The same disclamer I posted before applies!
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Kazuki Tomono "Fighting Spirit": His vow for Reiwa era, which he learned from Hanyu and Chen
<Skaters (who are ready to) fly high in Reiwa: Kazuki Tomono>
In this serialization of "Skaters fly high in Reiwa", we feature athletes who swear to revenge themselves for their last season results in Heisei era. The second article is from Men Single, Kazuki Tomono (20 yrs old, Doshisha Univ), focusing what he saw this past season in his second senior year, after placing 5th in 2018 World Championships.
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On the night of March 23rd, 2019, Tomono was in Aichi. He was in a room of his lodging at Chukyo University, designated as the National Training Center for figure skating. He turned on a TV with Shoya Ichihashi (21 yrs old, Kansai Univ), a pairs skater, who shared a twin room with him.
At that time in Saitama Super Arena, World Championships Men's Free was happening. On the tv screen appeared his rivals one after another.
"Would he get it?"
"Let's see..."
"I think he will"
"Agreed"
Chatting like this, they devoured the performance of Yuzuru Hanyu (ANA) on the screen. Shouting at every jump, watching 'Winnie-the-pooh's thrown in from all directions, Tomono thought:
"I'm sure anyone, even those who don't skate themselves, found that performance 'awesome'. Even as a skater who competes internationally, I couldn't at all understand what kind of mental process he's got; he was in another realm. 'He can win two consecutive Olympic gold medals because he can bring out all he has,' that's what I was thinking."
Shortly afterwards, Nathan Chen, the 19 yrs old from the United States, surpassed Hanyu's score. For some reason, the two sat in silence while staring at Chen's 4 min performance.
"Ah... Sugee*..."
(Note: Sugee is from Sugoi, a slang in awe, like it's amazing, bloody h*ll, f*in s*t but no swearing)
Once finished watching the overwhelming performance, they felt their tension eased, running out of steam.
"While watching the amazing battle, I thought 'I'm glad I'm not there now to participate in it,' to be honest. It was really beyond our dimension. Both Hanyu-senshu and Nathan-senshu are amazing with their strength to bring all out in competition. It's easy to say, but the most important thing is to actually do it for real."
A year ago, in March, 2019 in Milan, Italy. Due to Hanyu's withdrawal, Tomono was in the rink at World Championship. The world was surprised at his performance there.
He started off with 11th in short program, but he bounced back with strong free skate of 3rd place and placed 5th over all. Tomono and Shoma Uno (Toyota) successfully earned Japanese Men 3 spots for 2019 WC.
The following season-off, the surrounding environment dramatically changed for him. He was seen as the new hope to follow Hanyu and Uno, the gold and silver medalists at PyeongChang, and was receiving increased media exposure. Regarding the change of publicity, "I could even feel it myself," he revealed.
Then this season started. He felt progress himself. He placed 3rd at Russian Cup, the 5th round of the Grand Prix Series in November, 2018. He was prepared both mentally and physically to reach peak performance set for Nationals in December, the WC qualifier for his second consecutive entry.
"This season's training/practice went better than ever. I had had a great training/practice that gave me confidence."
However, a thick "wall" appeared without warning. He fell on the first quad salchow in short program, and his fall was even an unusual one that hurled him forward onto the ice, hitting his body hard.
"At Japan Nats one year ago, I said that I was going to the Olympics. But honestly I knew I wasn't good enough, and I was just in a position of a challenger. But this season, I had the potential. I had never had an experience of carrying such a burden (pressure, expectation, and responsibility) before. Having made a mistake I had never done in competition before, I had let the mistake linger into the second half of the season, not exactly but sort of like a trauma (and couldn't get over it)."
He debuted in the Grand Prix Series last season in his first senior year; the NHK Trophy, also as a substitute to replace Daisuke Murakami.
"At both WC and NHK Trophy in my first senior year, I was a substitute. To be honest, I was just riding 'the momentum' then and I hardly remember (how I did) it. But in my second year, there was a completely different difficulty. I thought I understood how hard it was to represent Japan (and to be expected for results) in competition, but I couldn't handle it well."
He finished 4th at (this season's) Nats affected by his 4S mistake. He couldn't get the third spot for WC, which he hauled in himself in the previous season.
"I was aware that I still had a long way to go ability-wise, but still it's frustrating. As I watched WC on TV, I got inspired a lot and it gave me tingles. Any skaters all over the world would start working way harder once they watch it, I think. It fired me up too. It was really frustrating, and I want to struggle on, striving to revenge with my 100%, or 120%, 200%."
For technical aspects, he plans to improve the quality of technical elements to detail, such as spins and his free leg. Moreover, he is working on 4Lo, too.
"I'm better at jumping higher with edge jumps, so it feels like 'I can jump it'. It's still an extension of just having fun at the moment, but I'm seriously trying to land it. If it has a possibility, even if only slightly, to make it my own weapon, I think it's worth trying."
More importantly, he learned something more than just technical elements in the last season of Heisei era. Toward the next season in the first year of Reiwa era, he wrote "闘志(fighting spirit)!!" on his autograph board. After meeting with Hanyu and Chen, he felt what they had and he lacked a bit was "fighting spirit".
"In order to perform well with confidence in competition, I want to practice hard convincing myself that 'I will win' with a firm fighting spirit. I'm afraid I still lack this strong enough feeling of 'I want to win'. Next time, I want to show 'my real ability' instead of just riding the momentum. I'll hang in to participate in (2022 Beijing) Olympics and achieve results."
Tomono showed a strength in his gentle eyes (as he concluded).【by Wataru Matsumoto】
I don’t think JSF is deliberately being unfair or biased.
