I thought the Japanese ladies were outstanding. Rika Kihira performed that 3-axel with great ease. And she is so precocious with her confident presence and attack. Kihira also has such wonderful choreography in both programs. Kihira is amazing for someone so young. I don't feel Kihira was perfect because she landed back on a couple of jumps and slightly forward on one. However, both Kihira and Honda were determined in their fp performances. Kihira was great in the sp too, and IMHO she deserved to be in first after the sp. The judges appear to be holding back a bit on PCS for Kihira due to her age. If Kihira is this good now, I can't imagine what she is going to be like if she continues to develop at a strong pace. I find Honda to have a great deal of joie de vivre and a light quality about her skating. Honda had miscues in her sp, but she was on a mission in the fp. I didn't notice any under-rotations in Honda's fp at full speed, but I guess the tech caller examined the slo-mo closely with a microscope.
IMO, the Japanese junior ladies are so good, I can see them dominating in seniors, if they all make it to that level intact. Rika Kihira, Wakaba Higuchi, Marin Honda, and Satoko Miyahara who is already doing well in seniors. Miyahara is very elegant and so consistent, but the only thing that tends to hold her back is the small height she gets on her jumps. The junior Japanese ladies may well surpass Miyahara at some point.
I find Alina Zagitova and and Alisa Lozko of Russia to be competent skaters, with Alisa perhaps a bit more balletic, and Alina better technically. Both Alina and Alisa remind me of the same Russian aesthetic I have seen before that is not fresh or new, just one note and unexciting. Alina is also rather overbusy and flingy with her arms and legs. She has a jerky, acrobatic quality reminiscent of young Lipnitskaya. Of the current young Russian junior ladies, I think Polina Tsurskaya is seemingly the most promising, or at the least the most interesting to watch, for me.
Eunsoo Lim of Korea is quite lovely and talented. However, unfortunately she appears to have adopted Yuna Kim's bad habit of not making much effort to point her feet. Ashley Lin of the U.S. is also talented, but at this stage of her development she has rather gangly limbs. I enjoyed Sarah Tamura of Canada, but she skates more like a young girl at this point (which is to be expected, and is not a bad thing). Sarah has obvious huge talent, but she will need to gain more speed, finesse and power as she matures.
