Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat, the current French national champions, have come back to their Moscow training base after their impressive showing at the European Championships. The duo was of course disappointed to miss their first European medal by a narrow 0.36 points. They were ecstatic, however, to skate three perfect programs and win second place for their "Circus" free dance. Pechalat took the time to talk about their new training methods and give her thoughts to icenetwork.com, just one month before the 2009 World Championships.
How do you feel about your showing in Helsinki?
Really good. We had reviewed our choreography before and after skating at nationals. We wanted to polish our style again with our choreographers. Then, we spent lots of time working on our technical elements, so we were really ready. Actually, we feel we are building up: our season started rather low at Skate Canada [where the duo finished in a disappointing third place], then at NHK Trophy [where they won the silver medal], and now in Helsinki.
This was your first experience with your new coaches at an ISU championship. How did it go?
Excellent. Our coaches, Sasha Zhulin and Oleg Volkov, are very tough, yet they are also quite positive, and they give us trust and assurance. When we arrived at the competition, we felt that we had coaches who were there for us and were really ready to support us. They are available each time we needed them, and at the same time, they leave us space when we need to concentrate or reflect after a performance.
What about your programs?
They went really well. So many people came to us to thank us for our programs. Many coaches, skaters, fans, ISU officials came to congratulate us -- even some Italian spectators came to us. It was wonderful! Of course, it is rather frustrating to miss a medal. At times, we have the feeling that we just passed by something bigger. Yet we really did our job in Helsinki, which is important.
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