2022-23 Japanese figure skating - pairs and ice dance

[rabidline]

By the way, is Azusa Tanaka no longer in the Kinoshita Academy? She's no longer listed as one of their trainees but her icepartner profile still list Cathy Reed as her coach, and then there's this:



I wonder if she's pairing up with a non-Kinoshita Academy skater....

 

[cohkaix]

LIVE to Kana & Dai's retirement conference:　https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6GPWX0q9eQ

starting soon, no VPN required.

 

[rabidline]

I wonder if she's pairing up with a non-Kinoshita Academy skater....

I called it, LOL.



Shingo Nishiyama and Azusa Tanaka are pairing up and will train at I.AM!

 

[cohkaix]

Azusa and Shingo~
Finally! Some good news to look forward to!

 

[rabidline]

Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda posted this on his Instagram story... Pairs tryout?

 

[skim1001]

Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi are announced as a new pairs team. They will train at Kinoshita Academy.

 

[cohkaix]

Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi are announced as a new pairs team. They will train at Kinoshita Academy.

Nagaoka: winning Tohoku-Hokkaido Regional (Jr.) in 2022, placing 23rd at Jr. Nationals.
With a 4-year age gap, assuming they will be completing at Sr. level without problem?

 

[rabidline]

Nagaoka is almost 18 yo without 3-3. I don't see a reason why they took her unless for pairs/ice dance.

Possible new partner for Moriguchi (Pairs) or Morita (Ice Dance)? Both are still under Kinoshita Academy. Leaning more towards Moriguchi since there are hints he has a senior-eligible partner already.

Called it once again, but under a different thread, LOL

Moriguchi and Nagaoka should be competing on the senior level, the issue with Moriguchi and Murakami (his previous partner) is that Murakami is 14 years old which makes her non-senior eligible. The gap between Moriguchi and Nagaoka might be 4 years but Nagaoka is 18 years old, which makes her eligible for senior. There are senior pairs spots available thanks to Rikuryu, and I think the coaching team from Kinoshita Academy should have earned some trust now from JSF since they managed to create a successful junior team (and their world champion senior team is under Kinoshita Group).

I think now it just depends on how convincing Moriguchi and Nagaoka are in practice (and hopefully local competition... if there's even some for pairs in Japan), so wishing them success!!!

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Nagaoka: winning Tohoku-Hokkaido Regional (Jr.) in 2022, placing 23rd at Jr. Nationals.
With a 4-year age gap, assuming they will be completing at Sr. level without problem?

Yes, Yuna has been Senior-eligible for the last two seasons already (even though she's been born on the other side of July 1st).

 

[rabidline]

@tsuyoboogie mentioned it back in the Japanese Women's thread, but it is interesting that Kinoshita Academy recruited 2 girls from the Tohoku-Hokkaido region with Mone Chiba and Yuna Nagaoka. I assume training at Kinoshita's facilities in Kyoto + shorter distance to Kanku Ice Arena is a pretty great draw compared to the infrastructure in their cities, especially that they're at the age of graduating from senior high school and entering college. Plenty of Kinoshita skaters are also students at Chukyo senior high school / or are in their correspondence school (Shunsuke Nakamura, Hana Yoshida and Ikura Kushida) so I assume that gives them access to the Chukyo University rink too...

 

[Sai Bon]

Great news that Sumitada has found a new partner, but I guess she's very new to pairs? I don't know much about her. Is she tiny and fierce? A four-year age gap sounds much more manageable.

 

[Dreamer57]

Great news that Sumitada has found a new partner, but I guess she's very new to pairs? I don't know much about her. Is she tiny and fierce? A four-year age gap sounds much more manageable.

長岡 柚奈 | 木下スケートアカデミー

国際大会で活躍ができるフィギュアスケーターの育成をいたします。

kinoshitaacademy.com

She's 155 cm tall.
I don't think many will have seen her skate, unless there are videos of the junior championships floating online.
Good luck to the new pair!!

& I really want to know what Lucas is doing.
I am clinging to snippets in the off season!

 

[Jumping_Bean]

長岡 柚奈 | 木下スケートアカデミー

国際大会で活躍ができるフィギュアスケーターの育成をいたします。

kinoshitaacademy.com

She's 155 cm tall.
I don't think many will have seen her skate, unless there are videos of the junior championships floating online.
Good luck to the new pair!!

& I really want to know what Lucas is doing.
I am clinging to snippets in the off season!

Ah, so she's actually almost the same height as Haruna (just one centimeter taller). That's really good to hear, as Sumitada is not the strongest or tallest partner and could have struggled with a significantly taller woman.

 

[rabidline]

Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda posted this on his Instagram story... Pairs tryout?

Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda is pairing up with Sae Shimizu for Pairs Skating under Kinoshita Academy!

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda is pairing up with Sae Shimizu for Pairs Skating under Kinoshita Academy!

And they're still junior-eligible this upcoming season! So they'll hopefully be able to do the JGP, maybe a Challenger event, and if they get minimums and want to, Jr Worlds, 4CC and possibly even Worlds.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda posted this on his Instagram story... Pairs tryout?

Yep, it was one

 

[TeamGubanova]

how old is Sae Shimizu?? (13-14); then there is no point i dont understand

 

[Jumping_Bean]

how old is Sae Shimizu?? (13-14); then there is no point i dont understand

She's 17. I know she might look small (she's just 155 cm tall after all), but she's senior-eligible under all rules (new and old). She's also junior-eligible for two more seasons (and Lucas for one more).

 

[yesterday]

I guess they really learned their lesson and take age into account more closely when pairing up

 

[mikeko666]

how old is Sae Shimizu?? (13-14); then there is no point i dont understand

You can see the dates of birth of the Kinoshita Academy Trainees here (in Japanese only).