- Joined
- Jul 3, 2018
Rika just did ten 3 Axels in practice. 8 of them were clean, she fell once and the other had the foot down. Yay so happy that she is having a good practice.
Rika Kihira
- Thread starter Marin
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2018
Yuuuup
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2018
That‘s ... crazy. Fingers crossed to see two clean ones tomorrow. Come on, Rika, you have 8 perfect 3As, you can spare two of them for competition time.
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2018
That‘s ... crazy. Fingers crossed to see two clean ones tomorrow. Come on, Rika, you have 8 perfect 3As, you can spare two of them for competition time.
Go go Rika! Ah I am so excited for tomorrow. Hope she has a clean skate. Also when Rika will add her 4S and 4T next season it will be insane.
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2018
10 3As is just a typical Rika practice. She’s a tiny beast. She was actually tame today.
A successful SP made me calmer for the free. I was freaking out this morning.
I just want her to have a free skate she’s proud of even tho i know if perfectly clean as usual she’s still gonna say « it was good but it needs to be even better »
The journalists at the conference were so pushy with those rivalry questions, you could see Alina was so uncomfortable too.
Some people are losing it in YouTube comments i have seen all kinds of lies about her today: from she has a flutz, to she has a bad flip to her 3A is ugly and she has no skating skills. I have to laugh
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
Her jumps are kind of average.
Great, first she takes Marin Honda's spot as The Next Big Thing, and now she steals her mascot!
They are too young to understand that the media is trying to help them. Playing up a rivalry, even just for the cameras, would generate sorely needed interest in the sport, ultimately benefiting them and all other skaters.
Nobody can compete with her physically. If her mental game continues to develop, it's scary to think what she is capable of accomplishing.
Her jumps aren't the highest, that much is true. There was a site that showed Rika's jump height on her non-3A jumps is literally average across women this year and she's relied on fast rotation. However, her jumps, bar the 3A, have been very clean. I recall only a few jump blemishes this season: 3A (obviously); 3Lz+3T<, presumably a bit stressed from having to change her 2T to a 3T at IdF because first 3A didn't work; 3S at Ondrej Nebula. Have I missed any?
Now check out the rest of the field. Rika's consistency stacks up very well against them. Alina has been good outside her 3Lo. Liza hasn't tried a 3F yet and her 3A is equally shaky.
When Rika starts landing clean 4Ts in competition, we'll see how average her jumps really are then.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
So... "yes, they are average"? Not much of what you said has anything to do with quality. She lands a lot of stuff, it is true and impressive, but there must be a focus on quality.
If it's not done with quality, then the only impressive thing about it would be the fact that she attempts great difficulty,
Why are you in the fan fest talking like this? And Rikia jumps use good technique and she has great flow coming out of them. In fact if you would listen to the commentators you will here it from them. She has speed and decent height and flow that is more than average.
My apology that response is for chopinskate not you. I think her jump height is decent and sometimes they are bigger. But quality of jumps is not just height. It also includes technique and edges and flow. She has all of that which is far from average in comparison with current skaters.
Ok, looks like I need to clarify my statent about her 4T.
I do like that jump of hers. The recording I saw was not perfect, but she only needs it to be perfect next season. Plenty of time. Then, when I said 'how average it is', I really meant 'you'll see that she's not average at all'. I just finished talking about her consistency in my comment; I wasn't putting her down.
However, I will point out what I think she can work on; this gives us things to watch for next skate to see if her scores will go up.
Finally, she probably doesn't have high triples because her triple axel(s) take so much effort. I'm not bad-mouthing her jump technique; the take-off, landing and musicality overall are a lot better than nearly every other female skater I've seen this year. But her jumps aren't the highest (not that it matters; I mention it as the ONLY thing average about her jumps, to reply to chopinskate) and you can't deny that.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
Yes, fan fest, not fanatic fest. Reasonable criticism makes for valid posts.
Technique is literally a means to send the skater up into the air. She doesn't get great vault in all her jumps, nor is her air position particularly great at all times, it sometimes even kills her flow. Her jumps also often look pretty powerless in the air due to a combination of her fast rotation and lack of jump size. Her jumps just end, they're not particularly robust. These are areas she needs to work on. She had a decent showing at the GPF SP.
They look powerless because they're effortless. That's a good thing. It doesn't look like she fights for her non-axel jumps.
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2017
Literally people praise skaters for having powerful jumps, lol. I'm not using "powerless" there as a synonym for "effortless". She's not a very powerful jumper.
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2017
Yeah, @chopinskate, what's up? The statement "her jumps are kind of average" doesn't surprise me nor does it sound baffling to me but all of a sudden to come here and post simply "Her jumps are kind of average" does not look good. :roll5:
This is a fanfest and while I think it is a place for criticism too and for healthy discussions(particularly @leoleo and I do that often here), a simple statement like that is just unnecessary at this particular place and time.
But sure, let's discuss.
