He's skating on top of the world

The Smucker's Stars on Ice tour comes to the Hartford Civic Center Friday, showcasing the talents of 2002 Olympic pair champions Jamie Sali and David Pelletier of Canada and Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze of Russia (remember the gold medal fiasco at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City?). Also featured are skating legends Katarina Witt, Todd Eldredge Kurt Browning and Scott Hamilton, who founded and starred in Stars on Ice since 1986 and will return in a special guest appearance.

Alexei Yagudin, 22, is making his debut with the tour. The Russian-born skater won the Olympic gold medal in 2002 and earned the highest marks ever by a single skater in Olympic history, receiving four perfect 6 scores in artistry.

We spoke to Yagudin last week as he stopped in Philadelphia:

Q: Tell us about the show.

A: There's an [opportunity] to do different numbers just to show to the people what you're capable of doing ... so I do three solo numbers, three group numbers.

Q: How long does it take you to practice for a show like this?

A: Do you mean creating the show or getting ready every day?

Q: Getting ready.

A: Well, it depends on the personalities. I don't really like to skate that much. ... I skate in each show pretty much a lot, so it's going to be like the whole day of just skating ... but all the people are divided by two groups. Most of the time we do have like 45 minutes of practice time for each group.

Q: Who choreographs your solo numbers?

A: All my solo numbers have been created by my coach, Tatiana [Tarasova].

Q: Is it a different feeling to skate at the Olympics vs. skating in a fun show like Smucker's Stars on Ice?

A: Well, it's different because now, you know, when I skate, I don't really care about the judges because there are no judges [here]. I mean, typically it is way harder to do this because you skate so many numbers. ... Emotionally, it is way easier ... You know, it's not the Olympics; it's not the world championships. But overall, I can say that this is a pretty hard job to do, the tour.

Q: Who do you look forward to skating with?

A: It doesn't really matter. I don't underline anyone [special] because I think everybody is different. I like to work with everyone.

Q: What do you like to do besides skating?

A: I like to play tennis. I don't really like playing golf because the ball never goes the way I want it to go. On the tour, you don't really have a lot of [free] time because you have to get to the arena like four hours before each show ...

Q: Do you live in Connecticut?

A: Yeah. Well, I can't really say that, but yeah, I kind of do. ... I can say that the whole world is my home because most of the time I spend on the road.

Q: So are you dating anyone?