Alena Leonova | Page 6 | Golden Skate

Alena Leonova

vesperalvioletta

vesperalvioletta

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Country
United-States
A lot of people have argued that Alena has regressed and that's why Sima should have gotten the NHK spot over her, but I think she's in great form. She may not have the most difficult content, but what she does, she does well. She's much improved from where she was a couple years ago before she went to Rukavicin.
 
E

EdgeCall

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 31, 2012
She is so adorable for her passion for the sport and the programs she performs. Others may have higher tech content but not her expressiveness and personality on the ice. They really could learn a thing or two from her about it. She also does not give up on mistakes so easily as before. Go Alina, get those 200 points. You can do it!
 
Edwin

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
I posted this originally in the Russian Ladies thread, but it should have gone here.

Alyona Leonova: “I will skate until the fantasy ends”

There are these skaters whose name appear in the list of participants - and you already want to go into the stands. Their performances are always like a small celebration. It is impossible to take your eyes off them on ice, and in the perception of their programs the technical component becomes secondary: you involuntarily stop counting revolutions in jumps and spins and watch how points grow in the upper left window of the screen during the broadcast.

One of these athletes is Alyona Leonova. Her path in figure skating has been going on for a quarter of a century - 25 years. And I want it to last as long as possible.

This season for Alyona began at the 1st stage of the St. Petersburg Cup at the Figure Skating Academy, where she trains. We met her just after she finished her free program ...

Q: Alyona, I congratulate you on the start of the season! How was the premiere of your new programs?
A: Honestly, in training I skated both programs cleanly. I have no idea what happened yesterday and today ... I can only attribute this to an early start (the women's free program started at 10 in the morning) and to the fact this is the first of the season. Maybe it all added up ...

I was never so well prepared for the start of the season. It is very disappointing that I could not show myself. In training, I skate in a completely different way. Even my trainers can confirm. They themselves do not know what to say now: there are simply no words. It is unclear what the reason is, because I prepared myself perfectly for this start.

In fact, I'm really worried before the competitions. It would seem that I, already having such an experience, 25 years, shouldn't be afraid of anything. But the thought that this is a competition sits in my mind anyway. I always perceived them as a holiday, but when you see how many people came to watch you, you don't want to let anyone down and do everything you can.

Q: How exciting is it to introduce new programs to the public?
A: For me, skating in front of an audience is always a joy. It is pleasant to think that people will see something new, and it is joyful that later I will then read some comments about my programs, even if some of them will be negative. So for me this excitement is always very pleasant.

But at the same time, the program looks good when executed cleanly. I hope at the next start I will be able to confidently make all jumps and show a more complete program. In this tournament, I did 50 percent of what I can do in training. I'll work on the rest.

Q: Tell us a little about the new images. You started to have your programs staged early enough ...
A: Yes, we staged my short program in early April. The image came quite by accident, that's how some kind of light in my head lit up. We thought a lot about what kind of music to put to this surprise. I didn’t want something painful, something quick and impudent too, because I am still 28 years old (laughs).

I directly remember this moment ... I was standing on the ice, and suddenly this light in my head lights up. I skated up to Valentin Nikolayevich Molotov and said: “What if we take Riverdance?” I just wanted to. We started listening to music, sending each other different options. We settled on two, connected them, and it turned out quite harmoniously, it does not hurt the ear.

By the way, Jason Brown skated and lit up under the second composition that we chose. I've watched his program, I saw the audience very coolly accepting it, so it's great and will suit me.

Q: Where can you and your new programs be seen in the near future?
A: I think in Sankt Peterburg. My next start, it seems, is the Panin-Kolomenkin memorial. I don’t know anything about tournaments of the “B” series yet. Let's see what happens, because I'm not very far down in the list of substitutes for the Grand Prix, anything can happen. How last year turned out: someone withdrew, and I had a chance to go. In no case do I hope for someone else’s injuries, I just sit and wait, prepare calmly and perform where possible.

Q: During the time athletes spend in sports, their attitude towards it often changes. Many skaters admitted that they loved their sport many years after they began to perform at a high level and earned some medals and titles. Prior to this, for many of them figure skating rather was a suffering or they engaged in it by inertia. How have you changed your attitude to sports over the course of these 25 years? Or did you immediately realised this is love for life?
A: I am often asked if there was a desire to quit. There was! But I was at such an irresponsible age ... At that time, I had not even skated with Alla Yakovlevna Pyatova. It was like the typical state of a teenager: I do not want anything, nothing really turns out. But on New Year's Eve, Santa Claus gave me a bag for my skates. It seems like I immediately wanted to skate. And so I continued.

