Welcome to the Rockers Skating Podcast.
It is interview extravaganza week this week before the World
Championships. I have another great interview
for you all today it is Leah Pereira, Trent Micheaux, the
Canadian pairs champions here with me.
How have you 2 been the last few weeks since the the high of the
Olympics? We've been really good.
It's been an interesting process.
A lot of athletes who we've known have talked about the post
Olympic pre world's kind of time frame and we've heard lots of
different reviews of how that might feel for us.
We've we've been doing good. We really enjoyed our time in
Italy. Obviously we had a great
experience there and lots of lessons learned, but also our
team at home has been really good with managing training and
just keeping the enjoyment factor and but still pushing
hard enough to be ready for worlds.
But I would say it's gone by faster than expected and it's
been going well for training. Yeah, you had a whirlwind of an
Olympics for sure, starting with getting there and being like,
we're gonna have to do the whole team event this time.
Tell me about that whole experience.
I mean, I you were, you were obviously prepared to do
anything, right? You were at the Olympics, you
were going to do the team event anyway and you were practicing
and getting ready for it. But tell me about how that all
transpired and how that how it felt to have to really step in
for the team. Yeah.
I mean, like you said, we had already been prepared to do the
team event for the free, so we were already trained.
It's not like we were like, OK, we're going to be competing 2
weeks later, we're just going to be here and like kind of on the
upslope still. We were already, you know, ready
to compete realistically 2 days later.
We just had to add a short into it.
So you know, we really wanted to, you know, give it our all
and give it our best for Team Canada, which is really cool
aspect. We've never done a team event
and we're both very much team sport, team player people, hence
why we are a team. We're not skating by ourselves,
so it was really nice to be able to, you know, skate for your
country, skate for your friends and your teammates as well.
So I mean, also getting the chance to skate 4 times at the
Olympics, it's pretty that's pretty cool.
A lot of people don't get to go to the Olympics and that not
even necessarily skate four times in one Olympics.
So we were really honored to have that privilege.
And we obviously wanted to put our best foot forward for Max
Indiana as well, who unfortunately weren't able to be
there for the the team event. And yeah, we just wanted to use
it to the best of of our abilities to also help us moving
on into the individual event. And we felt ready to go because
our coaching staff and our team had had us prepared right for
when we got there. And yeah, we had a great time.
It was a pretty amazing experience.
I think the short for us all season has been such a great
vehicle and we've always loved training and competing it.
So especially when we were able to do it with our team, I think
we were both feeling obviously nervous for our first Olympic
performance, especially being part of the team event.
And as soon as we our names got called out for the six minute
warm up and we saw our team box standing and cheering and waving
the flags, it was just like such a confirmation of we are here,
we're at the Olympics and we have Team Canada behind us.
And I think that was a really special moment even no, it
wasn't really like televised or anything that you sort of
expected. It was just like that moment
that we kind of saw our team standing there.
It was really special. Yeah, a lot of people talk about
that team event dynamic being 1 so different than a lot of
things that, you know you've skaters generally experienced,
but two it's it's a different kind of atmosphere.
It's a different way of competing that maybe you're not
used to. One thing that that we've talked
about a lot with with other skaters as sort of like the, the
the order of events, you know, going first with the team event
or going first with the individual event.
I've heard both sides. I think a lot of skaters tend to
want to get the individual out of the way and then make the
team event feel a little bit like World Team trophy.
Curious to hear your thoughts as pair skaters.
Right. You, you all had about a week to
recover in between. What did she think about the
scheduling? I mean, we've never done it any
other way. So it's hard to say like we
haven't done a World Team trophy Even so to say like, you know,
like obviously that is not like right after worlds, but it's
long enough after worlds that it's, you know, different time
period and stuff. And we, we had the week in
between and we were, you know, we took the two days off
afterwards and did our things that we had for like planned
with our strength and conditioning coach and
everything. And we were, we felt very
prepared and ready to go for the that our own individual events.
And we felt, you know, like we would running into a competition
with some extra practices at the event that we were actually
there for. So we felt even more
comfortable. So yeah, it's hard to say.
I wouldn't, I don't, I would, I wouldn't want to say it's one or
the other yet because we've never done it the other way.
So it's it's hard to say unless you experience it, but I get
same thing. I get both sides of it.
I think we appreciate our schedule the most.
