2018-19 Japanese Ladies' figure skating

[Spirals for Miles]

She should withdraw IMO.

I agree. Missing the GP (or just one, hopefully it's better soon) is a lot better than doing poorly because of injury. And Wakaba is a world medalist, many people are missing the GP, it's not like she'd be left behind if she missed. Maybe more if she did badly.

 

[yume]

I agree. Missing the GP (or just one, hopefully it's better soon) is a lot better than doing poorly because of injury. And Wakaba is a world medalist, many people are missing the GP, it's not like she'd be left behind if she missed. Maybe more if she did badly.

Exactly.
But reputation doesn't matter that much for everyone apparently.

 

[theharleyquinn]

I was expecting her to have WD by now. I'm hoping there's something we don't know, but I'm doubting that she healed up that quickly.

 

[christinaskater]

I’ve been following Figure skating for many years and I have to say that Satoko Miyahara’s SP is the best program I’ve ever seen! Pure brilliance

 

[Globetrotter]

I beg to disagree.
Rika does not have small jumps. Sometimes I feel like just because she’s Hamada’s student people automatically think she has tiny jumps.
Of course she doesn’t have huge jumps either but she gets decent height and distance, specially on her toe jumps. The Loop and Salchow are very unimpressive, but this season she’s doing some difficult transitions into them, I think to have a more “wow” effect. Very smart!
And I have to say, Rika is evolving in every aspect of her skating, including the jumps. She gets more height now than last season. Her 3F and 3Lz look very much improved. Her 3A is getting better and better. I LMAO when she said she wants to jump 3A like Midori Ito! [emoji23] You know what they say, you gotta aim high! [emoji23] LOL
I’d recommend taking a second look at Rika’s performances and comparing to other skaters, the difference is not that big really. But compare her to Polina or Tuktamysheva and of course her jumps will look tiny(and so will everyone else’s). [emoji23]

What I meant was that Rika’s jumps still don’t have that oomph factor. Say skaters like Karen Chen and Liza Tuks are small but they jump big visually. Other skaters like Kaori or Wakaba or Gracie Gold have an obviously powerful technique on their jumps. Rika gets nice distance on her jumps but the height is average. It’s not that the jumps are Satoko tiny.

 

[readernick]

I think Rika has a real chance ( if she can stay focused in competition/ not let nerves take over) of making a huge breakthrough this year. At least during the first two GPs, the judges have been very conservative with GOE /PCS marks. This trend should help Rika because she has the highest BV of any senior ladies skater.

I think Rika has beautiful jumps. They aren’t huge but they cover distance and her landings are so smooth. Her 3 loop is not great. ( as mentioned above— it actually looks better as the second jump in combination than by itself) but her 3A looks easy and graceful. Definitely good enough for +3 GOE which is about all judges have been giving on the GP so far. Liz T has more height on her 3A but it doesn’t cover as much distance nor does it have the same smooth landing. Polina T and Karen Chen have beautiful but UR jumps. Judges are not being kind to UR this year.
Additionally, Rika does not have edge issues with her jumps so she should avoid edge calls. All in all if Rika overcomes her own fears / stays calm in competition she should be on the World podium this year.

 

[leoleo]

East Japan Sectionals
Junior ladies
Top 9/Jr Nats Qualifiers

1 Tomoe Kawabata 173.55
2 Rion Sumiyoshi 163.62
3 Mone Chiba 152.65
4 Yuna Aoki 152.50
5 Rinka Watanabe 150.54
6 Natsu Suzuki 146.81
7 Shiika Yoshioka 142.07
8 Akari Matsuoka 134.95
9 Airi Miyamoto 125.34

cr: https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/1056169581717282816
Tomoe had a strong and clean FS but made mistakes in the sp! It's becoming a tradition with her

 

[Spirals for Miles]

What happened with Shiika?? she's normally consistent, isn't she?

 

[leoleo]

I think Rika has a real chance ( if she can stay focused in competition/ not let nerves take over) of making a huge breakthrough this year. At least during the first two GPs, the judges have been very conservative with GOE /PCS marks. This trend should help Rika because she has the highest BV of any senior ladies skater.

