Milan-Cortina: Daniel Grassl is already fired up, "Kostner and Sinner inspire me"

“There is still a year to go but my preparation for the Milan Cortina Games has already begun. I want to improve more and more, have a stable program with two quadruple jumps in the short program and four in the long program. Who inspires me? To Carolina Kostner and Jannik Sinner, I listen to everything about him and treasure it.”

Between sport combined with art, music, magic and a lot of technique, the number one in figure skating in Italy, Daniel Grassl talks to AGI just over a year after the start of the Olympic Games in Milan Cortina and above all on the eve of the Turin Universiade which will open on Monday. “The program for the second part of the season will begin with the Universiade – says the 22-year-old Italian skater who trains right under the Mole together with Edoardo De Bernardis between the PalaTazzoli and the Palavela -. I study performing art and music at the E-Campus. I also like it because our sport is a combination of many things: it’s not just the jumps but the choreography and the music. In the summer we skaters have to do a long job of choosing the songs”. Grassl and Sinner are fellow countrymen, both South Tyrolean, the first is originally from Merano, the second from Sesto Pusteria, the two opposite ends of Alto Adige. On the choice of the music of the current season, the Fiamme Oro standard bearer adds: “For the long run I chose Billy Elliot, the film (The Musical, ed.) is beautiful, it inspired me because it reflects us skaters”.

Grassl’s agenda at the end of January includes the European Championships in the Estonian capital (“the memory of Tallinn is very beautiful, not only for the silver in 2022 but because it is a nice track”), then a break and then the World Championships and the World Team Trophy. “At the World Championships I would like to bring four quadruples in the long run, Lutz, Rittberger, flip and Salchow – explains Daniel who was the first European to close a quadruple loop in an international competition -. Nowadays in the world it is a battle of quadruples, to think that the American Malinin has inserted six, once upon a time we were amazed when only one was inserted”.

After the 2022 Beijing Olympics ended in seventh place, many changes and misadventures for Daniel Grassl, including the one linked to a incredible violation of the world anti-doping code. Attracted by Russia, in particular by the coach of the formidable Russian skaters, Eteri Tutberidze, the skater originally from Merano says, “I wanted to change, I wanted to try the American method but in Boston I found difficulties with nutrition, a completely different life, and I didn’t find myself with the system of training sessions taken per minute (25′). Then the experience in Moscow in the first semester of 2023. “Yes, my dream was to go to Eteri, I had postponed my departure for Russia several times – says Grassl -. The training system was also different, every day the training was equivalent to a race. Before going on the track, there was the order draw, then the six minute warm-up and immediately the performance. It was very difficult, I wasn’t used to it, I managed 5-6 months I have to say the experience in Moscow was beautifulI really liked their sports culture, I was surprised by how the girls jumped, they never seem to stop. I’m a fan of women’s skating, it’s not for nothing that Carolina Kostner was my inspiration.”

On the one-year disqualification due to ‘doping’, Grassl explains: “It was a question of compiling the whereabouts (the availability of the athletes, ed.), it was a very difficult period, I trained alone at home, I studied a lot and worked on the jumps on a mental level, but in the end this break was good for me.” This season, in addition to the Italian title, Daniel came close to the podium (fourth) in the prestigious Grand Prix final.