Maya

Figure skating journalist

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

Had a quick chat with 🇰🇿 Mikhail Shaidorov.

He’s on his way to the U.S., where he plans to spend a month in California, working with Rafael Arutyunyan and choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne as he prepares for the new season.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

@shaidotheogm Он скоро объявит

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

@lilacvatrushka А Влад разве студент?

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

@Skatejoy2026 Soft launch does not mean a skater got paired up before his/her ex-partner :) I just think girls tend to play with social media more.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

A small update on one of the most exciting news from last week - Miniki’s decision to continue.

Spoke to Nikita Volodin about it. Were there doubts?

He also talked about injuries, off-season preparations and new programs.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

I see quite a few questions about Plushenko’s son transferring to Azerbaijan 🇦🇿

Feel free to ask anything on the topic - will try to answer what I can.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

4/ We had very little time — just 3 days, but spent many hours on the ice.We were doing a lot of run-throughs — i kept saying "again!" Kamila even laughed and said she couldn't remember ever doing so many repetitions or spending so much time on the ice. So it was a real intensive

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

🧵 Benoît Richaud on choreographing a new short program for Kamila Valieva. Highlights below, full comment at https://t.co/zbrKlIQT9x ⬇️

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

3/ I don't think she has skated this style before - it suited her incredibly well. My idea was not to change her,but to build the program around her. It's an evolution: some things were new for her like the step sequence.But Kami is very talented and picks up everything instantly

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

2/ I didn't know if we are to do SP or FP so I asked Cédric Tour to prepare several music options. He helped us very quickly, I'm very grateful to him. This music has not been used in FS before. It's a very special and powerful composition, there is a lot of change of rhythm.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

1/ We started discussing working together back in the winter — some friends introduced us. But for a long time it was unclear how we could organize it and how much time we would have. When I realized my schedule in Moscow would allow us to work together, I contacted Kamila's team

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

Checked with the organisers: ISU GP Finlandia Trophy 2026 is still ON. No change of plans. 🇫🇮⛸️

https://t.co/HKrCkSIb7J

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

@annie22o Because I called. It was not him who wanted to talk.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

@QuadAxel3Toe I think it makes sense to wait and see who’s gonna be coaching whom :)

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

11/ It's a new challenge in front of both of them. They are two excellent skaters, still very young, and there are opportunities for them to find someone who can match them at a new level. They were like a brother and sister, and they were a bit stuck in that pattern.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

🧵 Spoke to Romain Hagenauer on the Lajoie/Lagha split.

Highlights below, full comment in English at https://t.co/XziadX5Bt9

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

10/ It's a bit sad that it finished with a split, but it could be for the best. Things between them at a certain point became very… automatic. Maybe I speak for them, but I don't think they gave each other the fire to explore new things. It was really going in an automatic way.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

9/ of course we always agree to work for the best of everyone. But they realized that so far it was not the problem at all. They took the common decision to explore different options, and here we are.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

8/ This season they could not make it happen. They finally realized something was not going well.
So they considered finding new partners. There was also discussion about changing schools, because sometimes that could be a refresh.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

7/ I think they both realized they were not aligned — artistically, in the way they connect, in their vision. The connection was never really there, even though they are good friends.

[Maya @Maya_Skating]

6/ Zach is independent, Marjorie also — it was a bit of side-by-side work. The body of work improved a lot, of course. But the last two seasons it was not easy for us to find agreement on the music, to find ideas, new things. For them to be in one direction was always difficult.