2019-20 Japanese ladies' figure skating

[lusterfan]

Last year was wide open for her - winning Nationals and having judges lavish her with deserved GOE and PCS. Yet she lost focus at every competition, missing a medal every time (GPF, 4CC, Worlds). I love everything about her skating, but I hope Kaori can spend the extra time (since GPF is unlikely) to work on her mental game. I'd say her Worlds team spot is safe, but the new Russian seniors are not leaving any podium spots open - especially if Kaori continues to make mistakes!

She was a late season skater last year, so let's wait for her peak at Nationals and Worlds

 

[Joekaz]

Last year was wide open for her - winning Nationals and having judges lavish her with deserved GOE and PCS. Yet she lost focus at every competition, missing a medal every time (GPF, 4CC, Worlds). I love everything about her skating, but I hope Kaori can spend the extra time (since GPF is unlikely) to work on her mental game. I'd say her Worlds team spot is safe, but the new Russian seniors are not leaving any podium spots open - especially if Kaori continues to make mistakes!

She was a late season skater last year, so let's wait for her peak at Nationals and Worlds

Its amazing how much slack she gets for not performing under pressure compared to the way people used to dump all over Higuchi for supposedly choking.

 

[readernick]

Last year was wide open for her - winning Nationals and having judges lavish her with deserved GOE and PCS. Yet she lost focus at every competition, missing a medal every time (GPF, 4CC, Worlds). I love everything about her skating, but I hope Kaori can spend the extra time (since GPF is unlikely) to work on her mental game. I'd say her Worlds team spot is safe, but the new Russian seniors are not leaving any podium spots open - especially if Kaori continues to make mistakes!

She was a late season skater last year, so let's wait for her peak at Nationals and Worlds

I'm not sure her world's spot is safe. The one who is safe is Rika since she the only non-Russian with a genuine chance of medaling. Kaori, Satoko aren't safe. There are some strong competitors (mostly Yuhana Yokoi) who might skate well at nationals and Wakaba might be more fit by the time. Kaori doesn't have the highest BV, she needs to be clean.

 

[skatenewbie]

Its amazing how much slack she gets for not performing under pressure compared to the way people used to dump all over Higuchi for supposedly choking.

Kaori is national champion, have won 4CC gold medal, went to Olympic and place in top 6, made it to GPF, her form is good at last 2 season What about Wakaba? She did went to GPF in Olympic season and win World Silver medal but after that we all know she's injured and lost her consistency since then. No one expect her to perform clean everytime

 

[Joekaz]

Kaori is national champion, have won 4CC gold medal, went to Olympic and place in top 6, made it to GPF, her form is good at last 2 season What about Wakaba? She did went to GPF in Olympic season and win World Silver medal but after that we all know she's injured and lost her consistency since then. No one expect her to perform clean everytime

I didnt say she wasn't good. But she does have a history of blowing chances to medal at big international competitions. That 4 Continents competition that year was weaker than Japanese nationals. l don't include this season because Kaori is coming off injury, as is Wakaba. She seems better when in underdog role. Wakaba always had more expectations and pressure on her and has taken much more critisizm, although the Worlds Silver ended most of it.

 

[jenm]

I wish for Kaori and Wakaba to skate clean and be proud of themselves no matter what

 

[Joekaz]

I wish for Kaori and Wakaba to skate clean and be proud of themselves no matter what

This year they should concentrate on nationals and keeping the 3 spots for Japan.

 

[SNAKSuyun]

Its amazing how much slack she gets for not performing under pressure compared to the way people used to dump all over Higuchi for supposedly choking.

Um, sure, Kaori often would fall on a jump, not make an expected combo, or pop a jump, but Wakaba tends to have more "meltdown" skates. See today: Kaori made some minor mistakes that together with the SP kept her off the podium, Wakaba popped two jumps, had URs on top of that, and ended up with 25 less points than Kaori. :confused2: I love both of them and they're both inconsistent but Kaori hasn't quite had a meltdown like Wakaba often does.

Worried about the Japanese ladies as a group, though. Satoko is going to be buried in URs (if not downgrades) if her competitions are judged to the same standard as IDF. And Alena has shown that her PCS is on par with Rika's.

 

[Mishaminion]

Kaori had a good FS, but some small errors, not enough to get kn the podium. I hope she gains more consistency.

Wakaba was the opposite? Good SP, Rough FS

Yuna really struggled in both, is she injured?

 

[yude]

Yuna really struggled in both, is she injured?

She said she couldn't have enough training because of illness (she WD the last competition) and was worried about stamina in FS.

 

[Joekaz]

Um, sure, Kaori often would fall on a jump, not make an expected combo, or pop a jump, but Wakaba tends to have more "meltdown" skates. See today: Kaori made some minor mistakes that together with the SP kept her off the podium, Wakaba popped two jumps, had URs on top of that, and ended up with 25 less points than Kaori. :confused2: I love both of them and they're both inconsistent but Kaori hasn't quite had a meltdown like Wakaba often does.

