2024 Team Japan - preliminary list

[KiraraChin]

@rabidline @Jumping_Bean I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. For me, psychologically, the piece of paper makes a huge difference, as I think the mental aspect (which is also highly influenced by political circumstances) has a huge impact on figure skating performance.

I hope you guys enjoy Japanese nationals and find joy and excitement in it. I'm off to focus on Christmas shopping I guess...

 

[cohkaix]

The Table of candidates by JSF - WC, Sr. women

Sr. women 3 spots	Criteria	Candidates (in order of ranking)
1st spot	1. Nationals-champion	TBD	--	--	--	--
2nd spot	2-A. Nationals - 2nd & 3rd placements	TBD	TBD	--	--	--
2nd	2-B. GPF: top 2 placements	Kaori	Hana	*Rion	--	--
2nd	2-C. Top 3 by Seasonal Best (ISU)	Kaori	Hana	Rinka	*Rino	--
3rd spot	3-A. Skater(s) left out from 2nd spot selection	TBA	TBA	--	--	--
3rd	3-A. Skater(s) left out from 2nd spot selection	Kaori	Hana	*Rion	--	--
3rd	3-A. Skater(s) left out from 2nd spot selection	Kaori	Hana	Rinka	*Rino	--
3rd	3-B. Top 3 by World Standing (ISU)	Kaori	Mai	Rinka	*Hana	*Mone
3rd	3-C. Top 3 by SWR (ISU)	Kaori	Hana	Rinka	*Rion	*Mone
3rd	3-D. Top 3 of average scores (from selected international/domestic competitions)	Kaori	Hana	Rion	*Rinka	*Yuna

 

[icewhite]

I always dislike when important selections and funding depend on just one competition. Everyone has a bad day now and then. It becomes a pure gamble if you have your bad day at the most important time and that's all that counts. Say you slept badly, you have a cold, whatever. And then nothing you did the whole year long is supposed to count?
I think Shoma, Yuma and Kaori do not have to prove that they are among the 3 best skaters in their country in their discipline. You could argue about Hana. Personally I love her, but okay, I see that it might be controversial whether she should be absolutely set. But overall I am always in favour of a certain body of work - we are not talking about results from years ago but from this very season.

 

[Jumping_Bean]

@rabidline @Jumping_Bean I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. For me, psychologically, the piece of paper makes a huge difference, as I think the mental aspect (which is also highly influenced by political circumstances) has a huge impact on figure skating performance.

I hope you guys enjoy Japanese nationals and find joy and excitement in it. I'm off to focus on Christmas shopping I guess...

I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this - Just a little reminder that winning Nationals still guarantees you a Worlds spot & placing on the podium is still a selection criteria. Nothing has been taken from any skater, criteria have just been added, and at the end of the day, if there are more skaters fulfilling the criteria than there are spots (which is already the case), Nationals is still important to make a point.

Lots of luck with finding everything you need for Christmas

 

[rabidline]

I hope you guys enjoy Japanese nationals and find joy and excitement in it. I'm off to focus on Christmas shopping I guess...

I mean to me it's always been the most nerve-wracking competition of the season... but I wish you well for your Christmas shopping.

 

[figureskatingandrainbows]

I guess I'm a little confused as to how this is different from prior years? JSF has always had selection criteria that ranked skaters. Now, they published the list of that ranking, and it's basically what we expected. Yes, Shoma, Yuma, and Kaori are basically locks, but is anyone surprised? They've all done well this season, and haven't really given a reason for JSF to not send them. And the rest of the list is exactly who I expected. Some of the other skaters are lower in the rankings, but they are still in consideration for Worlds spots. Hana is maybe a little surprising, but she performed well on the GP series and if she underperforms drastically at Nationals, and Rion, Rino, and/or Rinka skates super well, she may be left home. The same applies for the third men's spot. Right now, Kao and Shun are ahead of Sota and Kazuki, but if either Sota or Kazuki (or even Koshiro) winds up on the podium convincingly ahead of the other 3, they will likely be sent as well. And the number of times I've heard world medalists say that their toughest competition is JNats is actually absurd. No skater will underperform, even if they're a "lock" - they all want to do their best and demand their spot.

 

[cohkaix]

The Table of candidates by JSF - WC, Pair

Pair 3 spots	Criteria	Candidates (in order of ranking)
1st spot 2nd spot 3rd spot	A. Nationals-championship	TBD	TBD	TBD
	B. The top placement from WS (ISU)	Riku Miura Ryuichi Kihara	--	--
	C. The top placement from SB (ISU)	Riku Miura Ryuichi Kihara	--	--

The Table of candidates by JSF - WC, Ice dance

Ice dance 1 spot	Criteria	Candidates (in order of ranking)
1st spot	A. National Championships	TBD	TBD	TBD
	B. The top placement from WS (ISU)	Misato Komatsubara Takeru Komatsubara	--	--
	C. The top placement from SB (ISU)	Misato Komatsubara Takeru Komatsubara	--	--

 

[YuBluByMe]

I'm surprised by the shock here, because none of these criteria are new. This is how JSF has done Worlds selections for a pretty decent amount of time already, they just usually didn't release these lists until after Nationals.

Exactly. This year’s criteria is the same as last year’s. In fact, the only difference I see is that JSF took my suggestion and now SB has more weight than World Standing. The only real difference here is that JSF just published the names beforehand. So I’m not understanding why just saying the names aloud makes such a big difference to some people since it should be already clear who the choices are if you’ve followed the season and remembered last year’s selection criteria.

In regards to the men, the general opinion all year was that Uno and Kagiyama are locks with the third spot being fought between Miura, Sato, Tomono, and Yamamoto.

