Michal Březina entered the Grand Prix in 6th place on American skates.

John David Mercer, Reuters

Your rides were not flawless, but they had a very decent standard. Did they please you?

There were mistakes in the shorts, I lost at least ten points in the square. I was kind of asleep all day, everything was slower, but the others had it too, only two boys drove clean rides, not even Nathan (three-time world champion and Březin’s training colleague) he wasn’t that explosive. Rafael got me before the free ride (coach Arutjuňan) he said in training that I looked livelier. I made a small mistake when leaving in the square and at the end I ran out of juice, but otherwise I felt better than a month ago in Boston.

You rode a bigger race in front of the spectators after a long time, reacting a lot to your ride.

After a year and a half, we weren’t used to it. It’s a big difference, the energy in the race was somewhere else. In addition, they know Bryan Adams’ songs well in America, so the response was good, something completely different than at the World Championships in Stockholm. When it’s quiet, it puts you down rather than charges you, thanks to the spectators, I drove here with great energy, even though I already felt a little tired.

Is it up to you that you are starting your farewell season?

Maybe yes, the subconscious was that I wanted to drive well because of that. Maybe I put too much pressure on myself in my shorts.

What is your next plan for the Olympic season? You are certainly looking forward to showing your almost two-year-old daughter Naya Rose to the family in Brno for the first time.

I still have the Grand Prix in Russia, but not in Moscow, but in Sochi, and according to the ticket, I will fly there for two days, which will be an interesting journey. Then the Republic Championship and we will stay in the Czech Republic for a few days so that ours can finally see the little one and we will go back to Los Angeles to get ready for the European Championships and the Olympics.

Do you still have to ride on ice in drapes?

Now we only have to have them when we enter the hall, and inside, we don’t have to on the ice, the regulations in California have been relaxed enough.

After thirty years, the Czech Republic will be represented in all categories at the Beijing Olympics, and you will also take part in a team competition.

It’s great that we have all the categories, I believe that the team competition will be fun. Only if only five teams advance to free riding will it be difficult to get between them with Russia, Canada, America, Japan or Italy…

Are you increasingly involved in coaching work as an assistant to coach Arutyuan, and in Las Vegas you also managed to help Alexe Knierin from the American sports duo?

When I came to the hall on the first day, they had training in front of us and she didn’t do the toeloop a bit. When she saw me, she called me to the mantinel, so I helped her a little. She then jumped everything in the race, so she did the job we do well.