2022-23 Japanese Women's Figure Skating

[surimi]

I wonder why Wakaba was assigned since she's obviously still battling her injury. I wish her a speedy recovery, and Rika as well.
Well done to Rinka, I haven't seen her yet but her skate put her among the best female skaters of this season. Big improvement from Gensan Cup.
My sympathy goes to the girls that were royally ignored by JSF when easier, non-GP events were assigned: Rino Matsuike, Mai Mihara, Rion Sumiyoshi, Yuhana Yokoi. They could have scored well too, but we'll never know now.

 

[Dreamer57]

I wonder why Wakaba was assigned since she's obviously still battling her injury. I wish her a speedy recovery, and Rika as well.
Well done to Rinka, I haven't seen her yet but her skate put her among the best female skaters of this season. Big improvement from Gensan Cup.
My sympathy goes to the girls that were royally ignored by JSF when easier, non-GP events were assigned: Rino Matsuike, Mai Mihara, Rion Sumiyoshi, Yuhana Yokoi. They could have scored well too, but we'll never know now.

I can only conclude that Wakaba will not turn down any assignments, even if injured. Worlds indicated this. So I think it is unlikely she will WDfrom the grand prix series.

I would like to know where is Mai's challenger? She is the current and 2x 4CC champion! She should also have been considered for Japan Open, even if she is not linked to Kinoshita...and she has to qualify through all the rounds for nationals? Does 4CC not count for something with her fed?

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Can you please stop with "if Rika withdraws" we don't know anything yet, she already has a season off, her injury it's nothing that bad, I don't see her withdrawing this season, actually is a good season for her to returning without russians and get experience again

I'm sorry to tell you this, but her injury is/was absolutely that bad, and she herself has admitted to that. For God's sake, it's an ankle fracture, that's not an insignificant injury for any high-level athlete, particularly not for a figure skater. And whether or not this season would be ideal for her return (which I agree, it would be) has nothing to do with whether or not she will be able to return.

Based on the IG stories she is posting (including an MRI scan of her ankle which has just now started getting much better, as well as her doing a 1A with the caption stating that she hopes that her ankle doesn't hurt much) and a recent interview Brian has given, in which he has also talked about Rika's condition and injury (Talking about how she would have to completely rest for at least a few months for her injury to properly heal, that she continues to cycle through periods in which her injury gets better and then worse again, and that she is only going to do doubles at regionals, as she currently can't really jump more due to the state of her injury), her having to withdraw from her assignments is a very real possibility. Nobody who writes about the possibility of her withdrawing is hoping for that to happen, people are just incredibly worried about her the state of her recovery, as it seems there hasn't been much progress in the healing of her ankle.

 

[RafaelAstro]

Ankle fracture? Why she was send to worlds and world team trophy if the injury was that bad? It doesn't make sense to me, if she was doing summer shows then her injury should have been getting better because if it's was that bad then she shouldn't have forced herself, again she has already a season off and if her team did the right thing she should be getting good right now, of course I don't expect her to come in her best condition but again I think she can use the competitions to get experience again without hurting her and without doing ultra c elements, if she decides to withdraw yes Rinka can take her spots but if Rika feels better and decide to compete then it's a shame Rinka doesn't have spots in the grand prix but she wasn't good at junior worlds so she couldn't get spots, can we be a little positive about Rika, girl has been trough a lot already, and I know many will be respondimg me "I'm not pesimistic, I'm realistic" ok then don't bring Rika situation to the oportunity of another skater when we don't know nothing official yet

 

[Jumping_Bean]

Ankle fracture? Why she was send to worlds and world team trophy if the injury was that bad? It doesn't make sense to me, if she was doing summer shows then her injury should have been getting better because if it's was that bad then she shouldn't have forced herself, again she has already a season off and if her team did the right thing she should be getting good right now, of course I don't expect her to come in her best condition but again I think she can use the competitions to get experience again without hurting her and without doing ultra c elements, if she decides to withdraw yes Rinka can take her spots but if Rika feels better and decide to compete then it's a shame Rinka doesn't have spots in the grand prix but she wasn't good at junior worlds so she couldn't get spots, can we be a little positive about Rika, girl has been trough a lot already, and I know many will be respondimg me "I'm not pesimistic, I'm realistic" ok then don't bring Rika situation to the oportunity of another skater when we don't know nothing official yet

I'm surprised you missed this, I kind of thought everyone knew about Rika's injuries at this point.

