOF or EC."
Young athlete says that seeing rivals who she had known only from TV screen wasn't actually terrifying."They're just normal people, exactly like me. And at Europeans I felt very light and welcoming atmosphere and I didn't feel any pressure at all. Of course, I could have started even better because there were some mistakes, but my goal was clean and good skating."
"I liked when I had the ice on my own. That's when I could have the most productive training with my coach. There wasn't any attention from coaches from other countries or other athletes. Of course, some skaters and coaches congratulated me, but I didn't feel any special attention" Says Angelina, but coach adds that everyone was very surprised that this young and talented skater is from such tiny Baltic country Latvia.
"My closest target is to be in Top 24 at World Championships which will happen at the end of March in Shanghai. Before WC there are World Junior Championships but I won't be there - another skater Diana Nikitina will compete for Latvia." Tells Kuchvalska. "But my main goal is to go to the Olympic Games."
Angelina doesn't hide that this season she has missed a lot of school, but teachers are very understanding and support the young skater. "I try very hard and my grades are OK although at the end of this semester there were some "sixes" in my degrees. After high school I would love to study so I can be a coach but after that I could even think about getting another degree in different subjects."
P.S. In Latvia there are grades from 1-10. 1 - very, very weak; 10 - perfect.
I'm half Latvian (have always lived in Australia though...) so I have a soft spot for the country. I'm in Riga at the moment, actually, it's beautiful.
)! I hope she can perform her best at Worlds. She's definitely the skater I'm most looking forward to from the 'little countries' 
catchie - as our resident Latvian, I hope you will keep us up to date on all of these skaters. 
