V: First question is usual, how did you start to skate?

A: I have older brother and sister. At first she started to skate, and then my brother started to skate. He was very talented. But in Belgorod, where I lived, we had problem with ice and the level of figure skating was not high. I started to skate, when I was 6 years old. My sister was already coach at that time.  She was my coach until 12 years old. But as I said, the level of figure skating in Belgorod was not good enough. I moved to Samara. My sister was in Moscow, she talked with Mishin and asked, if I can skate with him. I came to Saint-Petersburg for 3 days, skated in the ice-rink and Alexei Mishin said, that he will coach me and help me with studies and place for living, so I moved to Petersburg. I’ve been living here for 7 years.

Except Mishin, I train with his wife. If to talk about this season, the choreographer of my short program is Vahtang Murvanidze ( Skater from Georgia, but now he works in USA). The choreographer of my free program is Edvard Smirnov. I worked with me before as well.

V: Is it any time for you to study?

A: Yeah, I study second year in University, sport department. I’m part-time student.

V: Figure skating is more like job for you or it’s hobby?

A: It’s not even job for me, it takes almost all my time, so I can say, that figure skating is my life.

V: Do you remember your best competition?

A:  I really liked how I skated my short program at Russian Nationals and ECH 2007 in Warsaw. I skated not so successfully at Worlds  in Japan. I was not in good shape, I guess I was pretty tired after such season.

V: Can friendship exist in figure skating between rivals in your opinion?

A: I have some friends, but they are not so close. Maybe because we all live in different cities. When it’s some competition I really have good contacts with some skaters. But we don’t see each other very often.

V: Who is your favorite skater?

A: I don’t have one favorite skater. I like jumps of one skater, spins of another skater and so on. For example, I like Plushenko’s jumps, Lambiel’s spins.

V: Are you nervous before competition?

A: Usually I’m pretty calm, I did not feel worry before ECH and other competitions, but before Worlds 2007 I was a bit nervous, maybe because I understood that I was not in great shape.

V: Can you mention some young talented skaters in Russia?

A: I would say I like skating of Gordey Gorshkov. He is 14 or 15 years old. He does not jump triple axel yet, but I like how he does jumps and everything.

V: Could you tell me your opinion about Swedish skaters?

A: I competed few times with Kristoffer Berntsson. I can say that he is original skater, he has original programs. I was in Sweden 2 times at training camps. It was 5 years ago. I know skater Adrian Schultheiss, he is my friend. We were in summer camps few times together.

V: What do you do in your free time?

A: I don’t have much free time, especially last 5 months.  But I like to meet with my friends, have fun with them, go to club, earlier I liked to play computer games, now I play less. One of my hobbies is to drive car. I really like it.

V: what kind of music do you prefer?

A: I listen to different kinds of music. Mostly I listen to rap, I don’t like pop music. Sometimes I listen to R’n’b and rock. Mostly it’s music in Russian.

V: Do you have any features of character, which bother you to work?

A: Sometimes I feel that I’m tired and then I just need rest, I don’t want to train more. But I would not say I’m lazy. I train 24 hours per week.

V: Let’s talk about your favorite things. 

Color: white, dark, green
Drink: Juice
Food: Chinise, Japanise. Chicken with pine apple, sushi.
Movie: Comedy
Place in the world: Nice, Miami, just to rest there, not to live. Saint-Petersburg is the best city in the world.
Music: Rap, R’n’B
Dream: hard to say
Aim in figure skating: to be Olympic champion
The most important thing in life: health, family and success in everything.