New Coach For Johnny Weir, Three-Time U.S. Men’s Champion to Train With Galina Zmievskaya Options

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New Coach For Johnny Weir
Three-Time U.S. Men’s Champion to Train With Galina Zmievskaya

By Kathleen Bangs

As part of a long-term plan to be in podium contention for the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, reigning U.S. men’s bronze medalist Johnny Weir has left longtime coach Priscilla Hill, the woman credited with bringing him to three U.S. national championship victories.

Next month Weir will begin training with Ukrainian Galina Zmievskaya, at the Ice Vault rink in Wayne, N.J. Zmievskaya is best known for her coaching success with 1992 Olympic champion Victor Petrenko, now married to her daughter Nina, and 1994 Olympic ladies champion Oksana Baiul. Japanese champion Takeshi Honda is among Zmievskaya’s former high-profile students; an elite group that also included American Scott Davis.

Reached for comment from Japan where he’s performing with Champions on Ice, Weir said, “I’m excited for the new outlook and direction that I’ll get from skating with Galina Zmievskaya and her group. I have been thinking about this change for some time, and as much as it hurts to leave Priscilla (Hill), my mother figure for the last 10 years, it is something I had to do.”

Throughout a tough season that included losing his national crown to rival Evan Lysacek and an eighth-place finish at the 2007 World Championships, Weir, who spent previous summers getting additional training from Russia’s legendary coach Tatiana Tarasova, felt a major change was necessary to advance his results.

“Priscilla (Hill) understands my need for a change, because she did it herself in her own skating career when she moved to train with Carlo Fassi,” Weir said. “She’s given so much to my career, and I will miss seeing her everyday. The coaching switch was prompted because we grew too close. It’s hard to train under your ‘mother’ and we had learned to push each other’s buttons and work each other’s nerves. She is an amazing person and we parted mutually, on good terms. There was no drama, no huge falling out. It was just time for a change.”

After returning from Japan next week, Weir will attend a mandatory U.S. Figure Skating camp. In July he begins the process of moving from his home in Delaware, and will resume training on the ice for the first time in over a decade without Hill as his full-time coach. Weir still refers to Hill as the “best coach in America,” and said that he will always consider her a close friend to call in time of need. “I’m going to Galina Zmievskaya in hopes that she will light a fire under me, make me train better,” Weir said, “and help me be the best skater I can be.”

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