No Japanese ladies on podium...
I hope JSF can evaluate thoroughly and has a better plan to cultivate skaters.
One thing the JSF can do to nurture its medal hopefuls is not deflate the skater with the highest tech score in the Nationals LP by giving them third place PCS, especially when the same skater, in this case Rika, had received far higher PCS than her teammates in the Grand Prix Final LP after winning every competition that season. I think the reason not to do this is because a similar process happened again at Worlds in Japan with the exception of Satoko with Nationals perhaps planting the idea for extrapolating Rika's relative PCS deflation internationally. First, the Nationals precedent for PCS deflation apparently based on age was repeated internationally at the Challenge Cup when Rika was again given a lower PCS than another senior Japanese skater, Wakaba, despite having an even much higher relative tech score than in the National LP. And finally the precedent was carried out in the Worlds LP in Japan where Rika received the highest tech score yet again in the LP, but distant 4th place PCS despite having excellent skating skills and artistry. In addition, the deflation between Rika's tech score (almost 83) and her PCS score (almost 71) was greater than any other skater in the competition except one finishing 16th place.
Put more generally, I don't think the JSF should deflate or "meddle" with the minds of skaters at Nationals who have had the most successful season internationally by underscoring them and forcing them to adjust to a suddenly hostile scoring regime because it may harm their chances of "medaling" at Worlds or the Olympics by negatively affecting their psychological game and potentially setting a precedent for underscoring internationally, while the federation tries to teach them a "punitive scoring lesson." for mistakes made or tries to promote seniority when younger skaters are more likely to medal internationally.
Furthermore, the JSF shouldn't deflate skaters who achieve the highest tech content because otherwise the penalty would cancel out the reward of the risk.
But, the JSF has been known to undermine their best bet for medals before like when they forced Mao, the Grand Prix Final Champion, and Akiko, the National Champion, to train in a sandy and bitterly cold rink far away from the comforts of Japan before Sochi, while callously refusing urgent requests to train at home. The adjustment in the blades alone wreaked havoc with training and preparation for the event.