Rika's jumps are average.
Well, some of the characteristics of her jumps are indeed just average. To be specific, height and distance. Her 3Lz has a more decent height and especially distance than her other solo jumps. Her 3Lo is definitely her worst jump, something is not right with that one, she always has a strange landing, it looks like she is too forward or tilted or something, there is not a great running edge coming out of it so I'd say her 3Lo is indeed average, it's not awful and it's not great. Her 3S is pretty decent, a bit small, but alright. Her 3F is ok, not as big as the 3Lz, at least that's my impression, but it's a good jump with very good flow in and out. That is, when she is on, when she's not skating well her jump quality goes down of course. Her 3A is actually great, again, it has decent height and distance and the setup is not long. She doesn't jump big like Liza but her jumps are in general effortless looking, they look light and when the landing is good, it is great, with good posture and good running edge.
Of course, if you have very high standards, Rika's jumps might be even below average, but for today's standards, in the current field, her jumps have some qualities that are lacking from other Ladies' jumps. So far I've only seen a few crazy GOEs for Rika's jumps, I think +3s and even +4s in some cases are justified, given that the "very good height and distance" is so, but sooooo open for interpretation.
Oh, and Rika does not have any issues with edges which is such a bless!
Also, forgot to mention the pre-rotation and toepick technique. Well, from what I've observed, it seems the amount of PR on her jumps can vary... Her toepick technique is good though, I haven't seen anything atrocious overall. Could it be better? Sure! It could be Tomoe's levels of better technique, but it is what it is and as I said, in the current field, it is more than good enough. Her URs are usually a fluke, when she skates bad she tends to UR. But I have to say, compared to last season, I think they did a fine job at making sure her jumps are not deemed UR under the new rules. :thumbsup:
This is a fanfest and while I think it is a place for criticism too and for healthy discussions(particularly @leoleo and I do that often here), a simple statement like that is just unnecessary at this particular place and time.
But sure, let's discuss.
Rika's jumps are average.
Well, some of the characteristics of her jumps are indeed just average. To be specific, height and distance. Her 3Lz has a more decent height and especially distance than her other solo jumps. Her 3Lo is definitely her worst jump, something is not right with that one, she always has a strange landing, it looks like she is too forward or tilted or something, there is not a great running edge coming out of it so I'd say her 3Lo is indeed average, it's not awful and it's not great. Her 3S is pretty decent, a bit small, but alright. Her 3F is ok, not as big as the 3Lz, at least that's my impression, but it's a good jump with very good flow in and out. That is, when she is on, when she's not skating well her jump quality goes down of course. Her 3A is actually great, again, it has decent height and distance and the setup is not long. She doesn't jump big like Liza but her jumps are in general effortless looking, they look light and when the landing is good, it is great, with good posture and good running edge.
Of course, if you have very high standards, Rika's jumps might be even below average, but for today's standards, in the current field, her jumps have some qualities that are lacking from other Ladies' jumps. So far I've only seen a few crazy GOEs for Rika's jumps, I think +3s and even +4s in some cases are justified, given that the "very good height and distance" is so, but sooooo open for interpretation.
Oh, and Rika does not have any issues with edges which is such a bless!
Also, forgot to mention the pre-rotation and toepick technique. Well, from what I've observed, it seems the amount of PR on her jumps can vary... Her toepick technique is good though, I haven't seen anything atrocious overall. Could it be better? Sure! It could be Tomoe's levels of better technique, but it is what it is and as I said, in the current field, it is more than good enough. Her URs are usually a fluke, when she skates bad she tends to UR. But I have to say, compared to last season, I think they did a fine job at making sure her jumps are not deemed UR under the new rules. :thumbsup:
Because jumping triple axels requires no power. Ok. If she starts jumping quad everything, that's when I'll start worrying about her jumps not being powerful enough.
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2017
I have never seen those people!
Quite the opposite... LOLBut I don't doubt they exist.
I don't think Rika is a powerful jumper.
I think the fact that she has a 3A and can even land it in combination with a 3T, something never done before by a Lady in competition, makes her seem all more powerful than she is, it's an optics kind of thing.
With that said, I've explained in previous post what I think are the positives and negatives of her jumps, I think that she can surely make them better. I mean, I don't know if she actually can or will, but there are things to improve indeed. Height and distance are definitely one of them.
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2017
By "not powerful" I think @chopinskate means not having the kind of "BAM" someone who jumps really big has. There are skaters whose jumps are light and fast like Rika's and I find them very pretty and all but I don't think they are powerful. There are skaters whose jumps might not look as light and effortless but they are huge and look powerful, like a bomb going "BOOM".
oh, these metaphors are killing me! LMAO
Anyway, of course Rika is powerful in her own way, the jump itself it's not powerful though.
But again, the optics... Seeing Rika landing those 3As as if they were nothing does send a powerful message... Get it?? :rofl2:
Joking aside, you get my point, right?