You know, watching the ice dancers do the team event and
their event right away, and even the men having two days off in
between, that's something that doesn't usually happen at a
skating competition. So I feel like we got pretty
lucky on our side of the scheduling.
By the time it was our short program day, we both looked at
each other, we're like, OK, like we're ready to do this all over
again. We had our downtime.
We then we had time at the practice rink and the main rink
still to like, you know, kind of re get into the zone and it was
like a really good period of time and length.
But yeah, I don't know, I think the team event relieved some
stress for us a little bit and like kind of had let us take a
deep breath and get comfortable. So I think I preferred it that
way. Like Trent said, we don't know
the opposite, but I think it was it was nice to feel the support
behind us and it felt a little bit less intense.
Yeah, it and you didn't have to skate on Friday the 13th, which
was a good thing. Tell me also about, you know,
the, the Olympics as it was unfolding, you know, the, the,
the sort of unknowns of your teammates, right?
Deanna and Max were sort of in limbo of like, we don't know if
they're coming. We don't we, we don't know if,
if they're going to withdraw and and then finding out that they
would come. How, how did the team like Team
Canada feel during that time? Were you all kind of in your own
zones or was that did that affect the team and the morale a
little bit? You know, I think we were all in
our own zones and wanting to do, you know, we, we were all there
to do it, to do our job. But at the same time we were had
talked about it like between each of us, just like at
different points. And you know, we are all hoping
for them to be better and be able to come to the event.
And, you know, we've been asked if we had, you know, been
messaging, we're talking to them and we tried to leave them with
their own space because, you know, mass media spreading,
hitting them all from all angles on this.
So we, that's the way we kind of tried to be had them in our
thoughts and we're hoping they would be there 'cause we've been
competing against them for, you know, this whole quad.
And for myself, I've been competing against Max Indiana
for a long time. So, you know, to see them live
their dream as well that we also, you know, had we both had
hands in each other's journeys through this experience.
We definitely wanted them to be there, but yeah, we tried not to
be, you know, we wanted them to have their own space because we,
I wouldn't in their shoes, I would probably want that as well
if we were like sitting at home trying to, you know, do this.
So but, you know, we all were very, really happy once they,
we've been told by, you know, our our team that they would be
coming. And it was very exciting when
they got there and we all finally got to take our big team
photo together with the rings was really nice.
But yeah, no, we just, I think it was, you know, just had them
in our thoughts the whole times and it was really nice to have
them there in the end. Yeah, First Olympics, right?
The two of you were I, I don't know, I feel like you, the 2 of
you, really kind of took in the experience.
A lot of the athletes I felt in this Olympics really took
advantage of the Olympic experience, the village, the
opening, the closing, you know, as much as they can possibly fit
in without, you know, sort of tiring themselves out.
I think also very different from four years ago when we didn't
have as robust of an Olympic experience because it was COVID
Olympics. So tell me about that.
Tell me about the three weeks, your favorite things, your less
favorite things you know, and anything that stands out to you
from your time in Milan. I think it was really cool, like
you said, because Beijing was the most recent Olympics and it
was kind of unknown and there was not a lot of activities
maybe that you could participate in.
We weren't there, but Maddie skis it.
So we train alongside, had some stories and even our coach Mike
Marinara, like he went to Pyeongchang and Beijing.
And I think even just those the past three games have been so
different. So heading into Milan, I kind of
was like asking them for advice or just like curious about what
their experience was like, just so that I had some expectations.
And then after hearing their stories and the differences of
what we we'd kind of heard rumblings about.
And Milano was like, I think we're just going to have to wait
until we get there and experience it in the present
because there's really nothing that compares.
Even just this Olympics, having five separate villages is
something completely new to the Olympics in general.
So it was definitely very cool to not have any expectations.
I thought we definitely took advantage of the opening
ceremonies. I mean, we competed the team
short on that day and we were up I think at 5:00 in the morning
for our 10:30 AM. Yeah.
It was and then by the time the team event was done that day, we
went back to our house. I never knew what to call that
thing, but our home, the village and.
Your dorm room. Yeah, maybe for like 2 hours and
then we were on the bus on the way to opening ceremonies, which
was super cool. Also very long.
But exactly what you said, like managing energy levels and like
knowing when to fit in a little power nap or wanting when to
grab a snack. Just like experiencing.
