Alban Preaubert is wonderful French skater, who has his own style and to watch his programs is always interesting. Many have asked about him. So here you can read my interview with Alban.

V: When did you start to skate?

A: I began figure skating when I was 6.

V: What is your schedule every day? It must be difficult to study in University and to skate at the same time...

A: I go to school every day between 8:00 and 12:00. I study in a business school in Paris.

Then I take the subway to go to the rink in Champagne, and I skate one hour between 13:00 and 14:00. After I do some homework at the rink, and I skate again between 16:30 and 18:30. Sometimes, I go back studying to my school till 20:00. I am back at home at 20:30. I have busy days, but it is interesting.

V: Tell some words about team with whom do you work (coach, choreographer). Do you always train in France or sometimes you go to other countries as well?

A: I train with Annick Dumont in Champagne, neighborhood of Paris. I began to work with her in September 2005. It is very pleasant to train with her and her team. We have other coaches in Champagne, who helped them, Pierre Trente, Thierry Gasc, Alain Fusco and sometimes Frederic Dambier. They work together in a very good mood, and that is great to skate in a team showing happiness. It helps me motivating. They are all good technicians and they have a lot of experience of the high-level, so I can really trust them. And there also some other good skaters in Champagne, so there is a positive emulation.

My choreographer is Nikolai Morozov, I go to Connecticut, USA three or four weeks a year to create my programs. Nikolai helped me to find an original style and I like his way to try developing my artistry.

I also want to honor Elena Issatchenko, I began figure skating with her in 1991 and I was still training with her during holidays last season. She was my first coach and she was like my second mom. Unfortunately, she died in September 2006. But I owe her all and I never will forget her. She was a marvellous person.

V: Are you always nervous before competitions?

A: Of course I am nervous. I think all skaters are nervous because we work hard all the season and that's why we don't want to do mistakes. But I try to relativize and so, when I began to be nervous before a competition, I just think how lucky I am to be able to compete, to be healthy and that figure skating is just a game and a pleasure. That's also why I want to continue to study, so I don't have too much pressure on my results in figure skating and I can skate quiet, serene and so enjoy still more figure skating.

V: What do you think about ECH in Poland this year?

A: It was a pleasant competition, we had fun in Warsaw, we have a friendly French team in Warsaw and that was great. Honestly, I was maybe expecting a better result, I would love to improve my 6th place of 2006. But, unfortunately, my short program was not good, it is not a difficult program for me and I was really disappointed to do such stupid mistakes in this short program. I lost a lot of points there and I think that with a clean short program, I could maybe medal. My free program was much better. I was really happy to land my first quadruple in competition. I had nothing to lose after the short program and so, I tried it and it was a really good attempt. So, I was proud of my reaction in the free program. But my levels in spins and steps were not as good as usual and my triple-triple combination was downgraded so my technical merit was lower than what I expected.  Finally, it was not a bad competition for me, it gave me confidence for the future thanks to the quad, and I will come back at Europeans next year aiming a better result.

V: Do you have any special interest( hobbies), which you do, when you have free time?

A: I enjoy watching movies, listening music, doing other sports, or going to the restaurant with my friends.

V: Your favorite city or place , where you would like to go in the future?

A: I would love to live and work in New York. I went there 3 times, and it is an amazing city, I really enjoy it.

V: What kind of music do you listen to?

A: I love hip hop, but I also like rock music. But my tastes are very eclectic, I like Portishead, Radiohead, Kanye West, Dr Dre, Damien Rice, Nirvana....

V: As my site called Scandinavian figure skating, tell please some words what do you think about Swedish skaters? Maybe concerning this ECH in Warsaw.

A: I know some Swedish skaters. I really like Kristoffer Berntsson's style. He always has some very interesting and original programs. I particularly enjoyed his short program he used one or two years ago on "she wants to move" by NERD. His free program this year on Saturday Night Fever was entertaining too. I also competed with Adrian Schulteiss, I know his coach because he was training in France before. Adrian is young and talented. I also competed with Filip Stiller and he was very consistent.

About the ladies, when I was junior, I remember that Lina Johansson was winning almost everything. I know she was injured then but she seems coming back now. She has a lot of energy, and I am sure she will be back to the top very soon. But another Swedish girl, Nylander was at Worlds last year and she did very well too.

I was surprised not to see Pylkina/Hogner at Europeans. I suppose they are injured, I hope they will recover soon because they have very good skating skills.

V: Do you already know, what will you do after finishing skating?

A: I don't really know, it will be difficult not to be involved anymore in this sport because I really love this sport. But, I also study to be able to do something else. I would dream to create a daily newspaper about sports. If not, I would love to organize some cultural or sport events, and so maybe organize some figure skating competitions or shows. 

V: What kind of sports do you like except figure skating?

I like almost every sport. I used to play tennis, basket, golf, judo in club and I loved all these sports but I didn't have enough time to continue. But, during the weekend, I often practise these sports with my friends. I also often go to the swimming pool, and often do jogging.

V: What is the most important thing in the life in your opinion?

A: It is just to be healthy and happy whatever.