Worried about the Japanese ladies as a group, though. Satoko is going to be buried in URs (if not downgrades) if her competitions are judged to the same standard as IDF. And Alena has shown that her PCS is on par with Rika's.

Wakaba has been a mess the last two seasons. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about making crucial mistakes at the pivotal time, and Kaori has been just as guilty if not more so than Wakaba. She has even admitted on several occasions that it was due to nerves. Yet not a fraction of the critisism Wakaba used to get. That's my only point. Right now its possible that Higuchi might not get her jumping back and it looks like both might have ,,messed themselves up working on 3A.

 

[SNAKSuyun]

Wakaba has been a mess the last two seasons. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about making crucial mistakes at the pivotal time, and Kaori has been just as guilty if not more so than Wakaba. She has even admitted on several occasions that it was due to nerves. Yet not a fraction of the critisism Wakaba used to get. That's my only point. Right now its possible that Higuchi might not get her jumping back and it looks like both might have ,,messed themselves up working on 3A.

I haven't seen too much hate for either skater myself, so I can only speculate based on what you've said, but I think it might be because Wakaba has a Worlds silver medal so some people may think her ceiling is higher? Kaori, for all the times she's been close to medaling and such, has never gotten (or been in real contention for) second or first at the biggest competitions (Worlds, GPF).

 

[Joekaz]

I haven't seen too much hate for either skater myself, so I can only speculate based on what you've said, but I think it might be because Wakaba has a Worlds silver medal so some people may think her ceiling is higher? Kaori, for all the times she's been close to medaling and such, has never gotten (or been in real contention for) second or first at the biggest competitions (Worlds, GPF).

You must not be a fan for too long then(not meant as a slight). Wakaba did have higher expectations because of greater success in juniors much earlier than Kaori(she is actually a year younger than Sakamoto ). But the Japanese press and fans were very critical of her for her body type and for perceived slights to Marin Honda, who was more popular. The worlds silver actually silenced alot of the criticism. I actually don't like choker criticism for any skater. The truth is almost all skaters perform less than their best when under maximum pressure.

 

[skatenewbie]

You must not be a fan for too long then(not meant as a slight). Wakaba did have higher expectations because of greater success in juniors much earlier than Kaori(she is actually a year younger than Sakamoto ). But the Japanese press and fans were very critical of her for her body type and for perceived slights to Marin Honda, who was more popular. The worlds silver actually silenced alot of the criticism. I actually don't like choker criticism for any skater. The truth is almost all skaters perform less than their best when under maximum pressure.

Did you mean in Worlds 2017? I remember Wakaba was blamed as reason why Japan losing 3 spot since Mai have redemption and placed 5th overall. Its ridiculous to remember some people also blame Satoko because she WD even though it was because of injury

 

[cohkaix]

Western sectionals underway: results LIVE in Japanese

Ayaka Hosoda had a 3A in both SP and FS each. But it is reported on twitter that she's having some lower back problems. Other elements were not executed quite well.
Her total score is 141.02 now.

 

[zanadude]

Western sectionals underway: results LIVE in Japanese

Ayaka Hosoda had a 3A in both SP and FS each. But it is reported on twitter that she's having some lower back problems. Other elements were not executed quite well.
Her total score is 141.02 now.

Ayaka's chances of going to Nationals do not look good.

And speaking of Triple Axels, Sui Takeuchi failed to qualify for the free.

 

[zanadude]

Yuhana Yokoi won Western Sectionals, with the only score above 200 points. Rin Nitaya finished second, and Sakura Yamada was third.

Ayaka Hosoda finished 16th, and will not progress to Nationals.

 

[nussnacker]

eh.. Kaori. I can't help and feel like she's being mistreated by the judges for 100th time.
Of course, people can say it's her fault for not being consistent and giving the judges the opportunity to score her this way.
However, not the first time I find myself disagreeing with the judges over Kaori's scores. and calls.

 

[Lunalovesskating]

eh.. Kaori. I can't help and feel like she's being mistreated by the judges for 100th time.
Of course, people can say it's her fault for not being consistent and giving the judges the opportunity to score her this way.
However, not the first time I find myself disagreeing with the judges over Kaori's scores. and calls.

Agree. When her TES went down by 10!!! points I nearly screamed. They were way too harsh on her

 

[mikeko666]

eh.. Kaori. I can't help and feel like she's being mistreated by the judges for 100th time.
Of course, people can say it's her fault for not being consistent and giving the judges the opportunity to score her this way.
However, not the first time I find myself disagreeing with the judges over Kaori's scores. and calls.

I would call it Akiko Suzuki treatment.