Natalie Taschlerova & Filip Taschler on The Future of Figure Skating podcast
talking about their season - Denis Ten in the fall was their first Challenger gold medal - that feels a little surprising considering how good they are. then a little disappointed at how Europeans and Worlds went. that they wanted to show how they can do it in practice (it's true they made some errors and had level issues in the RD, but they were getting PCS in the 7s at Worlds without errors in the FD, so what gives, judges? 🤔). says they're going in a totally different and new direction for the Olympic season with their FD. that they started working with an acting coach before Worlds and want to keep exploring the artistic aspect more
said last Olympics were beautiful - made life memories, but they were babies then, didn't know many of the other teams, and now they have more skating friends, it's going to be in Europe, without covid, so they're expecting it to be more heartwarming, with more support from the audience - said tickets for figure skating in Milan are selling fast, but their mom got her tickets which is what matters to them (the athletes's families have to buy with the regular public?). excited about a home Worlds (a home bonus for once for them and the Mrazeks maybe)
on speaking out - about body image biases and expectations in skating and how damaging those can be. how they've struggled with self worth and anxiety but now have a good mental health team around them
ok, when she said this, 💔😞"it was important for me to start accepting that i really cannot please everyone, and i really cannot get everyone to like our skating, to like me, to like my body" - it's such a vulnerable thing to say, and it breaks my heart that she has to think like this. she says she didn't get ugly comments this season but saw a youtube reel making fun of her weight - when she describes it, it's awful. the people projecting their own distorted body image issues on the skaters need to love themselves more and leave them alone
she says she wants to help girls, especially younger ones - to inspire and give them the courage that no matter what body type you have you can still skate and achieve
a good interview- there's a lot more about finding a balance with social media. about how they've been talking with other teams about how they miss the ballroom aspect of ice dance after 3 years of this decades theme (pls revolt😅). also how the direction ice dance is going might be pushing away fans who want to see more of the skating and ballroom and not just "party in the club," as he put it. though diplomatically they say they like some of the changes and how hard it must be to be the committee leading all this. talked in some detail about their acrobatic lifts - the split lift they were doing was hard on Natalie - they have a new lift coach who they think will help them. some good points about how the way programs are made to be aimed at the judges like in the ChSt isn't necessarily advantageous to a team of their power and speed. this was nice-- at Worlds, the ISU had a calm zone room for mental health for the skaters - they had therapy dogs! and art therapists, counselors to talk to, maybe group sessions where skaters spoke? that's such a great idea. and they end talking about some of their goals. worth a listen