I think that was the most Olympic day that we could have
ever had was to compete in the team event for Canada and then
also be a part of the Olympic opening ceremonies is like
really cool. Yeah, I mean, I think the the
interesting thing, like you said there for also being the first
one in the Olympics since COVID, there was such a an experience
like throughout, I mean, you probably felt it, but like even
when we went out to like out of the the village or anything,
there were so many fans and so, so people were so excited.
It seemed to be there and to be watching.
And you saw it throughout all the events, like sold out crowds
at at like all the skating events, all the speed skating
events, everything in Milan. So it was really a great
experience. And it felt like what the
Olympics in my head had was going to be like.
So that was obviously really nice.
So you know what kind of like check off one of those boxes of
that. But at the same time also, I
just felt like the best way to describe it was like 10 year old
me was freaking out for three weeks and the 29 year old
athlete in me was at a really calm place.
Like it felt like we were because it's been part of the
plan for so long and we were prepared.
And also because we've gone through competitions where, you
know, some, some food might be different.
The sleeping arrangements might be weird.
Like you just having gone through experiences that you
will go into the we were going into the games of like, OK,
we're ready to take anything on sort of thing.
If we need to figure out stuff, we need to figure out stuff.
Luckily, we didn't really have to do that.
The Coc was really great. We had a really great athlete
lounge in our in our building for Team Canada that had a lot
of snacks and foods that we were all used to having daily and
then was a nice area for us to all hang out.
I mean, I spent a lot of time in there hanging out, chatting with
other athletes and everything, which was also part of the
reason, you know, of the of the Olympics and it was super
exciting to be there for. So yeah, I mean, on my end I
almost have 0 complaints. I just thought it was a great
experience in general. And also it was our first game,
so we didn't have anything to compare it to, which I also
think was super nice in that sense as well.
Yeah, I mean, everybody talks about this too when they go to
the Olympics. It's it's a whole different
thing because you're everything is amplified.
Your experience there is, is just like overloaded with
sensory stuff. But also your, the, the amount
of exposure that you get that figure skating gets is just
multiplied in like in, in such a, a different kind of order of
magnitude, you know, to the point where Jesse Ware gave you
flowers for your short program. You know, like you, you were,
you had you, you had those experiences that you probably
would otherwise not have if it weren't for the Olympics.
And so that short program for you, my segue is, as you were
saying, such a, such a special program for you.
And it's been, it's been a, a great program all season.
Tell me about the origins of that program.
And then also tell me about the couple of times you stated it at
the Olympics and you were third after the short program in the
individual events. So how did that all feel?
Music process for us is interesting.
We're both very passionate and we both feel very strongly about
the music we skate to. And that was actually one of the
things that I was really happy that Trent felt the same way
because I was very picky about music as a single skier.
And he is also, I wouldn't say picky, but like particular, like
we know how we feel when we listen to something.
So I think it was Madison Hubbell who sent us the piece
and we had listened to it. And it's funny because our coach
had had the same piece in a playlist for us for this year.
So it was like a weird full circle moment that both of them
had kind of seen this vision of us skating to that music, and it
was a really smooth and easy choreographical process.
With Madison Hubbell, she kind of took the lead on that and
she's just amazing and we look up to her very much and all that
whole crew in then. But it was also really cool
because we've been working with them for now three years, so
they have really got to know us as skaters.
We've gotten to know them. And so that process of making
the program was very cool, and she had kind of had like a
storyline already set out when they cut the music and we really
connected to it right away. Yeah.
I mean, just on one tidbit from that, like the first day we were
there doing choreography with Maddie and Adrian, Maddie had,
like Leah said, took kind of the reins for most of the program
and she started skating to it. And Leah and I looked at each
other like, oh, this is going to be good.
Like right away we were like, wow, this is gonna be good.
We're usually because she looked good, but we were like, OK, if
we can like even do 50% of this, this is gonna be special.
Yeah. So, you know, I think that was a
big part of 2 two things. One, that we love this program
so much and that it was built around how we skated while still
improving our own skating and trying to push ourselves.
