Once you land a jump, you put it straight in the program. That's the way I've always been doing it.
Ever since I was a younger skater, I've been working my way to these big jumps.
I do a variety of activities like Pilates, bike riding, physical therapy, and running. I also train on the ice five to six days a week. On the ice, I work on my programs as a whole and the individual technical elements that comprise the programs.
I have great artistry, I can spin well, I have good footwork, and I can jump. I can do the quad jump, and I've done it multiple times in competition. It's definitely a jump that I have in my arsenal. I like to think of myself as the complete skater.
Very good coaches for ski jumpers stand at the top of the slope and watch the jumpers prepare, rather than standing at the bottom and watching them land.
1988 Olympic Champion Brian Boitano was famous for doing a Lutz with one arm over his head. And I wanted to build on that.
I've been working on it a lot, trying to find the artistic balance, trying to find purpose in my movement combined with the jumps.
I can do all my jumps in practice, three in a row, five out of five, four out of five.
Triples are hard. Triple axel is just not my jump. Quads are really my thing.
My weaknesses are my jumps. The reason is that although I land them in practice, when I actually compete or perform, I should let my body go and stabilize my mind better. Also, I need to work on not letting negative thoughts and emotions get to me on the ice.
