One thing that hasn\u2019t changed over the years is Lu\/Mitrofanov\u2019s commitment to their on-ice goals. \u201cAs a team, we\u2019ve always gotten along pretty well,\u201d Mitrofanov stated. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve always been on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lu\/Mitrofanov have progressed steadily up the ranks since they teamed up. The duo won the 2018 Junior National pairs title and placed fifth that year at Junior Worlds. Last season, Lu\/Mitrofanov set new milestones as seniors by winning their first Grand Prix medal at 2020 Skate America and their first senior medal (pewter) at 2021 U.S. Nationals.<\/p>\n
This season, Lu\/Mitrofanov hope to put out consistent, solid programs to show their improvement as a team and help build their body of work. After starting their season with a sixth-place finish at Cranberry Cup, Lu\/Mitrofanov then won a bronze medal at the John Nicks Pairs Challenge in New York City, where they skated one of the best long programs of their career to date. The duo are now preparing for their upcoming Grand Prix events, NHK Trophy and Rostelecom Cup, as well as 2022 U.S. Nationals.<\/p>\n
Lu and Mitrofanov recently took some time to chat with Figure Skaters Online<\/i> about how they got started in skating, what they enjoy most about the sport, and what their lives are l<\/span>ike off the ice. The team also discussed their new programs, the progress of their technical elements, and their goals for the season.<\/p>\n Figure Skaters Online (FSO):<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong> <\/span><\/span>Audrey and Misha, you both started skating when you were young. What initially drew you to the sport, and what did you enjoy about it?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>I started skating at 4. I remember [that] I got on, and I was falling so much. But I never cried, and I didn’t get off the ice. I could tell that I really, really enjoyed the sport. My favorite part about it is definitely jumping. I like flying across the ice. It’s just a great feeling.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov: <\/strong><\/span>When I was born, I had a really weak immune system. The doctors told my parents to put me into sports, and so I tried a bunch of different sports. Four-year-old me liked figure skating the most. However, you know how Audrey said she was falling and she wasn’t crying? I was the opposite. I was falling and I was crying my eyes out the whole time. When I got off the ice, though, I’m like: “I want to do that again.” And my parents said: “Are you sure<\/i>?” I said yes. So here I am still.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span> Misha, what did you enjoy most about skating when you were young?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I loved jumps. But what I enjoyed the most was getting a good reaction from the crowd. It wasn’t too often. (Laughs<\/i>)<\/p>\n Lu: <\/span><\/strong>It depends what kind<\/i> of reaction. (Laughs<\/i>)<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span> Exactly. I loved when the crowd loved my programs. That was everything. Because I thought that the hard work was paying off; people were enjoying the performance. That’s what I feel like figure skating is all about.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Both of you got into pairs when you were teens. What drew you to pairs?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span> For me, I was at a point when I had to move because I didn’t have any coaches in Houston [where he was living]. We tried with a bunch of [coaches], and we were not able to work it out. So it was either I had to move, or I was going to quit figure skating. My parents were like: \u201cDo you want to try a new discipline?\u201d And that’s when Emily Chan offered to try out pairs in Dallas [with me]. That’s when that journey started, at 17.<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span> For me, I was actually doing singles at the time. It was the beginning of the season. And Misha and Alexey [Letov, their coach] were like: \u201cDo you want to try pairs?\u201d So we tried for a couple days. I wasn\u2019t sure if I really wanted to do this, and I did singles for another month. Then we talked about it, and I thought about it, and [thought] that pairs is giving me opportunities. So I decided to switch to pairs.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>Were you nervous about some of the pairs elements and whether they would be safe?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>Yes. I was especially afraid of throws and twists, because I’m being thrown in the air. But throughout the years, I’ve overcome many fears.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong>Yes. I told Audrey and her mom that Audrey\u2019s safety is my No. 1 priority. No matter what happens, during a performance, during a practice, I always want to make sure that she’s safe first, before anything else.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span> So you teamed up in 2016. At that time, you were a junior team; now you\u2019ve transitioned into seniors. As you know, a lot of junior pairs don’t make it through that transition. A lot of teams split up at that point and re-team with other people. But you kept going together. How were you able to make that transition successfully?<\/p>\n Lu:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/span>I think when we started as a team, our foundation was really good. Because most pairs struggle with side-by-side jumps, and we had the side-by-side jumps down. Learning the pairs elements wasn’t easy, but I guess it\u2019s easier than having to learn jumps. And, after we won Junior Nationals [in 2018], we felt really good. It helped our confidence as we moved into seniors.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As a team, overall we’ve always gotten along pretty well. Every team fights; every team has their problems. But Audrey and I, we’ve always been able to work them out. We’ve always been able to communicate with each other. And I think that was very important. And we’ve always been on the same page. The Olympics are our mindset; that’s where we want to go.<\/p>\n FSO:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/span>Did your coaches also help you make that transition from junior to senior?