Obviously because we like to be push ourselves out of our
comfort box. And that's how we want to
continually improve our skating skills because we know at the
end of the day, you know, that's what's going to put us in the
top group. That's we can all we can all do
the elements in senior. It's the those extra little
pieces that actually little skating that'll put us in the
top group. So we are always continually
trying to work on that. And that's also like one of the
things that we both love about skating, Like we both have
fallen in love with skating because of performances by other
people. So we want to give that to fans,
the judges, everyone. So that's part of it.
But also at the same time, when we did Stars last year, we
pretty much did, we did a short every show.
So we did one of our programs had a twist side by side jump, a
throw, a lift and a death spiral in it.
So we just didn't do side by side spin.
Not as fun show skating, you know, So you know, yeah.
So we that I think I'd also really helped us going into this
season because we were like, you know, it's shows you travel in
the we did some shows where we traveled that night to the
venue. So it's like, you know, we got
to figure this out. We want to put this down and
show the audience, you know, this great program that we've
done. So that helped us take that like
confidence from from stars into the performance of this.
And I also think stars just made us better performers once again,
getting to be out there with, you know, some of the great,
some great performers and working with Kurt, getting to
watch Elvis, working with Jason, like being a part of the cast
with Jason Brown. You know, just some people who
are like such standout stars in the the actual skating aspect
really helped us. Like, we just tried to take as
much as that into the season as we could and just keep
developing and throughout the season.
And, you know, really trying not to just be like, oh, this is
good. OK, We're here.
Like we, we just even if it's a little bit, we got to get the
little bits like and continue with that Like so I think that
we did a really great job with the short, obviously was one of
the stand up performances for the season for us, but also just
taking that into our own skating in general.
Yeah, I mean that you you talk about the continuous desire to
push yourselves forward and and so forth.
The two of you got together in 2022 and then like months later
we're 6th at worlds and and that was a very like big start to the
two of you as a pair. Take me back the last four years
because the the last four years has been interesting in not only
in the two of you kind of growing up in as a pair, but in
the pairs in general across the world where the the level of
pair skating continue to go up every single year.
And you've had to figure out how to kind of craft your own space
in the world of pairs, right. And and there were times when
maybe sometimes it felt a little bit stagnant and then you found
a new gear and you pushed yourself further.
Tell me about some of the like highlights and where you felt
like the last four years you were able to really get yourself
into a different level. Yeah, it's very interesting
going back and thinking about it and just like even watching old
programs where we were like, yes, we are so good.
And now I look, yeah. We're rock stars and.
I'm like, or, you know, sometimes we get comments like,
oh, you can really see their newness in the skating.
And I'm like, what are these people talking about?
Like, we look great. And I'm like, OK, clearly we
were new. Clearly we've improved a lot,
yeah. But it was, it is very nice to
look back on. And yes, coming 6th at our first
worlds was something that I was not expecting.
I think I was like extremely naive to what all of that was
about. We had done our first
international, I guess in the fall, Croatia.
December, yeah. December and we had placed third
with like a throw double S how I think actually we did 2 throw
double S. Two throw double s.
Yeah, we just did triple twists and jumps.
But yeah, I think actually partially looking back on our
old skating is one of the things that really inspired us to come
back to Gladiator. I don't know if this is the
proper time to segue into this, but.
Let's talk about it, yeah? We usually our team will in the
month of December. This year we didn't make Grand
Prix Final, which we were hoping to do, but we know that the
season can be very long. So we kind of took December as
like a bit of a refresh. And so our coach Allison had us
skating to different pieces of music, same program, same
layout, just skating to different pieces of music.
Kind of just to re spark some of the choreography highlights,
just to kind of like maybe move differently.
And the one day she kind of came in with like a little smirk on
her face and clicked Gladiator. And we were like, what?
So we skated our mission long program to our old Gladiator
piece and we were like, wow, this is we really resonated with
this music and we loved it so much.
And we feel like we've grown so much as skaters and performers
that this is something that maybe we want to bring back.
And that was not even the intention at all.
We had no intention of changing our music.
We had just kind of really felt something.
And so the next day we came in and we skated it again.
And then we kind of started changing some transitions and
had a talk with our team, the three of us, and then got some
outside little opinions on just if we felt like it was a good
idea and we really did. So we kind of just like started
right away of just like re jigging the program.
And yeah, I think it was a really cool process for us just
because we have like expanded our performance range and we
have, you know, lengthened our skating, We're faster.
We kind of like still felt that passion towards that music and
almost felt like Gladiator never really had its moment.