Q: Remember the moment when you realised that you like figure skating?
A: I fell in love with figure skating when I started going to major tournaments and winning something. This spurred me on to work even more. But there is still such a moment when love to perform appeared. It happened about three years ago.

Q: And before that, what prevented you from falling in love with performing?
A: Somehow this thrill didn't appear. I was very constrained, there were a lot of thoughts about rankings, about scores, about who and what they would think of me. Recently, for about three years, I started skating just for the audience, just showing my programs. And now I really like to perform. Now I want to return this feeling in order to approach the next start with a good mood and drive.

Q: There is such a thing as professional burnout. Reveal the secret, how to prevent this from happening?
A: This is the love of the audience. I often read what people write in comments on social networks. There are a lot of kind words. Someone even said that he cried with me after my skate. And when someone writes, no one skates like me, well, how can I leave? (smiles). I guess I haven’t said everything yet in figure skating.

Q: In one of your long-standing interviews, you mentioned that you skate well on anger. Does this trick still work for you?
A: There is sports anger, it always helps. But when you are angry with the whole world, it knocks you down. Very rarely now I have to resort to such techniques. In that season, for example, everything went very smoothly, gradually, step by step, and it worked out well. Today, maybe I really didn’t have enough sports anger. I woke up only in the last minute of the program.

Q: On your way to 25 years in figure skating there were probably some significant, turning points that changed the course of events. Can you remember what it was?
A: The momentous moment was getting into the group of Nikolay Morozov. I then changed absolutely everything: I began to live in Novogorsk, which I hated until then. Even at junior level, when they told me that we were going to skate in Novogorsk, I had fears, it was perceived like a prison. And I lived there for almost 5 years, without even leaving from there to Moscow. And I really loved it!

I like it when everything in life is comfortable and convenient, and there everything you need is just nearby. On a day off, you can go to Mega for a walk: movies, shopping, and everything you want. And in Novogorsk itself there is a dry hall, ice, and rehabilitation facilities. From training I went to my room, extended my legs and relaxed. You can reach the ice within a minute walking through the hotel, you don’t even need to go outside. Everything has been done so that the athlete feels comfortable and is can train well.

With these conditions, Nikolay Alexandrovich and I came to the best result in my career - Silver in the World Championships.

That period was probably a turning point for me. In general, I have a motto in life - all that's done, all for the better, so I was not afraid of change.

By the way, after the transition to Morozov, relations with Alla Yakovlevna improved. I began to communicate with her much warmer. Before that, I always perceived her with hostility. When I trained, we were always like cat and dog. I didn't obey, I wasn't silent, I would always tell my opinion. Then I matured, became calmer. I am very grateful to Alla Yakovlevna that she then remained my second coach, did not turn away from me, as many do. I haven't had a bad relationship with any coach after the transition. It is important for me to stay in good relations with people who have done so much good for me.

Me and Nikolay Alexandrovich also calmly discussed everything. He said that he could no longer remain in Moscow and was leaving for America. I told him I would go back to St. Petersburg, because I could not leave for America.

Q: A lot happened over your career: a change of coach, a move to another city, and even starting in competitions without a coach. What was the hardest?
A: Probably the most difficult period in my career was after silver at the World Championships. You know, as if they set a match on fire and immediately blew it out. There was complete devastation. For a long time I could not come to my senses, I performed terribly. The whole next season was a failure.

Then there was the Olympic season. Then I already pulled myself together. The probability that I will get to Sochi to the Olympics was 1%, but I still wanted to continue skate. Nikolay Aleksandrovich and I staged interesting programs, got to the European Championship. He supported me in every way so I would not return to that depressed state. I'm just really glad that I got out of this, it was important.

Q: During your career, you managed to work with at least three coaches: Alla Pyatova, Nikolay Morozov and Yevgeniy Rukavitsyn. Maybe I forgot someone. What did each of them give you?
A: There was also my very first coach, Marina Vladimirovna Vakhrameyeva. She put me on my skates, and this is the most important thing!

