- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
From what I have seen so far, although it is very early, there is nothing that indicates the pitcture from Japanese Nationals will change from last year. Despite her upset victory over Mao and Yu-Na at Worlds last year, Miki Ando looks quite likely to settle for runner up in Japanese Nationals yet again. Miki started her season sluggishly with a loss to Meissner at Skate America, while Mao debuted on the GP circuit also with performances that are sluggish for her own high standards but still posted a win at Skate Canada, and much higher point total then Miki managed at Skate America. Yukari Nakano looks much stronger then Fumie Suguri to start the season, and was very impressive at Skate Canada minus a fall in the short program. Fumie is not an early season skater, but there are many disturbing signs for her, for starters how much lower her PCS are then they used to be, last year they were lower, and now they are even lower and worringly low for her, even for an off competition. I really dont see Fumie surpassing Yukari at Japanese Nationals the way things look now, and I think you will see Fumie miss Worlds a 2nd straight year.