The injury she had at World Team Trophy (and Worlds) in 2021 was a back injury, her ankle fracture didn't happen until July of 2021, so during the off-season.

Brian said that Rika had periods without pain, in which she was able to restore some of the triples (3S, 3T) plus the 2A, and then periods during which her injury would worsen again and the pain would return. He said that Rika chose to do shows despite being injured for financial reasons. Despite her not being in Canada for most of the past year, she was paying for an apartment there, and had other expenses, so she had to earn money somehow.

She recently uploaded an IG story comparing an MRI of her ankle shortly after the fracture and now, and granted it looks a lot better (very good sign), though there's still some of the fracture left (bottom right of the circled area):

If she's just now restoring single axels and double jumps, she'd kind of have to regain at least a 2A and/or one to two triple jumps (she'd have three invalid jump elements in the Short otherwise) in just under 6 weeks while ensuring that her fracture doesn't worsen again (fresh bone is weak bone and tends to refracture if placed under excessive stress, particularly as the muscle around the ankle is likely still a bit weaker) and improve her condition to be able to run a full program with jumps.
Is it impossible? No, probably not, but there's a not insignificant probability that she won't be able to do so.

And if not doing the GP allows her to heal fully and return even stronger for Nationals (/4CC/Worlds), then I'm all for it. I would hate for her to be in pain because she returned to competition too early, though if she feels up for it, I'd be more than happy to see her, no matter the technical content.

 

[RafaelAstro]

Something is very strange with all the injuries Rika have been dealing with I didn't know there was two different injuries but I was out in 2021-22 season mainly due to Rika absence but this is not new she have been fighting with those since 2019-20, I wonder what's happening with her training, the final decision to compete will be hers afterall

 

[readernick]

Rika does seem to be taking it slowly this time. I don't think her previous coaching team encourage her to rest. But, she is an adult now and can make her own decisions. The second X-ray was from August. So, it is likely the bone has completely healed by now. But, as mentioned, fresh bone is not strong and she will need time to restore her strength. She said she only needs two months to restore all her triple jumps. But, she just started jumping ( and wisely only singles) late last week. She has to participate in qualifying competitions for Japanese Nationals but she only needs doubles and high quality spins/ steps to do that. That seems possible. Being ready by Nationals also seems possible, but the GP? That seems less likely to me. We will see.

 

[surimi]

It is possible to turn singles into doubles and easier triples within one month. But, the skater who did that had had almost a year off the ice, and that's a big difference from Rika. Maybe she can gauge what worked for Yuna Aoki who also broke her right ankle but by the end of last season, wasn't doing bad at all?
Wakaba's and Rika's injuries make me sad. Wishing them a full recovery. -_-

 

[Jumping_Bean]

It is possible to turn singles into doubles and easier triples within one month. But, the skater who did that had had almost a year off the ice, and that's a big difference from Rika. Maybe she can gauge what worked for Yuna Aoki who also broke her right ankle but by the end of last season, wasn't doing bad at all?
Wakaba's and Rika's injuries make me sad. Wishing them a full recovery. -_-

Didn't Yuna fracture her left ankle? That would also make quite a lot of difference in how quickly you can restore the jumps.

The right ankle has to take most of the force from all jump landings (unless a skater is a clockwise skater), while the left ankle has to take relatively little force (only on some jump take-offs, particularly the Lutz). That's also the reason why right ankle injuries happen so often in figure skating - And why they often become chronic.

 

[surimi]

Didn't Yuna fracture her left ankle? That would also make quite a lot of difference in how quickly you can restore the jumps.

The right ankle has to take most of the force from all jump landings (unless a skater is a clockwise skater), while the left ankle has to take relatively little force (only on some jump take-offs, particularly the Lutz). That's also the reason why right ankle injuries happen so often in figure skating - And why they often become chronic.

Yes, you're right, it was Yuna's left ankle. Still, it's possible to restore jumps up to 3S and 3T within one month after a right ankle fracture, but I'm far from sure it can be done if the injury isn't fully healed yet.

 

[Joekaz]

It is possible to turn singles into doubles and easier triples within one month. But, the skater who did that had had almost a year off the ice, and that's a big difference from Rika. Maybe she can gauge what worked for Yuna Aoki who also broke her right ankle but by the end of last season, wasn't doing bad at all?
Wakaba's and Rika's injuries make me sad. Wishing them a full recovery. -_-

It looks like the best thing that ever happened to Kaori was not being able to do a 3A or Quad. Instead she concentrated on what she could do while the Russians got banned and Rika and Wakaba got hurt.