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Yes. They’ve been with us every step of the way; they’ve always had our backs. They’ve held us up whenever we were down. And they’ve helped us when we were climbing, as well.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/span> <\/strong>In the last year or so, your coaches made the decision to move their training group from Dallas to Boston, in part due to problems with the rinks in Dallas. How has that transition been for you, and how do you feel about Boston as a training base?<\/p>\n Lu: <\/strong><\/span>The transition was actually really, really smooth. The Skating Club of Boston and everyone here has helped us with our training schedules, and given us so many opportunities, especially with the altitude room and skating in an Olympic-size rink every day. This rink is based around figure skating. So, it’s helped us a lot.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span> What about the Boston area itself? It\u2019s a pretty big change from Texas. How do you like it?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span> I definitely miss the open roads in Texas, because I love driving. I love cars. However, the Boston area is amazing. It’s beautiful. The roads are not as nice \u2026 but I can get over that. (Laughs<\/i>). The people here are amazing as well.<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It has four seasons. (Smiles<\/i>)<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, it has four seasons. And I do like snow. <\/span>I also have to say, the food here is amazing. I know Audrey can say the same thing. Exploring new restaurants here has been an absolute blast. Because back in Texas, there’s a lot of Tex-Mex food. But here, there’s so much more diversity.<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>There’s all<\/i> kinds of food.<\/p>\n FSO: <\/strong><\/span>Let’s talk about this season. This is the first Olympic season for you as a pair. What’s different about training and preparing for the Olympic season?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span> I think we try to not<\/i> make it different. Obviously, it’s in the back of our minds that it\u2019s the Olympic season. But we treat it like every other season. We work hard every day and set goals for ourselves. And we slowly build up. When we get to Nationals, we\u2019re all prepared, and we just show what we can do.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span> The “Toxic\/Survivor” program … Miss Olga, she wanted to do something different. She wanted to do a zombie-themed program for the short. At first, Audrey and I were like: “Are you sure?” But she said: “You should give it a try.” And we’re really happy that we did. We believe it’s an amazing program; we absolutely love it. We think it’s really different. We’re trying to set ourselves apart [by] having such a different program. We just have to continue training it to be able to portray that we’re zombies on the ice. Because I don’t think that’s a very common theme in figure skating yet. [Laughs<\/i>]<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Definitely not! That must be a bit of a challenge.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We’re always trying to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. Same thing last year with our Charlie Chaplin [free skate], which we absolutely loved. That was a program that we definitely had to push out of our comfort zone, in terms of being really super-happy and goofy.<\/p>\n FSO:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/span>What is the theme behind your \u201cAncient Lands\u201d free skate? Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It’s basically good vs. evil. I’m portraying good, and he’s portraying evil. Throughout the whole program, we’re fighting. And at the end, we both die.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We wanted to show a more dramatic side of our skating. We love doing that. I won’t say that’s our specialty; but that’s our favorite. We love showing drama–like when the music’s slow, being able to look at each other and show a connection–<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Until it builds back up.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span> Yes.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Aside from the programs themselves, are there specific areas of your skating that you’re working on this season, to add polish and artistry?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>I think clean skating, in terms of the edges. Being able to hold some edges longer, and show more of a flowy program, instead of a very straight line down the middle [of the rink]. That’s what we’ve been trying to work on in terms of PCS.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span> Yes, I don’t think we’ve ever really seen another team do that. I guess the real story behind it is that I got a couple black eyes and bloody noses and stuff [from training the triple twist]. [Both laugh.<\/i>] And we were like, \u201cOkay, let’s just keep the arms above the head.\u201d And it worked out for us. We think it’s a unique feature about our split twist, so we kept it. We really enjoy doing split twists like that.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span> \u00a0<\/strong>Audrey, was it hard to learn doing the triple twist with one, or both, arms over your head?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Actually, it was harder to do it with no arms [up]. Because every time I’d open up, I’d go like this. [Sticks her elbows out to the side.<\/i>] So with the arms up, I was just tight, and then I\u2019d open up [shows arms separated but vertical<\/i>], and it was a lot easier. It was still difficult, but [for us], it was easier than not doing arms up.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Did you have any concern as to whether it would negatively affect the height or the amplitude you would get in the air?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>At first, yes. That was definitely a factor that we took into consideration. But we knew that, the more we worked on it as a team, the more strength I would build, and Audrey would build. We knew the height would come. We’re really happy [now] with the height that we have for the split twist. And we’re definitely very happy with the element. Because we usually get level 4 for the split twist–knock on wood. And we get nice GOE marks.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As a team, you\u2019re known for your side-by-side jumps. A lot of U.S. pairs struggle with side-by-side jumps, but not you. What do you think goes into your consistency on that element?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Lots and lots<\/i><\/span> of jumps. [Both laugh.<\/i>]<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I think it also stems from [the fact that] we were both singles skaters for a long time. Some teams, when they start very young as a pairs team, the singles skating is not able to be developed as much.<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Right. Because the focus is more on pairs elements, and not really jumps and the technique on them.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>So that’s the advantage we had, that plays in our favor. However, like Audrey said, we just practice a lot of jumps. We’ll have sessions where we have 30 minutes when she’s doing jumps and I’m doing jumps. And we’re not even doing them side by side, we’re just doing them by ourselves. Many, many repetitions. Because sometimes we’re on the ice with singles skaters, so for us, it’s just easier to do it that way.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>When I interviewed your coach, Olga Ganicheva, she mentioned that you and Audrey often train on the ice with singles skaters in your group. How does that work out?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It works out amazingly well.. The Skating Club of Boston here has been accommodating us every step of the way. Back in Texas, we wouldn’t even have sessions for pairs. But here, we have sessions for pairs–which is unbelievable, it’s really nice–and then there are sessions where we’ll get on for singles skating. So we’ll focus on jumps, or spins. When we get on sessions for pairs, that’s when we’re able to do everything else, without ever having to worry.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>You have, in the past, attempted and landed the side-by-side triple Salchow\/euler\/triple Salchow combination. Do you plan to keep that element in the program, and will you be going for it this season?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Yes. That is<\/i> the goal.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>In the beginning of the season [at Cranberry Cup], we felt we weren’t quite ready yet. However, we were definitely planning on putting it in for New York [John Nicks Pairs Challenge]. We have that notion that if something does go wrong on the first Salchow–like if one of us doesn’t have enough speed–we’ll call it to each other, and we’ll just do a double for the second [jump]. But our plan for this season is to do triple Salchow\/half loop\/triple Salchow.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span> When it comes to throw jumps, you\u2019re doing throw triple loop and throw triple flip in your long program this year. Audrey, do you feel more comfortable now with throw jumps than when you started pairs?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, definitely way more comfortable. [Smiles<\/i>]\u00a0 <\/span>I think it’s also repetition. I used to be afraid of them. But as I did more and more, it built my confidence. Now, it’s a lot better.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov: <\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>I’m able to throw Audrey further and higher [now], and she has zero fear. Which I think is amazing. And it’s helping us progress as a team.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>What do you work on to increase your consistency with throws?<\/p>\n Lu:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Off the ice, we always warm up with some check-out exercises, [doing] work for quickness. And on the ice, we don’t do a lot [of throws.] We do a certain amount, and then we move on. If one day, it’s not going well, then we leave it. That\u2019s so the next time I come back to do it, I don’t lose confidence. I\u2019ll know that yesterday was just a mishap, and today it will be fine. So we do a certain amount–at least five [throws in a practice]. And it has to be consistent–four out of five, or five out of five. And then we move on.<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We try to approach it as quality over quantity. Because with throws, it’s a big impact on the female partner. So we want to make sure Audrey doesn’t hurt her knees or anything from just doing so many. God forbid that would happen. We don’t want to have any trauma like that.<\/p>\n FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>That’s definitely very important! And what are you working on right now with lifts?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>We’ve been upping the training for the lifts. For example, we’ll do all three lifts from the long [program] in a row. Down the ice, we’ll do one lift, and then we’ll go back [and] do the next lift in the long program. We’ll do three sets of that. Doing shorter time periods of rests between the lifts. So that even if I’m tired, I’m able to complete the lift. FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Did you make any changes to your lifts for this season?<\/p>\n Mitrofanov:<\/strong><\/span>
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<\/a>FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>This year, you\u2019re skating to a remix of \u201cSurvivor\u201d and \u201cToxic\u201d for your short program. And you\u2019ve selected \u201cAncient Lands\u201d by Ronan Hardiman for your long program. Tell me how you chose these pieces and what you’re hoping to show with your programs.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/IMG_2623_edit-240x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/IMG_2325_edit-240x300.jpg\")
<\/a>FSO:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Let\u2019s talk about your technical elements. You are one of few–or perhaps the<\/i> only– team in the world who performs a triple twist with both arms above the woman\u2019s head [Lu\u2019s head]. You\u2019ve been performing that variation since 2016. How did you develop that move?<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n