Like we, I mean, we won Grand Prix de France that year, We
made it to final. We had a lot of accomplishments
within that season, but we just felt like it needed like one
more staple of a of a performance and that we still
had some stones unturned and it was a really cool process.
And aside now I was very excited for a Part 2 of the gladiator
dress because that's one of my favorites.
So I was like I need to not. Make there.
Was vision based on the fact that I want a new dress?
Let me let me decide that this is the program and not just
about the new dress. I will give it to her.
She did say that out loud. She's like, OK, what?
Hold up. I got to take myself out of this
for a second. I don't need.
It's not about the dress, OK? They're like, OK, that's fair.
Because I'm proud of you for saying that.
It is, but it isn't right? It is, but it isn't.
At the Olympics you had a a a great skate in the team event.
You probably wanted a little bit better in the, in the free
skate, in the individual event, but still like those four
programs that you did there were some of the the the best ones of
your career. I mean, under that, under the
pressure, under the, the, the, the sort of occasion of it.
All right, how does it feel now that you are bonafide Olympians?
You are able to go to a tattoo parlor and say, give me those
rings. There it is.
How does it feel now that do you
go into your, what, 4th World Championships together?
Do you go into that with a different kind of motivation
now? Yeah, I definitely think you
know it. There's a level of confidence
that we can take we from the Olympics and from nationals and
we took that confidence from nationals into the Olympics and
it helped us a lot. And we're excited to take the
Olympic experience we had into worlds and for the same thing.
And, you know, it's really it is really cool outside of the
skating fact, one of the things that I found that was really,
really cool about this whole Olympic experience is, you know,
just seeing the amount of joy that random strangers have felt
from watching the Olympics and like just even being out and in
town, whatever. And people recognizing you and
say, you know, thank you so much for your performances and
representing the country so well and seeing like that legitimate
joy in their eyes and their face and at that part has been really
cool. So that also, I think, you know,
we carry that with us too, because that was part of what we
wanted to do and what we still want to do.
So we're like, yeah, OK, let's do that.
It like we can do that more. Like there's still some left in
the tank. It's not like you know, every,
it was the best performances we we could ever do or ever hope
for that. There were some really great
things in both of them. And obviously, you know, we are
very happy with all them, but we have some we we feel like we can
still give a little bit more and do a little bit more.
So I think we're excited to have that opportunity to do that
again. But also take that, you know,
those tools that we learned from the Olympics and from nationals
with us, because that's what, you know, as I think one of our
greatest strengths is that we good, bad, ugly, amazing.
We take those tools and put them in our toolbox and we use them
for whenever we need to down the road.
And we're, we just threw more stuff into our toolbox that's
going to be really helpful for us at worlds and you know, down
the line. So we're really excited to, you
know, be walking into worlds as Canadian champions and Canadian
Olympians. As performers, you're always
wanting to improve, and Trent and I kind of get in this hole
sometimes of even competing really well or training really
well. And the first thing we bring up
is what we want to do better. And I think that part of me and
us trying to really like, stay proud and excited of our
performances. We lived it, we experienced it,
We felt proud sitting in that kiss and cry.
It didn't matter what the scores had said.
We knew how we skated and that we prepared as best we could to
get up to that moment. So I mean, in most cases, then
we sat in the kiss and cry and we're also extremely proud of
the score that we were able to put out.
But we recognize that that's out of our control.
So we really try to focus on the fact of what we can control and
how we're going to put ourselves in the best position to do that.
But all that being said as well, I really tried to not go back
and watch our performances for a while because I really just
wanted to sit with how it felt rather than what it looked like.
I have now. I think it was maybe only a week
ago, gone back and watched and have been able to kind of, you
know, highlight some things that we can improve on and we can
really just perfect before worlds.
And I think that's kind of like the perfect balance of just like
feeling the performance, feeling all the emotions associated with
that, and then allowing space for us to just sit with that and
then to kind of get into like the athletes and perfectionism
in US at a later date. So I think we did a really good
job of that as well, just like being present and enjoying the
moment of all four performances. Well, back to Europe for the two
of you and to the rest of the skating community next week for
the World Championships. Excited to see you and best of
luck with the rest of your training and your travels going
over there. Awesome.
Thanks, Jackie. Thanks for having us on OF.
Course. Bye.
Thank you.