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I hope Mao is still tops but they will need more to challenge to 2 lovely up and coming Russian girls on the world scene and Olympics. They are only 13 but by the Olympics they will probably surprise people if puberty doesn't do them in.
☆Genie;484657 said:Hm..they do have talented girls, but It seems like most of them haven't gone through puberty yet.
I 100% agree with you.I think Kanako is too unpolished - she didn't hit a single position that I found beautiful in her grand prix performances. She's energetic, but she's just all over the place in terms of her spins, and even her jumps look uncontrolled. As for her expression, I'm not a huge fan of "cute" or "spunky". At 15, mao had significantly better jumps, and I think that mao was more graceful too. As for presentation, Sasha at 15 had perfect lines and a very polished style. Kanako still has a long way to go toward fixing those things; I think it's too early to say much about her. However, I can tell that Mirai is almost there in terms of technique and expression - I think she may be at her peak in Sochi. But really, 4 years is too far in the future. There may be some 13 year old who nobody's heard of yet who will win it all in 2014.
I 100% agree with you.
Actually, Kanako's performance abilities in one of her SP's that I saw, were superior (I felt) to Mao and YuNa's at 15. However, in jumping abilities, lines, gracefulness, or overall personal charm, I find her a little lacking compared to Mao and YuNa at the same age.
I hope Mao remains the big Japanese lady at Sochi.
The problem is finding a partner in Japan.Hey so Kanako is really little and where she does not do 3loop and has a bad flutz, I was thinking maybe if she stays tiny she should switch to pairs. In pairs flip, toe, and sal are enough to go far and she's flexible too which would help her. She is only 4'11" at age 15 so she is the perfect size too, I don't see her getting that tall considering Mao is like the tallest of the Japanese ladies and she is only 5'4" and at 15 she was already 5'3".
The problem is finding a partner in Japan.
I somehow doubt she'll be able to find a suitable partner...
I actually don't understand why Japan doesn't have some pairs teams. I mean they have a TON of good singles skaters in men's and women's singles. Surely some of those people could be encouraged to see that a future in singles might be tough-so why not try pairs...
Maybe they don't want to be responsible for the other skater?
Meaning -- if they screw up, their partner must suffer low scores as a result even if the partner skated perfectly.
I actually don't understand why Japan doesn't have some pairs teams. I mean they have a TON of good singles skaters in men's and women's singles. Surely some of those people could be encouraged to see that a future in singles might be tough-so why not try pairs...
I think part of it may have to do with the physical size of the men.
Yeah they are pretty tiny, there are a bunch of pictures of team Japan together and Mao and Miki are as big as all the guys!

But the chinese men are short too, yet they have great pairs teams. There's not a huge height difference between Shen and Zhao. If Kanako stays tiny, even a 5'6'' or 5'7" guy will be big enough for her. I think the major obstacle is the lack of interest in pairs in Japan.
I actually don't understand why Japan doesn't have some pairs teams. I mean they have a TON of good singles skaters in men's and women's singles. Surely some of those people could be encouraged to see that a future in singles might be tough-so why not try pairs...
The problem is that the guys are pretty short and maybe not strong? I can so totally see Shizuka paring up with Oda and throwing him around though. Is that allowed?
I can totally see that.