Video Interview

Annabelle Prölß/Ruben Blommaert

Oberstdorf, Juli 2014

Annabelle Prölß, 15, and Ruben Blommaert, 22, were German Champions in 2013 and started well into the past season until Annabelle became sick and they missed most of the second half of the season. Now the team is preparing at their training base in Oberstdorf for the upcoming season.

Q: Here are Annabelle Prölß/Ruben Blommaert, a promising young pair skating team from Germany. Annabelle and Ruben, it is very nice that you have some time to talk to us today. We have some good news, meanwhile Ruben has received his German citizenship. Ruben, when did that happen?

Ruben: Yes, exactly. I was able to pick up my citizenship certificate on July 1 in Sonthofen. Now I have been German for one week and I feel good.

Q: Do you feel any different than before?

Ruben: No. I am glad that it happened so fast. I turned in all my documents in March and it worked out already. I am very happy.

Q: We see that your preparations for the season are underway. You have mounted a new free program with Lori Nichol. Can you please tell us something about this, how this went, which music you have chosen and why?

Annabelle: We are skating to music from “The Artist” and we really like it. The choreography was a lot of fun, but it was also pretty difficult at the beginning, because we never worked on a program with so many new things. But it was a lot of fun and now we are practicing it so that it will go well in competition.

Q: How was it to work with Lori Nichol? She is a star choreographer.

Annabelle: It was very nice and it was a lot of fun.

Q: What about the short program?

Annabelle: It is the old one, but we are still thinking if we will use vocals or not. We don’t know yet.

Q: Are you working with someone on the short program as well?

Annabelle: We adapt it with Mr. Fajfr.

Q: On which elements are you working especially at this time?

Ruben: For the short program, (we are working) on the new elements for the next season. Other than that, we are trying to improve everything so that we can get better.

Q: Mr. Fajfr told us yesterday that you are working on the twist and that you are changing the technique a little bit.

Annabelle: Yes, we are changing it a bit so that it gets a higher level and we have a difficult entry. We are trying to make it higher obviously and therefore we are changing the throwing technique a bit.

Q: So you are still working hard, which is good. But at the same time you have a lot of work at school, Annabelle. How do you deal with that?

Annabelle: Yes, now it is the end of the academic year and there are all these exams, especially since I have missed a lot during the year because of competitions. So I have to pass exams on a lot of topics, sometimes over the whole year. It is quite stressful, but it will be over soon.

Q: Hopefully all will have gone well then. What else are you planning this summer? How do you want to train during the summer?

Ruben: I think we’ll stay in Oberstdorf and continue like we are doing now. When Annabelle is out of school we’ll have some more time to train and it will be a bit more relaxed, because she has to do a lot at school now.

Q: There is also a show that you will participate in, right?

Annabelle: Yes, on August 1, there is “Summer on Ice” here. Of course we’ll take part in it and we are really looking forward to it and we hope that you will come to watch.

Q: Something like that is always a nice change. What competitions do you plan to do this season?

Annabelle: We don’t have a competition plan yet, but we do hope that we can participate at Nebelhorn Trophy here in Oberstdorf.

Ruben: Yes, we are waiting now. We have to see where Mr. Fajfr goes with his other athletes. As soon as all this has been set we’ll know our own plans.

Q: What goals are you setting for yourself this season? This is the first season that Annabelle can compete at the European and World Championships.

Ruben: Yes, exactly. She is old enough now. Germany has two spots and we want to get a spot at Europeans and Worlds.

Q: We wish you the best of luck for that and successful summer training. We’ll see you in the fall. Thank you very much!

Annabelle and Ruben: Thank you!