Skate Canada is this week, and to my knowlege, Rika hasn’t withdrawn. I have very mixed feelings about this.
On one hand, I’m excited to see her compete internationally. She’s the lady skater I enjoy watching the most and she’s come a long since her injury last year. In the summer of last year, she could barely do 2As, her spins were not good, and she looked as if she needed crutches to get off the ice. She’s still struggling a bit on the axels, but it’s nothing like last year. On the most part, her jumps looked effortless and her spins improved. There was only about two weeks between her Nationals qualifier and Japan Open and there were even more improvements in that short time too. So I’m excited to see where’s she at now.
But on the other hand, she’s still not completely healed and I’m worried about her aggravating her injury. Why is she competing? I just don’t see the point if her goal is to be in shape by Nationals, which is only 2 months away. What are her goals?
But on one foot, I look at the entries list for Skate Canada and think, “pfft, she could probably get on the podium with the same water-downed content she was doing before.”
But then on the other foot, I don’t want to see her scoring 120, placing 7th, and losing to skaters that absolutely had no chance in beating her in the past.
But then on the left shoulder, I think that if she doesn’t score a 120 and place 7th, then that means she’s not doing what she’s supposed to be doing to make sure she’s squared away by December.
But then on the right shoulder, I think that if she’s not landing more difficult content in late October, then how would she be ready by Nationals???