Italian champions, top couple of the Italian icedancing, always kind, Massimo Scali and Federica Faiella are the prototype of the perfect athlete. We met them more than once during these championships, both after competitions and for the interview for the special made by SportItalia (an Italian tv channel, ndt). This is what they told us.

Q: You did well during compulsories, but in the original dance you were awesome, to say the least. Marks between 5.8 and 5.9. How do you feel reaching these "peaks"?

F: It's a great satisfaction. We work hard and when it shows in the results we get we are very happy.

Q: I saw you practising a few days ago in Assago. The veils of the green dress you used for the OD were a little cumbersome (?). I see that here they disappeared.

F: Yes, we modified the dress. It was a bit dangerous to skate with those veils, they limited our movements a lot.

M: This morning we were practising a spin and we got tangled! So we preferred to renounce to some elegance and to risk less during competitions.

Q: Only two couples are competing in the senior category, you and Alessia Aureli & Andrea Vaturi. How do you face a competition where the result is almost already set?

M: As any other competition. Of course we have the chance to skate more relaxed, but the wish to do well is always the same. Then, it's important for us to have a strong skate here, Euros in Turin are so near and we would like to get there in the best condition possible, both from the physical and from the psychological point of view.

Q: Speaking about Turin, what is the difference, if there's one, between National Championships and an international event?

M: Actually, none. For us the important thing is to skate well, always. It doesn't matter if it's a regional competition or the Olympics.

Q: Won't you make a prediction for Turin?!

M: Noooooooo!!! Apart from the fact that I prefer not to predict anything, I don't want to risk it to bring bad luck. But I can tell you that we we will do our best to try to confirm the 5th place of last year and maybe also to improve it.

Q: Last question, what do you think about the new judging system?

M: Well, in fact now it's much more complex to put together a good program. Take the free dance, for example. We have to insert 11 elements, so practically you have no more time for anything else. Surely it's more objective than the previous system, this is a good thing, but I think that it would need some changes. I'd say that it has made ice dancing look a bit all the same. Look at the lifts. To get a high level you need a split position, so every couple now has a lift of that kind. Maybe they put too much emphasis on technique, neglecting a bit interpretation, which in the end is the soul of dancing.

F: What Massimo says is true. We worked a lot to build a free dance that could satisfy the requirements of the new judging system, but, at the same time, could also satisfy the artistic taste of the audience.

Well, the work may have been hard, but the two guys reached their aim. Their FD, on musics by Aretha Franklin, is really beautiful.