This only means that any skater outside the block of names won’t be going to Worlds. And they shouldn’t because if you’re not considered in the first place it’s because of poor or mediocre international results.

The problem, like last year, is that the opposite isn’t true. There’s nothing that accounts for a poor performance at Nationals. I don’t expect this to be a problem for the men. I highly doubt that half the top men will skate poorly and the juniors aren’t strong enough to challenge.

Actually I don’t expect there to be an issue with the women this year, either, although there are junior girls that can challenge. There are more women that meet the criteria so I don’t think there will be a situation like last year.

 

[Sai Bon]

The interesting one is ice dance. Japan only has one spot for Worlds, right? And KoKo (apologies to their fans in advance) have been underwhelming so far this year and already been beaten by the youngsters. If AzuShin or UtaMasa win with a narrow margin, will JSF send them to Worlds? Or semi-break their own rules and send KoKo to Worlds and the winners to 4CC? You could argue that it doesn't matter either way, since there is zilch chance of a podium finish at Worlds regardless of which team they send. But I think they should send the winners regardless of which team it turns out to be. Japan needs to invest in the future of ice dance. KoKo have had all the opportunities possible and need to prove that they are still Japan's top ice dance team.

 

[Dreamer57]

The interesting one is ice dance. Japan only has one spot for Worlds, right? And KoKo (apologies to their fans in advance) have been underwhelming so far this year and already been beaten by the youngsters. If AzuShin or UtaMasa win with a narrow margin, will JSF send them to Worlds? Or semi-break their own rules and send KoKo to Worlds and the winners to 4CC? You could argue that it doesn't matter either way, since there is zilch chance of a podium finish at Worlds regardless of which team they send. But I think they should send the winners regardless of which team it turns out to be. Japan needs to invest in the future of ice dance. KoKo have had all the opportunities possible and need to prove that they are still Japan's top ice dance team.

It is indeed interesting. If team Koko had to WD for any reason, would they still be considered based on meeting the other 2 criteria?

When there's only one spot on the worlds team, I think I prefer the body of work approach. (I like the Germany team method, which updates their document during the season.) However, each dance team (out of 3) has only had 1 international competition so far this season making it hard to compare them.

 

[cohkaix]

For 4CC (3 spots):

Criterion	Candidates (in order of ranking)
A. Top 10 at Nationals	TBD	---	---	---	---
B. Top 6 WS	Kaori Sakamoto	Mai Mihara	Rinka Watanabe	Hana Yoshida	Mone Chiba	Rion Sumiyoshi
C. Top 6 SWR	Kaori Sakamoto	Hana Yoshida	Rinka Watanabe	Rion Sumiyoshi	Mone Chiba	Rino Matsuike
D. Top 6 SB	Kaori Sakamoto	Hana Yoshida	Rinka Watanabe	Rino Matsuike	Rion Sumiyoshi	Wakaba Higuchi
E. Top 6 Average score	Kaori Sakamoto	Hana Yoshida	Rion Sumiyoshi	Rinka Watanabe	Yuna Aoki	Wakaba Higuchi

For 4CC, @Jumping_Bean has kindly provided the list of candidates of women's under the discussions of JPN women's skaters. So I'm citing the table here.

 

[cohkaix]

4CC, candidate men skaters to enter the competition:

Men (3 spots)	Criterion	Candidates (in order of ranking)
1st spot 2nd spot 3rd spot	A. Top 10 at Nationals	TBD	---	---	---	---	--
	B. Top 6 from WS (ISU)	Shoma	Kao	Kazuki	Shun	Yuma	Sota
	C. Top 6 from SWR (ISU)	Yuma	Kao	Shoma	Shun	Sota	Kazuki
	D. Top 6 from SB (ISU)	Shoma	Yuma	Kao	Shun	Kazuki	Sota
	E. Top 6 of Average score (from selected competitions)	Shoma	Yuma	Shun	Kao	Kazuki	Sota

 

[cohkaix]

For the pair and ice dance couples to enter 4CC, there was actually NO listed candidate for the two categories...(not sure why)

 

[rabidline]

For the pair and ice dance couples to enter 4CC, there was actually NO listed candidate for the two categories...(not sure why)

Yeah, I noticed that too on first read and wondered why. Especially since both Utamasa and Azushin have their tech minimums.

 

[cohkaix]

I didn't work on the ones for JWC; and now the Sr. men at nationals is finished, perhaps we can try the table again:

JWC men 3 spots	Criteria	Candidates (in order of ranking)
1st spot	1. Jr. Nationals-championship	Shunsuke*
2nd spot 3rd spot	2-A. Jr. Nationals 2nd and 3rd placements	Rio	Tsudoi	--
	2-B. JGPF participants	Rio	--	--
	2-C. Nationals top 3 placement	Shunsuke (14th)	Rio (17th)	Haru (18th)
	2-D. Top 3 placement from SB (ISU)	Rio	Shunsuke	Daiya	Haru
	2-E. Top 3 of average score	Rio	Shunsuke	Haru	Daiya

*By the time this table was published, Shunsuke has fulfilled the selection requirement, as he's the champion of Jr. Nationals.

Very quickly adding the selections to Jr. ice dance and Jr. Pairs below:

Pair 1 spot	Selection	Note
1st spot	Sae Shimizu Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda	Pending: Minimum TES to obtain

Ice dance 1 spot	Selection	Note
1st spot	Sara Kishimoto Atsuhiko Tamura	*Sub Kaho Yamashita Yuto Nagata (Pending: Minimum TES to obtain)

 

[cohkaix]

And here's the table for JWC/Jr. women selection:

JWC men 3 spots	Criteria	Candidates (in order of ranking)
1st spot	1. Jr. Nationals-championship	Mao*
2nd spot 3rd spot	2-A. Jr. