“It’s a big honor to work with such a passionate skater”
In 2006, Carolina Kostner was the flag-bearer for Italy during the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics in Torino. Twenty years later, Italy is hosting the Games again, and Carolina will be returning to an Olympic rink – only, this time, as a coach.
Since 2023, the four-time Olympian has been part of the team of Yuma Kagiyama, working on his artistry and skating skills alongside Yuma’s father and head coach Masakazu Kagiyama. Carolina accompanied Yuma at his second Grand Prix event, Finlandia Trophy in November. At that event, Yuma surprisingly faltered in the short program, but recovered enough to win the free skate, and his second Grand Prix title of the season.
Shortly after the Men’s Free Skate in Finland, Carolina shared her perspective on Yuma’s continuing growth as an athlete and a person, her advice for the Italian Olympic hopefuls, and even a little about her goals for her own skating.
This was a tough competition for Yuma. What lessons do you take from this event?
Well, as a coach, as an athlete, you know that life in sports, it’s an up and down. It’s an up and down in competition, it can be an up and down in practice as well. We’ve been preparing, and, really, Yuma has been working so hard. So, of course, [the short program] was quite a hard one to digest, but, you know, that’s sport. And it’s probably a very, very important experience for him, to realize that the game’s not over until it’s really over. He fought through it. I don’t know if he has already explained what happened to the second quad toe, but learning to switch gears and react and think during the program, it has been really great experience. So I hope that he can get confidence out of it and grow from that.
What does the Grand Prix mean for him when, really, he’s looking later in the season as his main goal?
I think a big approach this year for him was taking it step by step. First of all, stay injury free, put in the work, technically, artistically, on the ice and off the ice, and then, once it gets to the competition, to find the freedom, to just let it go. It’s so easily said, but very hard to do for every athlete, especially under pressure.
As we go further into the season, all the external pressure will keep ramping up. How do you work with him to manage that for himself?
We talk a lot in practice. You can see in his eyes that he loves skating so much, and when we work on the details, you can really feel how he really wants more and more, and more info. And sometimes, I even get emotional because it’s a big honor to work with such a passionate skater. We often talk about why he loves it, to remember that it’s not only what you have to do, but also to have a very strong reason why you skate, and why you go out there, and why you started skating.
Do you have much of a language barrier? How do you work around different languages?
His English is improving, and figure skating language is very universal. Art language is quite universal. Movement language is quite universal. So sometimes it’s hands and feet and strange faces. But sometimes, we’re very lucky to have an interpreter [Emi Shirakawa], and she comes from the ballet world, so we’re very lucky to have her on the team as well. Especially when we work on the details, sometimes the nuances of the word can make a big difference. I was working on my Japanese, but, you know, I have five languages already, there is sometimes a confusion! There are times where it’s very helpful to have an interpreter. There are times where just one motion with the eyes is enough, and you understand.
I’ve really noticed that Yuma’s skating has become, for lack of a better word, more extroverted. How have you worked with him on that performance quality?
You know, he’s maturing as a human, as well. And for sure, the culture and his personality is quite introverted, but he has a very good sense of humor, and the moment he will feel free to let go and to really be himself on the ice, I’m sure that that side of him will come out as well. For me, I wish for him that it’s authentic, and that it comes from the inside.
This music has inspired him so much, both of [the programs]. I see that he really feels inspired.
I wasn’t present during the choreography time, because I had a surgery, but Lori was keeping me updated, and she really felt that he was so inspired by Christopher [Tin]’s music, and the fact that Christopher, the composer, was so generous. We feel so lucky that he dedicated his time to us, and that he shared his knowledge, and his many, many, many, many versions, trying to make it perfect, and putting in the time, and that really inspired you, as well.
I remember when I saw the layout of the step sequence, and the choreo sequence, and of course it evolved, but you could see his face beaming. That makes a huge difference, that helps, especially on the difficult days, like these, when he can feel peace and joy in what he does, no matter the result.
That connection with the composer, another artist, is really wonderful, especially when we are seeing how the music rights system sometimes puts the skaters and the musicians on opposite sides – which is unfortunate!
The generosity of Christopher, that is what I want to say, to dedicate his work and his time. I was so inspired by the story, as he told us, that when the Washington Opera asked him to compose an opera piece, he had never written an opera piece. And it came about that the director of the Opera House in Washington, she heard his music in a video game played by her son. And that’s how she discovered Christopher, and then contacted Christopher, asking, ‘Would you be willing? Would you be interested in writing an opera piece, and writing a new ending for Turandot?’
So [he’s] coming from very contemporary classical music. It is amazing to be able to witness the creativity, and, I mean, the CD hasn’t been released yet, so we feel very, very lucky to have all the persons involved also supporting our crazy project in asking Christopher, ‘Would you be willing to share the music with us beforehand?’ And he really got the ball rolling with everybody involved. We prepared a sheet with all the names of everyone who was involved, because it was [so many].
[The sheet with this information and comments from Yuma is available here].
Yuma’s skating is already so fantastic, but there is a limit to the Program Component Score. You can’t go above a ten – and also, they also don’t give out that many tens. So how do you keep working and keep trying to improve, if there isn’t necessarily that reward in the scores?
The scores give us a good metric to understand where we can improve, even though I have my own personal, very long list of things that I can see where Yuma can improve.
Lori is our big inspiration as well. She has an amazing experience, and her creative mind and her creative soul, and her love and passion for figure skating. Making figure skating better, in general, pushing the artistic side as well. Every time we catch up with Lori, we feel so inspired, and because she’s able to raise the bar a little bit at a time at the right moment, and that has, for sure, helped Yuma so much to find, slowly, his own soul in his skating.
I want to ask you about the Italian women this year. Lara Naki Gutmann and Anna Pezzetta are both so, so talented. What have you thought about them this season? And do you have any advice for them?
Well, I feel like a big mama bear around them. I’ve seen them grow up, and to witness [them now], you know, to me, it feels like a big circle that closes. Twenty years ago, I competed in my first games, and now it feels like leaving the stage to them, even though they have been earning their stage for a few years now. I feel very proud, and I truly wish we had two spots for them, so that they could really go to experience their dreams. However it will turn out, we won’t know until the very last [moment], after the nationals. I’m sure that for one of them, the experience will maybe be difficult. But life guides you around the way, and I trust very much that, however it turns out, they will both be back stronger.
Does your experience of working so intensively with one skater make you want to coach others, or do you like this one-person-at-a-time approach?
You know, it wasn’t planned at all. I wasn’t planning to get into coaching. At least, not so soon. When Yuma asked me, I was personally very surprised. I wasn’t looking for any skaters. It kind of happened. And so I will just go with the flow and see what is gonna happen.
I also want to ask you about your own skating. I saw that you were at the Friends on Ice show in Japan in the summer. Will you be doing other shows?
I had an important surgery, and now I feel much better, in my skates too. I love to skate. The level of my technical abilities is, for sure, not really [something I] pursue. But the chance to explore what skating is, for me, right now, is very interesting, so I’ll keep working on that.
There are some shows coming up, but I’m unfortunately not allowed to tell you, so I hope they’re announced very soon!
