Austria's Olga Mikutina on growth and determination

Austria’s Olga Mikutina has gained a great deal of experience and success in her senior figure skating career which has propelled her forward with newfound confidence. By placing 8th at the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm, she effortlessly qualified for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, unaware that the World Championships would serve as a qualifying event. On the European stage, Mikutina has improved her results steadily year by year, placing eighth at the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania. This summer, we caught up with Mikutina in Feldkirch, Austria, where she is preparing for her fifth senior season. She reminisced about some memories and discussed her experiences over the years. The 2024 Swiss Open Champion is far from being done yet, as she aims to continue improving and qualify for her second Olympic Games in Milan in 2026. In the fall of 2023, Mikutina opened a new chapter in her life by moving to the United States to study full-time at Montclair State University while continuing her figure skating career. She shares her experiences from her first year living in a new country and explains how she manages her demanding schedule. We also talked about her growing confidence over the years and how it manifests in her skating. This season, Mikutina will keep her Spanish-themed short program from last season but will debut a new free skate for the 2024-25 season, created with her choreographer Rostislav Sinicyn in Oberstdorf, Germany. The free skate is an intriguing mix of slow and dynamic pieces. She selected "La Terre vue du ciel" in combination with drum music mixed by her uncle and modified by Sinicyn. The skater will kick off her 2024-25 season at the Challenger Series Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany next month followed by Skate America.