2019-20 Japanese ladies' figure skating | Page 49 | Golden Skate

2019-20 Japanese ladies' figure skating

Status
Not open for further replies.
Between this and IdF Kaori's been marked for several underrotations for two big competitions in a row. I wonder if it's just a temporary problem with form/technique, or if she's going to be scrutinized as a chronic URer like Satoko going forward...

Kaori does seem to be underrotating her jumps a lot this season, no idea why... it is becoming a problem it seems.
 
So, have the team for 4CC be Wakaba, Satoko and Kaori. I‘d say with a silver Wakaba has earned her spot for Worlds fair and square. The third spot should be decided between the latter two and whoever skates better at 4CC gets it.

Impossible. All selections are final tomorrow. Also, Yuhana hasn't met any of the conditions to be selected for Worlds.

Looking at the predictions game, only one person selected Kawabata at all, and that selection was for tenth. Why was she so overlooked?
 
Impossible. All selections are final tomorrow. Also, Yuhana hasn't met any of the conditions to be selected for Worlds.

Looking at the predictions game, only one person selected Kawabata at all, and that selection was for tenth. Why was she so overlooked?
Because she's a junior and inconsistent especially in the free skate. She tend to do well in SP and fall apart in free skate. She does have very huge jumps especially her lutz. In junior she get quite good PCS already, if she got picked for 4CC/Worlds and skate like she did tonight surely her score would be quite huge
 
Impossible. All selections are final tomorrow. Also, Yuhana hasn't met any of the conditions to be selected for Worlds.

Looking at the predictions game, only one person selected Kawabata at all, and that selection was for tenth. Why was she so overlooked?

Inconsistency. Everyone who watches juniors knows the kind of potential she has... but she has been so inconsistent in competition. She isn't someone you depend on in your predictions. I hope that changes. She is a lovely skater and she has interesting programs
 
Impossible. All selections are final tomorrow. Also, Yuhana hasn't met any of the conditions to be selected for Worlds.

Looking at the predictions game, only one person selected Kawabata at all, and that selection was for tenth. Why was she so overlooked?

She used to have severe issues with edge jumps and started the season a bit slowly due to the coaching change, a growth spurt and the fact that in juniors the required jump is loop, which used to be her nemesis. She also has no senior experience.

I've gotta say, I'm really impressed with her progress. She not only kept her jumps through the growth spurt, but her technique on the edge jumps improved a lot and they seem to have become very stable. She also added a lot of transitions in comparison to the previous season (I love her entrance into 2A in the SP) and her programs are great. IMHO, she was really underscored here. The height of her jumps, her SS and regal presentation are top notch.

Between this and IdF Kaori's been marked for several underrotations for two big competitions in a row. I wonder if it's just a temporary problem with form/technique, or if she's going to be scrutinized as a chronic URer like Satoko going forward...

What worries me is that, for some reason, she no longer repeats 3F (just 3L and 3T). 3F used to be a very reliable jump for her. Maybe she's nursing some minor injury?

However, I wouldn't be too worried about the URs in the second half today, I think that's mostly caused by the unplanned layout change. Kaori's a skater who depends on the speed/ice coverage to rotate her jumps, and once her momentum went off the rails, she just didn't manage to get back on track in time. Also, falls at that speed are probably not fun.


I don't envy JSF having to make the choice tomorrow. Tomoe was by far the best out of the people vying for the 3rd spot, but she has no senior experience and it seems smarter to send her to Junior Worlds, where she has a chance to medal (and help secure the spots for the next season). She also has no senior TES, so if they wanted to send her to both Senior and Junior Worlds they'd have to send her to some competition to get the TES, then to Juniors, then to Seniors... Sounds risky.

So the third spot is probably between Satoko and Kaori. Satoko placed a bit higher, but if her struggles are caused by the coaching change and trying to fix things, it will probably take her a bit longer than 3 months to stabilize. Kaori, OTOH, didn't seem in that bad of a form and her LP just looked like an unfortunate domino effect caused by trying to tack on that 3T onto 3L in the second half.

Still, I'm pretty sure that JSF will stick with the National result and if push comes to shove, Satoko will be the one to go.
 
My baby girl Rika was gorgeous. I've really understand estimated how much she's matured and grown in the past year.

