“We have quarrels and disagreements, that’s normal. Two stubborn people met. Interview with figure skaters Chikmareva and Yanchenkov

Before the start of the 2023/24 season Chikmareva And Yanchenkov entered the main team of the Russian national team and four months later they won bronze at the national championship. Summing up the results of the season, the Perm couple noted that preparation for the competitive year was chaotic, because first Matvey was injured, and then Katya.

In an interview with , Chikmareva and Yanchenkov talked about the struggle with the leaders of the national team, relationships within the duo and the accumulated fatigue from figure skating.

— What goals did you set for yourself at the start of the season and were you able to achieve them?

— Matthew: Demonstrate clean performance. This was not always possible. But we are satisfied with the season, because we managed to show our best team in the main competition.

— Kate: The preparation for the season was intense, not everything went well. But I’m happy that we managed to skate well at the Russian Championship.

— Are the difficulties linked to injuries?

— Matthew: Yes. First I was hurt; In May I had knee surgery. And when they began to prepare for the Grand Prix stages, they fell heavily in training – and Katya was injured.

— Did you take the first departure for moral and voluntary reasons?

— Kate: Probably yes. Preparing for the Kazan Grand Prix stage was difficult, not everything went well. But we decided to go to the tournament.

— At the Russian Championship, you won bronze medals. Did you have ambitions to climb higher or did you carefully evaluate the possibilities?

— There were definitely no more ambitions. But the Russian Championship was our best start to the season.

— Matthew: Maybe there was a chance to climb higher. In the free skate, we scored a good number of points. But Sasha Boykova with Dima Kozlovsky and Nastya Mishina with Sasha Gallyamov coped with their content.

— That is, at the moment you can overtake Boykova/Kozlovsky and Mishin/Gallyamov only if you have a clean performance and their mistakes?

– For now yes. But we are progressing, gaining more and more points. There is a lot of competition in couples. Yulia Artemyeva with Lesha Bryukhanov, Liza Osokina with Artem Gritsaenko and Natalya Khabibullina with Ilya Knyazhuk deserve to get on the podium.

— What differentiates your couple from others?

– We are smooth, soft. Personally, I like our short program. It seems to me that we get music that gains momentum towards the end.

— Your vacation is coming soon. What will you do?

— Kate: Let’s go warm up in the sun after so many months in the cold. My sister and I will be flying to Vietnam, I haven’t been there yet. We originally wanted to go to Thailand, but then we opted for Vietnam. I think we will take a walk around Phan Thiet and, of course, spend some time on the beach.

— Matthew: I will fly to Egypt. I was there a long time ago. I love beach holidays and Egypt is one of the best. Price and quality go well together.

— At the end of the season, do you feel psychologically tired from figure skating?

— Kate: Personally, I did. I won’t say that figure skating is really starting to annoy me, I just want to take a break.

— Matthew: I agree with Katya. You’re tired of doing the same job every day. I want to move on.

— After how many days do you start to miss sport?

— Two weeks without training is enough for me. I have no plans to go on vacation this year.

— Kate: On vacation, I live in the present moment, enjoy my vacation. Figure skating takes a back seat.

— What was your longest break from figure skating?

– I don’t remember more than a month. It was probably during the injury period.

—Matvey: Last offseason I didn’t skate for two months when I got injured. I was in the hospital, I was not allowed to do physical activity.

—Were you worried that your opponents were preparing for the season and you were in dire straits?

“I was afraid for the future, I was worried. But I’m glad Katya and I managed it. My loved ones, my coaches and Katya helped me recover.

Just then I had a girlfriend, she was supportive too. Everyone got out of the situation together.

— Do you read news about yourself on the Internet? Keep an eye on what fans and experts are saying?

— If we land on some major platforms, then I read. I follow the Telegram channel on figure skating. I saw that Tarasova was commenting on our performance at the Russian Championship.

— Tatiana Anatolyevna has spoken many words of praise to you. How do you react to such statements?

— It’s good that we are visible and that we don’t waste time in training. This means that our work produces the desired results.

—Do the praise of masters give you confidence?

– In any case, you approach each start with more confidence. After the Russian Championship, for example, we were less worried at Spartakiad.

— In general, do you worry a lot before competitions? Maybe there are special rituals before going on the ice?

— Kate: There are no particular rituals. The excitement is present, but not strong. The only start of the season where I was very worried because of the great responsibility was the Russian Championship.

— Did you see the problem Osokina and Gritsaenko had with a broken shoelace? Did this situation confuse you?

“I didn’t see what happened to Lisa and Artem.

— Matthew: I saw it. Of course, this came as a bit of a shock. My mom was in the stands and she immediately started texting me telling me to get some tape to tie my shoelaces in case something happened. This already happened to me during a tournament where a lace came untied during the program.

– What a great mom! Are your parents involved in your sporting life?

— Kate: Mine follow all the tournaments, support me, are always there morally and hang out with me in sport.

— Matthew: My mother is a figure skater, she trained me until a certain age. Naturally, he supports me.

At the Russian Championship there were mom, dad, aunt, uncle and two sisters. They invaded the entire podium! Everyone is sick and worried.

— Matvey, doesn’t mom interfere with the training process with advice?

“As soon as my mother assigned me to another coach, she stopped controlling the work of others. As a trainer, she understood that interfering in the activities of other specialists was unprofessional and ugly.

— In which city does mom work?

— In Yekaterinburg, he trains children of different levels and a synchronized team.

— Until what age did she study with you? Did you feel privileged in the group?

— I skated with my mother in a group until I was ten. I changed clothes in the trainer’s room, not in the locker room. Nothing else stood out. They trained me like everyone else. Maybe even harder. During training, he called his mother by her last name. She was the one who introduced me to figure skating.

— Did you continue to train at home?

— There have been enough training sessions in the arena, there have been debriefings at home. We lived in a small town. We skated on natural ice four months of the year. And in March, when it started to melt, they put on Bolognese pants so as not to get wet.

—What did you do when the ice completely melted?

“We waited for it to dry and went to practice on roller skates.” I knew how to jump a single axel on roller skates.

— Isn’t it dangerous to go rollerblading?

— Everything in life is traumatic. One way or another, we had to ride. They trained like this until they were nine years old. Then I moved to Yekaterinburg. I completed my basic training there and started doing double jumps, then triple jumps.

— Guys, how tall are you?

– Without this question, there is no way. Everyone always asks us this question.

-Kate: This is the first time I tell you my height – 166 cm Matvey – 180. We are comfortable with such a difference in height.

— We have already talked about the particularities of your relationship. What unites you? What is your union based on?

— We communicate a lot. During the training we discuss everything. For example, Matvey knows everything I did during the weekend.

It’s boring not to talk. I sometimes come after the weekend and throughout the training in the gym I tell you how my days went.

— Matvey, what quality in Katya annoys you?

— Matthew: It’s hard to say. It is clear that there are quarrels and disagreements, this is normal. We are both stubborn. Two stubborn people met.

– Katya, and you to Matvey?

— Katya: Matvey is angry. And I can call our common stubbornness both a plus and a minus.

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