2018-19 Japanese Ladies' figure skating

[cohkaix]

Just out of curiosity - may I ask what you mean by “getting the best slots”? The fed only has control over who gets NHK.

That's true. However it's quite obvious that at the moment even NHK itself as a media has been drawing to the success of Rika (I'd say). So it could be easily inferred that for the NHK trophy next season, Rika will most likely get 1st pick, whereas Satoko might finally be 'released' and assigned somewhere else.

 

[KweenAsada]

Just out of curiosity - may I ask what you mean by “getting the best slots”? The fed only has control over who gets NHK.

I'm not a fan that knows the ins and outs as well as some of you. I just remember that when this year's Grand Prix's were released there was some hullabaloo on here due to Satoko seemingly getting preferential treatment over Wakaba despite Wakaba being the World silver medalist. I believe that moving forward if there is any wiggle room given to a Japanese lady, Satoko will not be the one getting it.

 

[largeman]

I wish she could go clean more often because when she’s clean she’s SUCH a gorgeous skater.

Tomoe's jumps are incredible.

 

[randomfan]

I'm not a fan that knows the ins and outs as well as some of you. I just remember that when this year's Grand Prix's were released there was some hullabaloo on here due to Satoko seemingly getting preferential treatment over Wakaba despite Wakaba being the World silver medalist. I believe that moving forward if there is any wiggle room given to a Japanese lady, Satoko will not be the one getting it.

Then those people are likely mistaken. The federations of each GP can choose anyone from the pool, and naturally that’s how Wakaba and Satoko got their spots. It’s too bad that Wakaba’s original two fields turned out to be harder than Satoko’s SA, but that’s just luck. There is no way for the feds to (initially) determine the best spot or which decision gives preferential treatment. You can see that through how Satoko was given NHK as a host pick, which ended up being the toughest event of the season, and it still would’ve been pretty intense even without Rika (who was only added in the roster later on).

I’m thinking the outcry you are referring to may have happened because the Japanese fed could have chosen Wakaba over Satoko for NHK, which is true since as you said, she was the world silver medalist. But they should keep in mind that the gap was less than a point, and Satoko outscored Wakaba at both the GPF and Nationals by more than 10 points for both (plus she won the latter one, and the title of national champion is pretty important when considering who to give the home spot to).

But anyways, I agree that Rika will probably be the priority for next year’s NHK, as long as she finishes this season well. I just hope this cleared up any misunderstandings you had about the GP selections.

 

[zanadude]

If by some miracle Mai finishes above Satoko at nats...

I don't see why you would think that that would have to be a miracle. Mai outscored Satoko as recently as 4CC, and her score in all of her international competitions this year were higher than Satoko's score in GPF last weekend.

 

[sekhmets]

Where does Wakaba stand in the current field/what does the future hold for her? She's by far my favourite among the Japanese ladies and I would hate it if last season were the peak of her career. I'm worried that with her injury and the strength of the current field, she risks getting buried like Mai and Marin.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

And now...we are at the point where Satoko is done!

Seriously I heard that before. But our Tinyqueen is tough as nail. She will be around to proof people wrong I'm sure.

LOL Satoko wins a Grand prix gold and silver (losing to Kihira), has one bad competition (where she still clears 200), and all of a sudden she's "done". Riiiiight.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Where does Wakaba stand in the current field/what does the future hold for her? She's by far my favourite among the Japanese ladies and I would hate it if last season were the peak of her career. I'm worried that with her injury and the strength of the current field, she risks getting buried like Mai and Marin.

I wouldn't count her out just yet (I mean, look at Tuktamysheva). But it looks like she's going to have her hands full trying to get top 5 at Nationals this year. It doesn't help that her FS (IMO) is woefully subpar compared to her stellar FS last season. With a good vehicle though and getting back into competition form (her jumps especially) I could picture her resurging, though.

 

[Plumededragon]

LOL Satoko wins a Grand prix gold and silver (losing to Kihira), has one bad competition (where she still clears 200), and all of a sudden she's "done". Riiiiight.

I agree. Satoko hasn’t been in a good position before and she still bounced back. She’ll be fine and with Rika being her teammate, both have each other as a source of motivation.
I honestly think she has a good chance at National podium and being selected for Worlds.

 

[gravy]

LOL Satoko wins a Grand prix gold and silver (losing to Kihira), has one bad competition (where she still clears 200), and all of a sudden she's "done". Riiiiight.

Exactly. Satoko URed her way to 5th place at the final last season and people were saying she was done (and really people were sticking a fork in her after NHK). She went on to win Japanese Nationals (I don't think she'll do the same this year, not because she's "done" but because she'll be beat by a girl with 3 triple axels), 4th at the Olympics, and 3rd at Worlds.

She was also hit with tons of URs in Boston, had subpar performances at her Grand Prixs the next season (one of which included getting her StSq invalidated) and ended up getting the highest scores of her career at the final until she beat them in Pyeongchang.

She's always been up and down in terms how her jumps are judged, I don't know why people seem to think this time is any different.

 

[liv]

Yup, if Satoko gets a friendly tech panel she's right up there no matter what has happened in the past. She doesn't let those things bother her and bounces back. And JNats has always been kind to her. If Rika does what she is capable of then I think the JNat title is hers, but I don't count out Satoko for the podium.

 

[Joekaz]

Where does Wakaba stand in the current field/what does the future hold for her? She's by far my favourite among the Japanese ladies and I would hate it if last season were the peak of her career. I'm worried that with her injury and the strength of the current field, she risks getting buried like Mai and Marin.

She's still in good position as long as injuries arent a long term problem. She is only 17(a year younger than Kaori) and along with Rika probably the most well rounded between jumping and presentation. But she really needs to try to get her 3A going and get serious on constructing her program to maximize points. For instance drop the flip which she always gets an edge call on. Hopefully she will go to Orser next year now that she will be out of high school. Her biggest worry is that she has never really got support from the federation so she wont be given anything without earning it. I think after the stress of last year she needed a year off mentally anyway.

 

[rlopen]

Tomoe's jumps are incredible.

Ugh don’t even get me started on her clean triple lutz and toe combination. Gorgeous.

 

[noraaa]

No. Yuhana clean should go above Tomoe IMO. And yuhana is more consistent in the free program than tomoe.

I adore Yuhana's skating, even if she doesn't have such eye-catching huge jumps like Tomoe's lutz for example. Something about her skating is very striking to me - I hope she can continue to improve next season as well!

 

[lusterfan]

Does anyone know when they announce the team for 4cc? Is it after nationals? I'm trying to decide if I want to go to 4cc based on who will be competing.

 

[RafaelAstro]

My dream team for worlds: Rika Kihira, satoko miyahara, kaori Sakamoto
My dream team for 4cc: Rika Kihira, Mai Mihara, Mako Yamashita
My dream team for winter universiade: Yuna Shiraiwa, Marin Honda, Wakaba Higuchi

 

[DenissVFan]

My dream team for winter universiade: Yuna Shiraiwa, Marin Honda, Wakaba Higuchi

I don't think either of them is a university student?

 

[RafaelAstro]

My dream team for junior worlds: Yuhana Yokoi, Nana Araki, Tomoe Kawabata

 

[RafaelAstro]

I don't think either of them is a university student?

Then I don't know which skaters should go there

 

[DenissVFan]

Then I don't know which skaters should go there

I think Mai was supposed to start university this year.