Now we have girls jumping triple Axels at 10 years of age, and I honestly say, at 8 I could not even do a single (laughs). There was never any talk of doubles. At 10, something like this began to appear. Just at 10-11 years, I got to Alla Yakovlevna.

She led me through my whole junior period and helped to reach the senior level. All the jumps that I have now were taught by her. It is clear that there were some roughnesses in the technique that were later adjusted, but she laid the foundation.

Nikolay Alexandrovich is simply a wonderful director. I am grateful to him for the support he provided me all this time. And one more moment ... He kept saying this one skater was asking for him, but he didn’t want to take anyone, because he has me and he doesn’t want to push me with anyone. I was the only girl in the group, so all attention was directed to me. It was very nice. Although, when Miki Ando arrived, we trained with her on the same ice, and it was cool to skate together with a champion.

Yevgeniy Vladimirovich sheltered me. I returned to Sankt Peterburg and did not know where to go. The only option in my head was to go to Rukavitsyn. He took me almost immediately, without thinking twice. I also had very good results with him, and the wonderful programs were staged for me by Olga Glinka and Valentin Molotov. But the greatest merit of Yevgeniy Vladimirovich is that he believed in me. So far. It is very important that they believe in you, love you and appreciate you as an athlete.

Q: This is especially valuable when you have such a long way to go.
A: Yes, especially knowing how much I have already gone through and what my character is. Now he is much better than when I first came to the Yevgeniy Vladimirovich's group. At first they kept me in black gloves (smiles).

Q: What distinguishes the training process in the group of Rukavitsyn?
A: He taught me to work for real. For me, skating in training was something from the realm of fantasy. Now, when they say “skate!” I calmly get up and do it. Six minutes of skating is good. Sliding is good. Everything is in order. Yevgeniy Vladimirovich taught us not to be afraid of this and to skate, and skate, skate doing a large number of repetitions ...

Q: From the side it seems that the choreographer, Olga Germanovna Glinka plays a special role in your group ...
A: Olga Germanovna is the sun of our group, its heart. Everyone loves her very much. She enters the ice and immediately illuminates everything around with her rays. She is insanely kind, insanely talented. Always supportive. You can contact her at any moment, and she will help as much she can. I don’t know what we would all do without her.

Olga Germanovna has brilliant performances. She will find an approach to everyone and choose exactly what she needs. She never repeats herself, doesn’t stage similar programs, doesn’t really like to take someone’s music. Sometimes it happens, I say that I liked the melody that someone played recently, and she replies: “Well, why? They’ve already skated under it, let's find something else.” She always has some options. With me, from the very beginning, it went wrong with Chaplin, so we never went through with that image. Always hit one hundred percent.

Q: How did Olga Germanovna influence you?
A: She always knows how to find the right words. I can say that sometimes she can be tough, when needed. In the future, when, perhaps, I will work as a trainer, I will also use this approach. Sometimes you need to specifically say something like that in order to spur on. Olga Germanovna does this very well.

Q: We have so smoothly moved on to the topic of choreography. You have always had very different programs: from Vivaldi's Seasons to Pirates of the Caribbean. Nevertheless, which direction is closer to you: lyrical or funny?
A: Something funny and comical - one hundred percent.

Sometimes I rush into adventures, stage something tragic. Last year, we took a great risk with the short program, but in the end everyone was so delighted with it (under the nocturne “Separation” by composer MI Glinka). My husband (Anton Shulepov) always has goose bumps from this program. He even refuses to watch it.

But something fun is still closer to me. I like to smile before starting. I can’t go out with a smile on a tragic program. There you need to suffer a little, instead of to smile. And I want to light up from the very beginning.

Q: Do you have a favourite program amongst all?
A: I think my opinion will coincide with the opinion of many that the most memorable are the Pirates of the Caribbean and Chaplin. These two images are the most beloved.

Q: Do you have a favourite dress? Sometimes it happens that skaters find their own style, and from time to time have sewn costumes to it. Your dresses are always so different from each other and always exactly fit the image.
A: It's probably the costume for the image of Harley Queen from Suicide Squad. We did everything exactly like in the film: inscriptions, even makeup and hairstyle. We took great risks, because both the judges and the audience haven't seen the film could perhaps not understand the idea.

