On Friday, four members of Eteri Tutberidze’s team at Khrustalny – Anna Shcherbakova, Kamila Valieva, Alena Kostornaia, and Maiia Khromykh – appeared on the popular Russian late night talk show Vecherniy Urgant (English: Evening Urgant).
Vecherniy Urgant is hosted by Ivan Urgant and is similar in style to American late night talk shows – inspired by the likes of David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon. It airs on Russia’s Channel One and simultaneously streams live on YouTube.
Interview translated to English; video below:
Urgant: There are several news about all of you that are not directly related to figure skating but are related to you. Anya, you jumped with a parachute (audience applause)… while being the hope of the Russian national parachuting team, I want to know how this happens? How does the coaching staff react to this?
Shcherbakova: There is such a story: when Daniil Markovich (Gleikhengauz) found out that I would be in Dubai, he advised what you could do there and at the end he jokingly added: “The main thing is, don’t jump with a parachute.”
Urgant: He laughed and hung up?
Shcherbakova: Yes, that’s how it was (laughs). After that, he said: “I go to Instagram and there is Anya – “Hello everyone, today I will be jumping with a parachute.” But I chose the absolutely safest option – I jumped with an instructor who did everything for me, I just flew.
Urgant: Was it scary?
Shcherbakova: It was thrilling. During the anticipation of the jump when we flew in the airplane and there was a hole in the middle of the plane – it was a little scary. But at the moment of the jump, in general what I was waiting for, I really liked it.
Urgant: Did you want to do some kind of toe loop at the time of the jump?
Shcherbakova: Well, this is my goal for next time (laughs).
Urgant: Well, that was an extreme from Anya. Kamila, a question for you. They say that Kamila drives karts in her free time. This is also dangerous!
Valieva: It is dangerous but I do it very carefully.
Urgant: How fast?
Kostornaia: (whispers) 110.
Valieva: I honestly don’t know.
Urgant: Because there is no speedometer in the kart?
Valieva: Yes, it’s a nightmare (smiles). Maiia and I even went karting on the evening before the short program.
Urgant: Scary?
Khromykh: 11 horsepower.
Valieva: 11 horsepower, yes (laughs).
Urgant: 11 horsepower per second, that’s fast. Kamila, you don’t drive alone, someone can drive into you on the kart – here, Maiia can drive into you. Especially since you have performances soon, Maiia can do it on purpose.
Shcherbakova and Kostornaia: Maiia can!
Urgant: Maiia will say: “Oh, Kamila!” Well, isn’t that scary?
Valieva: No, on the contrary, I like it.
Urgant: Maiia, could you tell us about the phrase that became a meme. “Maiia can” – right?
Khromykh: Yes. When I learned the quadruple jump, Eteri Georgievna put it in the group and wrote #МайяМожет (English: #MaiiaCan). And in the Final of the Cup of Russia, I landed two quadruple jumps for the first time, got off the ice, and she said: “Maiia can.” After that, everyone picked it up (smiles).
Urgant: Alena, I want to ask you a question. They say that Alena began to gradually become covered with tattoos. Tell me, what suddenly happened that you, a darling as they say, went under the needle?
Kostornaia: (hit her knee with her hand and put it on her chest) Life has ended (audience laughs).
Urgant: Well?
Kostornaia: Well, I wanted to get a small one for a very long time. Then it kept on increasing (laughs).
Urgant: And that always happens, as Timati says!
Kostornaia: You try once and you can’t stop, well, it’s a nightmare.
Urgant: Coaching staff? I understand that they cannot say “no” because there is no such law, this is your own business. But they can ask: “Okay, write ‘Eteri’ beautifully, write ‘Thanks to Daniil Markovich’.”
Kostornaia: Probably, I have not yet reached the level to write such. Because figure skating will pass but this is for life. They remind me of difficult times, of overcoming myself.
Urgant: So you have a “Maiia can” tattoo?
Kostornaia: No (laughs).
After the interview segment, the figure skaters played the game “Take it here, throw it there.” Host Ivan Urgant and co-host Dmitriy Khrustalyov played against them. The objective was to quickly throw soft toys to each other – the losers were the ones with more toys on their side. Shcherbakova, Valieva, Kostornaia, and Khromykh won 21-14.
The Skating Times 