Baby girl who used to pop the 3A had to skate lutzless with an injury and yet she's made the best of it, kept herself composed and delivered.

Second 3A looked like it had scope for one more revolution!!! 😍😍😍

***

Did she decide to shelve the quad cuz everyone else fell?
 
I'm inclined to say that they send an A group to 4CC (Higuchi, Kawabata, one of Sakamoto/Miyahara) and a B "group" to a challenger (other of Sakamoto/Miyahara), and decide that way. I wouldn't say Satoko is a lock for the spot with the mistakes she's making while her technique is being reworked. Skaters like Young You, Bradie Tennell, Mariah Bell could surpass her at Worlds by virtue of collecting better GOE, and then it becomes a question of whether Japan can keep 3 spots. JSF needs to be pragmatic here.

I'm really hoping Rika rests instead of going to 4CC. It seems like it would be a bit foolish to risk further injury.
 
She said she decided against it long before. She never attempted it during warmups.

She did it in practice this morning. She was able to successfully land it during her run-through. However, the rest of the run through was a bit of mess so I think her coaches may have decided to play it safe. It was quite obvious that she was the front-runner here and was going to win as long as she didn't fall apart. Her skate was flawless and that may not have been the case if she went for the 4S.
 
I think this was the place, if anywhere to try the quad salchow. She was in no danger of losing the national title unless she had a complete bomb and it probably would have been good to get another attempt out before the second half of the season.
 
Kaori said in an new interview that she has issues with motivation. Especially as Mai is not competing and Kaori was missing her and missing being able to fight for the top with Mai.
https://twitter.com/kokomadekokomo/status/1208373463901073409?s=20

Motivation issues? As in missing a friend or a sparring partner (do they train at the same rink?)? I know little of Japanese figure skating and wether the skaters train in groups, for I always think being the sole elite in your rink is lonely and boring, without lack of daily competition. It doesn't have to be a 'mini Olympics' every day, but having competition around you benefits all skaters.

With the Russian National Championships in less than a week, no real threat to a World Championships podium sweep will come from the Japanese women in this state. It is now all important for Kihira to recuperate and heal as much as possible in the remaining three months.
 
Motivation issues? As in missing a friend or a sparring partner (do they train at the same rink?)? I know little of Japanese figure skating and wether the skaters train in groups, for I always think being the sole elite in your rink is lonely and boring, without lack of daily competition. It doesn't have to be a 'mini Olympics' every day, but having competition around you benefits all skaters.
Mai was the only other skater on the same level as Kaori at their rink. So Kaori has no one to compete with from her own rink currently. They are also best friends so Kaori misses Mai overall added to the lack of competition at the rink. I can imagine that it really must suck motivation out of Kaori that she has no one to compete with at her rink currently.
 
I just realized, if Rika had scored 80 in her SP as usually she would have scored 238-239 and that is without three Lutzes (SP+FS) without two 3-3s in the FS and without the 4S. If she has her Lutz back after healing and lands her 4S and adds a second 3-3 back, her score will be through the roof.

Once that lutz comes back, so will the second 3-3. If Rika skated her short more cleanly, that's an additional 5 points. 3Lz over 2A is another 3 points after GOEs. With a cleaner 3A-2T, 3F-3T, probably another point. Fairly easy 238.

Rika's deservedly huge victory margin nevertheless means she has an unfortunate decision to make about 4CC.
 
An unexpected result!
Great performance from Wakaba, it’s quite interesting that her 2A is higher than Rika‘s 3A according to Japanese technology stats. That’s crazy.
Im glad she managed to fight her hardships and comeback so strong.
Tomoe bringing a good fight as well, I don’t think I’ve seen her do a clean free in a while!
Sad for Kaori, this season things aren’t going to well for her...
 
An unexpected result!
Great performance from Wakaba, it’s quite interesting that her 2A is higher than Rika‘s 3A according to Japanese technology stats. That’s crazy.
Im glad she managed to fight her hardships and comeback so strong.
Tomoe bringing a good fight as well, I don’t think I’ve seen her do a clean free in a while!
Sad for Kaori, this season things aren’t going to well for her...

Compared to the 3A in combination, perhaps, but not the solo 58 cm 3A. However Higuchi's 59 cm 3Lz was huge.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top