In general, I like to skate in pants better. Last year, the Zorro jumpsuit was beautiful. I really like the new red dress for my free program. We did it in three days, also without Olga Germanovna. She left with Makar (Ignatov) for a competition, saw the dress only in disassembled form and couldn't even imagine what happened in the end.

I originally wanted a black dress, but Olga Germanovna and Valentin Nikolayevich said that it was gloomy. We decided we needed it to be red. At first, the girls from the studio of Mariya Evstigneyeva did not want to sew it, because for them this is the fifth red dress this season (laughs). But the client’s word is the law! What to do if this is so necessary for the image? As a result, the dress turned out to be very simple, elegant, but with a twist.

Q: Skaters are often asked about what else they would like to skate to, what image to embody. I’ll ask the opposite question: what music is taboo for you, you know that you'll never take it?
A: "Swan Lake". Which swan am I? I do not like boring, hackneyed programs. I want to surprise, not to repeat. For example, both I and Adelina Sotnikova had “Carmen” in the Olympic year. Adeline with this program won gold in Sochi, it's a story! Last year, Alina Zagitova won using Carmen. Why take music that has already sounded so loud on ice is a little incomprehensible to me.

Many more like to choose slow, boring compositions for exhibition performances. But this is indicative! There you can do anything you like, even skate like a sausage and climb into the stands. There are very few who really stand out in gala's and come up with something unusual.

Q: When viewing your programs, you never get the feeling that you are focused only on the elements and skate from jump to jump. It is always a mini-performance. How to achieve such a pitch?
A: In fact, your words are a discovery for me. I always have the feeling that I am letting loose only near the end of the program, when everything has already been jumped. I probably distract myself in this way. It's better to work towards pleasing the audience than thinking about the jump itself at the time of jumping.

Q: With the advent of quadruple jumps in women's figure skating, there is a risk of a sway in the direction of tech. Do you think it is possible to find a balance between high technical components and expressiveness? And how to achieve this?
A: So far, I saw this combination only with Anna Shcherbakova. Of course, Aleksandra Trusova is great and all, her jumps are wonderful, but so far she is skating from jump to jump, especially in the first half. Quad jumps require a high concentration, they are very energy consuming. Three of those ... I can imagine how much power they take. Sasha, I think, still has so much ahead of her. She still needs to gain confidence in order to show more artistic programs.

I am glad that since last season only three jumps in the second half of the free program have an increased reward. I think this is for the best: the program should look like a program, not sliding at the beginning and athletics at the end.

Balance can always be found. Liza Tuktamysheva, although she has no quads, now has two triksels in her free program. In this case, the program looks very good. It is clear that she becomes more relaxed and begins to light up towards the end, when the most complex have all been jumped. But there is no sensation that Lisa is fixated on jumping: she learned to abstract and let go of herself. I hope that she will continue to be fine.

Q: How would you like to see female figure skating in 5 years?
A: First of all, I want to avoid injuries. So that in five years we will see the girls who are now just entering senior level, with their quadruple jumps and preferably on a pedestal.

Q: Alyona, you often had experiments with images not only on ice, but also in life. You often changed something in your appearance. So, are you open to everything new and to changes?
A: Yes, I am always for everything new. I think this opens a second wind.

Q: Girls sometimes tell, for them a new hairstyle is like the beginning of a new life. Have you ever had such thoughts?
A: Probably not. When I change my hair, I start to like myself more, my mood rises, and I skate better.

Q: We are used to the fact that you are a firecracker on ice. And in life?
A: In life, I am very cheerful, sociable, open and kind.

(Alyona expressively looks at her husband, Anton Shulepov, and asks for help with an answer, since from the outside - he knows better).

Anton: Same as on ice (smiles). In fact, Alyona is different, like all people. She just has all her emotions manifested much brighter.

It's true. When I cry, it is as if someone died, when I have fun, then with all my heart. I am a very emotional person. Everything in our family is like that. Only my sister is calmer and more creative, when my brother and I grief, we grief, if we'r in joy, then to the fullest.

Q: The photographs you share on social networks give the impression that you and your husband love adventures and an active lifestyle. How do you like to spend your free minutes?
A:There is very little free time, on weekends I often do not want to do anything. It happens that little children from our group ask me for trolleys. And if you took them, then you can say there is no day off already.

