Skating in Sweden – one on one with Kristoffer Berntsson
Text
by Magdalena
Osborne
Photos © EMJO
What are your plans for the summer?
First there were three weeks of training in Gothenburg with
my coach Andrea Dohany. We got three hours of ice time per
day. Next I’ll go to Flims (Switzerland) to train with
Viktor Kudriavtsev.
Is there anything in particular you will work on
with Viktor?
No, that’s not how it works. I have trained with him
for years now, and all my life with Andrea. I know what they
want and they say the same things, they only word it differently.
And that’s good, because sometimes that helps me catch
new little bits and pieces here and there. I also like the
fact that Viktor attracts good students to his camps. Training
with a good coach and other good skaters is a great environment
to be in.
You train a lot in Russia, have you ever considered
going somewhere else, like to the US?
I’ve actually been to the US a couple of times already.
But I’ve found a coach and training conditions that
work for me, so as long as Viktor is in Russia and I can train
with him and other top skaters, I’ll continue going
there.
When you train in your club in Landvetter, do you
have the ice all to yourself?
A few times a week I do, and the rest of the time I practice
together with other club members. Being on your own all the
time would get terribly boring!
Do you and Filip Stiller ever train together?
Not on the ice since we skate in different clubs, but we do
some off ice training together. And we just spent a few days
vacationing in New York.
And what kind of off ice training do you do?
Besides the gym, I dance. I train with Zerjon, sure, but not
only.
What does your fall line-up look like?
The Swedish Figure Skating Association and I have decided
that I will participate in the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf,
and at the Golden Spin in Zagreb. I also got 2 Grand prix
assignments, Skate America and Cup of Russia. I was very excited
to get 2 events, and I’ve never been to St. Petersburg!
It’s the Olympic season, how will that affect
your programs?
Well, it gets harder and harder every year to choose programs
and style. Each year I progress and get a little better and
I try to reach as far as I can. It has worked so far, but
now everyone expects me to come up with something really cool,
and that’s not so easy. It’ll be a lot of hard
work!
In the past two seasons, your short programs have
been choreographed by a Gothenburg dancer, Zerjon Abebe. Audiences
and judges alike have really appreciated this bold style of
music and moves. Will you keep working with him?
I do some off-ice dance training with Zerjon, and it’s
exciting to work with him, because he’s like from a
totally different world. He has also helped other club members.
For this coming season we will again work together on my short
program.
And the long?
I have already spent a few days in the US with Igor Bobrin,
and we put my free program together.
How do you go about creating
a new program? |
 |
You cut the music yourself!
Yeah, it has turned out that way. I have helped Team Surprise
and a few of the club members. It’s pretty convenient
to have someone nearby who can fix those kind of things. But
it’s a process, first you pick the music and make a
rough cut and practice the program. Then you may have to change
a few parts, and cut the music again until it sounds perfect.
And if it still doesn’t sound perfect you might have
to find a pro to do it; last year I had to do that. But finding
all the right bits of the music and deciding how long they
should be and in what order, that takes a long time, it can
be weeks! But since I’m interested in electronics, I
enjoy doing it.
Did you attend the World Synchronized Skating Championships
2005 in Gothenburg?
Yes, sure, of course! I skated in the opening ceremonies,
it was great! Filip and I skated together and Niklas and Angelika
were there too. (Hogner/Pylkina is a successful Swedish junior
pair). Then we skated together with about 40 of the synchro
skaters. There were lots of people there to watch, including
some from the ISU, and they were very impressed.
It was a great event. Team Surprise lost the gold last year,
but now they had trained very hard and they won it back by
a mile.
Andrea Dohany with the winning Team Surprise
Sweden is on the skating map again, and through your
results at Worlds, Lina Johansson and you have qualified to
compete at the Olympics!
Well, maybe. Nothing is for certain yet, and the Swedish Olympic
Committee has its own rules. The committee members want us
to be in the top 8 in the world. Their reasoning is that the
team they send to Torino goes there to medal. You go, compete
and do your best, and go home. You can’t stay and watch
anything else, and most athletes don’t even attend the
opening ceremonies, or the closing. The committee is very
focused on medals. They spend a lot of money on potential
athletes who can medal for Sweden, that’s their goal.
They have no interest in supporting Swedish figure skating
as a sport, and if they find a promising curling team they
will spend as much money helping them become potential medalists.
That’s why they’ve put so much into me and Lina
over the last few years; we have really received a lot of
support from them. In May I attended the Olympic camp in Stockholm,
and the potential Swedish team for Torino was there. It was
fun, and I had a good feeling about getting to go. I didn’t
get to compete in Salt Lake City in 2002, but that season
I placed 21st at Europeans. There’s a slight difference
between that and finishing 14th at Worlds... But nothing is
official yet and we will find out more this fall. The committee
wants some results from the Grand prix events, and the competition
there is really top notch, but by December Lina and I should
know for certain if we are going to Torino.
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What will you do after the Olympics? |
Good point. How much longer do you think you’ll
keep skating?
I’ll continue as long as it goes well and I enjoy it.
I’m still making progress and it’s fun, I love
it. Right now I think I’ll continue for many more years,
especially if Gothenburg gets Worlds in 2008. Helsinki has
also bid, but they had in not long ago (in 1999), and London
has also had it (in 1995) so it’s our turn now! We’re
getting a lot of support from Gothenburg and Company, which
is a bunch of businesses here trying to attract events to
the area. They sponsor the Swedish Figure Skating Association
in trying to prepare elite skaters. We have high hopes for
this! The Swedes are excellent at organizing events. Europeans
in Malmö in 2003 was a big success, as was Synchro Worlds.
And it would be so much fun to throw out the hockey teams
from the Scandinavium arena for a week. You don’t treat
hockey like that in Sweden, so it would really show how big
figure skating is getting.
And some off ice questions to
finish up; how’s school coming? |
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Have you completed the military service?
No, I got out of it, my health was too poor. *Big grin*
Really, it’s true! Many guys are rejected for “poor
health”, it can be anything; allergies, poor vision,
back problems... I guess I got lucky, they didn’t want
me! Too bad, I so wanted to do it... not!
There’s certainly nothing wrong with his sense of
humor! Talking to Kristoffer is always a delight and this
reporter wishes him a lot of success in training for the upcoming
season and in making the Olympic team.
