Interview with Lea Serna : being myself again ! (English version)
Barely out of the Kiss & Cry after an excellent free program at the French championships, Léa is randomly selected for doping control. She answers my questions, all the while gulping down large quantities of liquid!
Patinage Magazine: How is your season going?
Léa Serna: Let's say that I had a rather mixed start. I suffered a serious injury at the end of September: a torn ankle ligament. That was the reason for my absence from the Villard de Lans Masters. With the doctors' agreement, I decided to continue working anyway. We knew that there was a risk that it would get worse, but we were really at the very beginning of the season, and it was better to try so that I didn't fall too far behind, even if it meant cutting back on training. I didn't start doing the triple Lutz again until a week before Skate America. My first four competitions were topsy-turvy because I wasn't in the shape needed to perform well. I was only able to start training hard again a week before the Warsaw Cup, so I was short on cardio. Mentally, when you're injured, you feel a bit down. I had a complicated month and a half, with a lot of frustration. I have my jumps, but I couldn't do them in competition because of this injury. In my head, as long as I could do them in training, I had to do them in competition too. But no, it's not that easy. Stress, fatigue, cold... Now everything is fine and I see that the work is paying off. In Zagreb, two weeks ago, I did a good short program, the free was good too, and I got about the same scores as here in Annecy. For me, these are good scores, I'm very happy. I realize that I am starting to be reliable again. When I work properly and in the right direction, it really pays off (laughs). Compared to the beginning of the season, I was able to reverse the trend and I am very happy about it! In addition, I managed to continue training without making my injury worse. I knew the risks, so it is always nice in the end to tell yourself that you made the right decision! You only know it afterwards, but it is a relief!
P.M.: Do you have a favorite musical style? Personally, I really like it when you skate to rock.
Léa: I love my free skate this year! To be honest, I like skating to classical too. But I am a rather powerful skater, and I wanted to stop doing like the others. As a woman, we are often advised to choose music sung by a woman. I talked about it with Gabriella Papadakis, who choreographed my free, and she agreed with me: we have to stop listening to what people tell us, a girl should skate on this or that, it’s better for her, better seen by the judges, even our coaches end up saying the same thing. No! Now I am experienced, I know what suits me and what doesn’t, and I want to skate to something that moves. I wanted something that I could skate to with my “mood” of the moment. The last part of my free on Exogenesis by Muse allows me to adapt it to my mood of the day. If I’m angry, I’ll skate it angry! (laughs) Do you understand what I mean?
P.M.: Yes, absolutely!
Léa: If I want to be sexy, I’ll be sexy. If I want to be drama-like, that will work too. With happy music, you don’t sulk! With sad music, if you smile, you're off the mark. Here, I can give exactly the character I want to this music. I'm doing my spin and I say to myself, well, today, what do I want to be? It's great to be able to change the interpretation. We skate every day to the same thing for a season. For me, it's super interesting to find variations, it prevents me from getting bored. It's nice to be able to "listen to yourself" when you skate, to express what you feel deep inside. We are told that we have to know how to convey emotions, but when they are not the ones that are deep inside you, what do you do? You quickly fall into theater and exaggeration. To improve, I decided to use music that allows me to be who I want to be in the moment. Hey, if I want to be insolent, I'll be insolent! (laughs) All my life, I've been told: you shouldn't be like this, or like that. It ended up getting on my nerves! I'll be who I want to be, period. Even when I was younger, I didn't agree with the principle of being something other than myself. I was told that I was arrogant, bitter. Of course, since I was asked to be the opposite of myself. I got fed up, and I chose to be who I wanted to be on the ice. I practice a sport that has an artistic dimension, which is precisely what allows you to show what you are. On the ice, you are all alone, those who advise you are not with you, so be who you want!
P.M.: What’s next for your this season?
Léa: I am going to take a very long vacation: three days!! (laughs). Tomorrow we have the Vaujany gala, and then I will take a short break for the holidays, to relax and spend time with my family. Then, I will get back to work with the Euros in mind. These championships will arrive very quickly and I do not want to lose my good momentum.
P.M.: How is your training going in Oberstdorf?
Léa: (with a huge smile and sparkling eyes) It is absolutely great, really! My coach [Michael Huth, former coach of Carolina Kostner] is great. Humanly, I met someone fantastic. I won’t tell you that I don’t have any pressure, I put it on myself through my expectations and those of my coach, but it’s not something heavy. On the contrary, it’s very healthy, in the sense that he never tells me, before competitions: you absolutely have to succeed at this or that. He’s more the type to say: Léa, fly like a bird, have fun on the ice! He’s always super positive. He gets more angry if I mess up my step sequence than if I miss a jump. He wants us to give it all, not to be afraid, to express ourselves. I really came back to life there. We form a great team, with a lot of adults. Our sport is one with an early maturity, we are often confronted with very young skaters, and we don’t have the same problems as them. I was fourteen too, I could work for hours on end without having any pain, like OK, life is too easy! I moved on. In our group, the minimum age is 19/20, they are no longer children. It's really nice. We are no longer confronted with the same things as the very young. We all say that, since we arrived in Oberstdorf, we have all rediscovered our passion thanks to our coach. It's the best gift he could give us. Plus, I love snow, so I'm well served! (laughs) The place is magnificent. Germany would not have been my first choice because I love France, but things are going so well! I don't regret it for a second. With the arrival of Nicole [Schott, who recently retired from competition at the end of 2023, and who choreographed her short program] we now have a female presence, it's really a plus! No, honestly, I'm super happy in Oberstdorf!
Kate Royan