I think Rika has beautiful jumps. They aren’t huge but they cover distance and her landings are so smooth. Her 3 loop is not great. ( as mentioned above— it actually looks better as the second jump in combination than by itself) but her 3A looks easy and graceful. Definitely good enough for +3 GOE which is about all judges have been giving on the GP so far. Liz T has more height on her 3A but it doesn’t cover as much distance nor does it have the same smooth landing. Polina T and Karen Chen have beautiful but UR jumps. Judges are not being kind to UR this year.
Additionally, Rika does not have edge issues with her jumps so she should avoid edge calls. All in all if Rika overcomes her own fears / stays calm in competition she should be on the World podium this year.

Rika is in a good position right now, honestly her only obstacle is herself. She has no major jump issue like most skaters. She could improve some of her jumps to make them even better but she has no edge issues, no cheated takeoffs or UR problems. Her base value is huge, if she can stay focused she could easily podium at every competition this season or even win a few golds. Idk how pcs would go tho. But she has to land the damned jumps first, that's why with her i'm always half excited half nervous :gaah:

edit: Helsinki's field is pretty "weak" (i don't like using such terms out of respect for the skaters but there isn't a huge competition). Kaori can easily get silver if she skates like she did last week. I'd be at least less nervous knowing one of my favorite japanese girls has a confirmed ticket for the GPF.

 

[Noxchild]

Cannot believe how long we have to wait still for Rika to skate, but next week it's a Kaori vs Alina showdown... should be interesting!!

 

[leoleo]

Cannot believe how long we have to wait still for Rika to skate, but next week it's a Kaori vs Alina showdown... should be interesting!!

The ladies field in Helsinki is kind of underwhelming (for me). I'm excited for Alina, Kaori and Yuna but that's it. I guess it's good cause i'll be too busy losing hair over the men showdown anyway. NHK trophy is gonna be interesting. The competition there is crazy, all the ladies are so talented. Looking at how much Rika has improved between junior worlds and Ondrej Nepela, i wonder if she'll surprise us again at NHK. Her programs should be more polished for sure, i was mind blown by the changes in Beautiful Storm from summer ice shows to her first competition. I'm very excited to see lady Satoko again there, she gave me chills at SA, this season her programs are just wonderful and seeing her technical improvements makes me very happy as well.

 

[tosca]

Sorry if this was already brought up and i am rehashing it but why on earth did Yura get two GP's and Rika H only got one?

 

[lanceupper1114]

Sorry if this was already brought up and i am rehashing it but why on earth did Yura get two GP's and Rika H only got one?

I think Yura got one spot more due to her SB score, which was higher than Rika H's. If i remember correctly.

 

[leoleo]

MAKOOOOOOOOOO!!! :hap93:

 

[yude]

Congratulations, Mako That was her best performance from what I've seen so far (sorry I haven't watched all of her performances). Honestly, I haven't felt something special in her Madam Butterfly program before, but today, her presentation was fantastic and I was so moved. And her effortless jumps were also amazing (as usual).

Sad for Wakaba but I've read in an article that she is aiming for the best performance in Japanese nationals at this point, I hope she will be getting better and peaked in the end of December (also good luck on the next competition!).

 

[Noxchild]

With all the hullabaloo over Rika moving into seniors I think a lot of us forgot another talented youngster who made the transition... well, not tonight with that fantastic skate by Mako!! Literally a hair's breath from winning gold, and cloud-light jump landings :dance:If she keeps this up we have a new threat for Nationals and Worlds placements... not to mention Rika is probably dwelling on the point power of a well-executed 3A, as shown yesterday Slay, girls, slay!!

 

[leoleo]

With all the hullabaloo over Rika moving into seniors I think a lot of us forgot another talented youngster who made the transition... well, not tonight with that fantastic skate by Mako!! Literally a hair's breath from winning gold, and cloud-light jump landings :dance:If she keeps this up we have a new threat for Nationals and Worlds placements... not to mention Rika is probably dwelling on the point power of a well-executed 3A, as shown yesterday Slay, girls, slay!!

The japanese girls are not here to play this season, i'm living for this! 1 gold and 2 silvers so far in the GP

 

[yume]

Mako is so overlooked that everyone is always surprised when she medals. The girl is consistent since in juniors. She has a better debut of senior career than every other current top Japanese lady so far.

 

[sk8ath]

Mako is always consistent, and has medaled in most international competitions she's participated.
(The only exception is Asian Open Trophy in 2017?)

With that packed field, no one will be allowed to make a (small) mistake in the Nationals...

 

[yume]

With that packed field, no one will be allowed to make a (small mistake) in the Nationals...

Like last year.