Japan’s Rika Kihira defended her title on Saturday afternoon, while new-comer Young You of South Korea edged out USA’s Bradie Tennell to captured the silver in in her debut on home ice in Seoul, South Korea.
Kihira popped her solo triple Axel, but landed a triple Axel-double toe in her interpretative “International Angel of Peace” routine. In all, the Japanese champion landed a total of eight clean triple jumps while displaying strong level 4 spins and footwork throughout. The skater also earned many positive grades of execution (GOE), scoring 151.16 points in the free skate and 232.34 points overall to win her second consecutive gold in this event.
“My goal was to get first place twice in a row in this Four Continents Championship,” said Kihira. “So, I became a little bit impatient because of my first mistake in the Axel, but I was able to re-calculate and re-assemble the structure of my performance. I tried to switch my mind and focus on the next element right away after I did my first mistake. I think that it was good experience for me to prepare for the next competition.”
“I realized that I did one triple Axel in my performance when I landed the second one,” she explained. “So, I wanted to add a triple toe loop in my program somewhere. And then I switched the combination to triple flip-triple toe-double toe. It needed massive concentration to succeed, because I could not make it successful even in the practice. It was my first time ever to land two combinations with the triple toe loop in a program.”
“After this competition, I’m planning to practice my triple Axel more to make it more consistent,” said the 17-year-old, regarding preparing for Worlds. “I’d also like to practice more on the quad and increase my speed.”
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What another exciting event! So great to see You do so well in her debut! So few points separating the ladies 4th through 8th!
What are your thoughts?
Kihira popped her solo triple Axel, but landed a triple Axel-double toe in her interpretative “International Angel of Peace” routine. In all, the Japanese champion landed a total of eight clean triple jumps while displaying strong level 4 spins and footwork throughout. The skater also earned many positive grades of execution (GOE), scoring 151.16 points in the free skate and 232.34 points overall to win her second consecutive gold in this event.
“My goal was to get first place twice in a row in this Four Continents Championship,” said Kihira. “So, I became a little bit impatient because of my first mistake in the Axel, but I was able to re-calculate and re-assemble the structure of my performance. I tried to switch my mind and focus on the next element right away after I did my first mistake. I think that it was good experience for me to prepare for the next competition.”
“I realized that I did one triple Axel in my performance when I landed the second one,” she explained. “So, I wanted to add a triple toe loop in my program somewhere. And then I switched the combination to triple flip-triple toe-double toe. It needed massive concentration to succeed, because I could not make it successful even in the practice. It was my first time ever to land two combinations with the triple toe loop in a program.”
“After this competition, I’m planning to practice my triple Axel more to make it more consistent,” said the 17-year-old, regarding preparing for Worlds. “I’d also like to practice more on the quad and increase my speed.”
More...
What another exciting event! So great to see You do so well in her debut! So few points separating the ladies 4th through 8th!
What are your thoughts?
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