- Joined
- Mar 21, 2005
Next season will be the last one for many skaters. Not a surprise.
I suspect they may be, but I really hope that Carolina and Mao are not included in that statement.
...Or Jenna (we need another few years for Dempsey Andrews to get near Jenna's level);
I suspect they may be, but I really hope that Carolina and Mao are not included in that statement.
Carolina has already announced this summer that Sochi season will be her last, too...Carolina has been around quite a long time, so I cannot imagine she would continue. Mao has struggled so much since 2009 that I can't imagine she would want to go another 4 years of intense training when she has already achieved so much in her career and would be unlikely to do better in 2018 than she had in 2010 and 2014.
Before this announcement, I believe that the official word was that Akiko wasn't sure if she would stick around for the Olympic season. So this announcement is actually good news.
Also, there's only a few sentences from Akiko in that Kyodo news blurb, and it's probably translated from Japanese, but she sounds kind of down (this is compared to her usual writing tone on her blog and her twitter). Cheer up, Akiko!
It's too bad she has to retire but I kinda expected it to be right after Sochi given her age. I'm crossing my fingers she makes the team for Sochi.
She probably is safe to make the team considering Japanese consider more than the results from Nationals. I guess the only danger would be if Ando comes back (unlikely) and she had a bad skate at Nationals and Asada, Ando, and Murakami were the top 3, and Murakami had started to produce some decent international results by then.
She probably is safe to make the team considering Japanese consider more than the results from Nationals. I guess the only danger would be if Ando comes back (unlikely) and she had a bad skate at Nationals and Asada, Ando, and Murakami were the top 3, and Murakami had started to produce some decent international results by then.