 

[Mariiiiskate]

Im really worried for Rika, aren't her regionals in 4 days? if she truly is still working on her single axel and normal doubles that would mean all her jumps would be invalid in the short program. That takes out 3 out of 7 elements from her short. Im not sure if you are allowed to repeat more than 2 different types of doubles but if you aren't then in the free she could only do two of 2x-2x combos one would have to be 2x-1x combo which would set her back even more. Catching up in the free will be hard after having 3 elements invalidated in the short.

 

[brakes]

M.H. + S.U. =

 

[surimi]

Rika does plan to jump a 2A and 3-2 combo in her short: https://twitter.com/wxscnYFRNB7BMHf/status/1572522871892889600 If she succeeds, she'll end up getting no points for the 2Lo only. Good luck to Rika!

 

[Dreamer57]

I didn't realise that participating in regionals was a requirement for funding this year. Hope she can manage it well!

 

[cohkaix]

Just some quick clarifications:

1. Participations in regionals/sectionals ARE requirement for entering Nationals, according to JSF.
2. Participations of Nationals AND having a higher placement in the final results at Nationals are conditions for getting funding for the following season.
3. Getting two GP assignments does NOT automatically get any skater exemption to the sectionals (there's no such rule by JSF, AFAIK), nor does getting 2 GPs automatically count as earning an entry to the Nationals.

Yes, there have been exceptions to the above conditions, but rarely so...

 

[rabidline]

I'm not that worried about Rika qualifying on singles jumps and doubles- I feel like as long as she stays on her feet, does her spins and steps and get her levels, her PCS are high enough compared to others in her block who don't compete internationally. There have been cases like her where the skaters only jumped singles and doubles due to their injury and qualified through the strength of their PCS. What I'm hoping is that Rika doesn't worsen her injury too much by competing.

Also I'm curious, will Brian and/or Tracy go to Japan for her Regionals as her coaches? Or will she go with the people who she has been working with in Japan? Does anyone know how is Rika's official relationship with Hamada post-WTT 2021? I remember Rika still having Hamada as her coach on her ISU bio.

 

[cohkaix]

Also I'm curious, will Brian and/or Tracy go to Japan for her Regionals as her coaches? Or will she go with the people who she has been working with in Japan? Does anyone know how is Rika's official relationship with Hamada post-WTT 2021? I remember Rika still having Hamada as her coach on her ISU bio.

Not sure if BO and TW will be in Japan for Rika. But from this document by Fuji TV for all the info from Japanese skaters (based on the entry lists to all regionals by Aug 31), Kihira only lists BO as her main coach (and TW as another coach):
(see p.2, Entry#14)

Not training with Hamada means another potential problem for Rika: it means she probably doesn't have regular access to the training rinks in Japan and has to figure out her training base as well...anyway, we'll find out soon.

 

[rabidline]

Not sure if BO and TW will be in Japan for Rika. But from this document by Fuji TV for all the info from Japanese skaters (based on the entry lists to all regionals by Aug 31), Kihira only lists BO as her main coach (and TW as another coach):
(see p.2, Entry#14)

Not training with Hamada means another potential problem for Rika: it means she probably doesn't have regular access to the training rinks in Japan and has to figure out her training base as well...anyway, we'll find out soon.

Thank you! Yeah, I was worried about this since Brian's interview because for a main coach I think he doesn't sound like he's well-informed about Rika's situation... And your mention about which rink she trains at was also something I think about... well, the competition starts tomorrow, so yes, we will find out.

Just some quick clarifications:

1. Participations in regionals/sectionals ARE requirement for entering Nationals, according to JSF.
2. Participations of Nationals AND having a higher placement in the final results at Nationals are conditions for getting funding for the following season.
3. Getting two GP assignments does NOT automatically get any skater exemption to the sectionals (there's no such rule by JSF, AFAIK), nor does getting 2 GPs automatically count as earning an entry to the Nationals.

Yes, there have been exceptions to the above conditions, but rarely so...

Something I realized when I was looking up Rika's affiliations and sponsors... Rika belongs to Toyota Motor Corporation. I'm not sure about what kind of relationship / contract that she has with Toyota, but in the past Toyota has let an athlete's "employment" contract expire if they cannot compete in official competitions for 2 seasons in a row, which was what happened to Miki Ando in 2013 (she didn't compete in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 season but did ice shows). So this can be a factor on why she decided to compete this season.

 

[RatedPG]

Poor Rika. Praying everything works out for her this year