When some interesting event occurs, we are sure to get out. I am really looking forward to the Joker movie. As soon as it is released, let's go to the cinema right away. I also love shopping, but there isn't always time. My husband gets tired with me when I want to walk, he doesn’t like it, but walking alone is boring for me. Of course, we find some kind of entertainment, not only sports, sports, and again sports.

Q: Do you like extreme entertainment?
A: In general, I don’t really like extreme sports. It’s scary, especially now.

Anton and I once went to Greece on holiday. It was our first vacation together. Two days before departure, I fell off my bike, broke my finger, cut my chin. The whole looked like a scene from a movie.

I started that season very cool: I came to the training camp in a cast. In the end, everything worked out well, but scars and impressions remain for life. Therefore, I am not riding a bike again.

Q: This spring there was this big and bright event in your life: your wedding. How do you feel as a wife?
A: My feelings are the same as before. Nothing has changed dramatically: we'd lived together for several years already. My husband said he began to love me even more, it's nice. And for him I always want to do something good.

Q: By the way, there was a video from your wedding in which you said that you were learning a triple Axel. It's true?
A: I tried, I can’t say that I learned it very hard. Even when I skated with Nikolai Morozov, I did it once in my life for a trip. For me it was a shock.

And then ... Just because in the offseason there is nothing special to do. Usually it turns out that when all the competitions have ended, you start to skate even better than during the season, and do those things that you never did. Therefore, we decided to jump, spin, spin, experiment, to see what I can do. It is clear that it takes a year, maybe even more, to really learn this jump. But at the same time, one must not forget other elements, skate programs, run them through, so there is no time for triksels!

Q: Are you planning to increase your difficulty somehow?
A: I think not. For now, I need to run through with what I have. Since there is an opportunity to receive+5 for an element, you must use it. With my components this should be enough.

Q: Do you have any dreams about what else you'd like to do in figure skating?
A: I live today. I really want to show my programs of this season not only in Sankt Peterburg, but also in the world. To do this, you need to go somewhere. I hope this chance comes up.

Q: What do you think, how much more will you please us on ice?
A: Until the fantasy ends. I skate for the audience, for family and friends and do it with my soul. It doesn't matter where exactly. Despite the fact that I haven't been in the top for a long time, people love me and are waiting for me, and this is nice.

Author: Yuliya Gladkikh
-----
https://www.sports.ru/tribuna/blogs/figure_skating_chatting/2588721.html
 
Azikin

Azikin

Medalist
Joined
Jan 12, 2018
Great interview! I agree of her assessment of Scherbakova and Trusova.. ;)

I'm really looking forward to see her Riverdance program.. I missed the live and the only record I found on Youtube is totally crappy, besides it wasn't her best performance,
so I hope she will show us a clean SP next time.. ;)
 
Azikin

Azikin

Medalist
Joined
Jan 12, 2018
flanker said:
I don't wanna argue, but this track is called "Warriors" and was composed by Ronan Hardinan exclusively for LOTD.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI7SCmBIpkg

Music for Riverdance was composed by Bill Whelan.
Click to expand...

Interesting, in the interview she also mentions "Riverdance".. maybe it means rather the style of dancing than the show? Or it was incorrectly translated maybe, well that's not that important, I hope that she wins today! Starts in an hour... :cheer:
 
Edwin

Edwin

СделаноВХрустальном!
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 5, 2019
Again in her latest interviews Leonova is rather dismissive of the progress brought into FS by #TeamTurberidzeForProgress.

Perhaps she is stuck in the 'olden times'?

Anyway, good to see her 'old style' of skating still is valued and competitive.
 
C

crimsongold28002

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 15, 2019
Azikin said:
Interesting, in the interview she also mentions "Riverdance".. maybe it means rather the style of dancing than the show? Or it was incorrectly translated maybe, well that's not that important, I hope that she wins today! Starts in an hour... :cheer:
Click to expand...

Her short program music seems to be a combination of "Warriors" and "Reel Around the Sun" (which is from the Riverdance show).
 
Last edited:
Azikin

Azikin

Medalist
Joined
Jan 12, 2018
crimsongold28002 said:
Her short program music seems to be a combination of "Warriors" and "Reel Around the Sun" (which is from the Riverdance show).
Click to expand...

That would explain my confusion, I thought I didn't recognize some of the music but some was definitely Riverdance.. ;)
 
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