Alexei Mishin
Training camp in Mittenwald, Germany, July/August 2008

Q: How did you end up in Mittenwald?
Mishin: One of my skating pupils, Anna Hofmann is from Austria, from Innsbruck. Her parents recommended me to choose Mittenwald for a training camp. It’s a very good atmosphere, very friendly staff, very friendly officials. These were the reasons why I agreed to take part in Mittenwald. We have excellent conditions here. And the main reason is, that we have, compared to other places like Hackensack in New Jersey, we have here completely fresh air. We are skating 1000 m above sea level. For me, the coach this is like a recreational area. I spend seven, eight hours a day (on the ice), I’m walking on fresh air. For the skaters also, it’s good for the health.
Q: How are your students progressing in practice?
Mishin: This competitive season will answer this question. Here I put all my best skaters such as Pluschenko, Lutaj, Artur Gatchinskij, Artur Dmitriev (jr), Katja Gerboldt, Lisa Tuchtamysheva and Mascha Staviskaja. All are skating here.
Q: What do you think about the changes of the rules?
Mishin: We need some changes in the rules, and some of them are good, for example one spin less in the free skating in senior and one step sequence less for the juniors. These are good changes, because we need time, we have to do so complicated spins, one spin sometimes take around 40 seconds. Even if you have three spins in the program you are able to show if you are good in the spins or not good. For example, the higher value for the triple Axel is not enough, because the quad or triple Axel is much, much more complicated than 7.5. For example, toeloop will bring us 8 points and Axel the same. This is something I completely disagree with. This is not good. About higher deductions for errors on these jumps, I also don’t agree, because this rule stops the progress. Nobody likes to take a risk. This is my private opinion. But I will follow the rules which ISU sent us, but I don’t think these are the best changes. I think the value of the quad and triple Axel should be much higher. It will stimulate progress in the jumps. Now we are much behind the generation of Timothy Goebel, Evgenij Pluschenko, Alexej Jagudin, Michael Weiss.
Q: Thank you for the interview and all the best for the season.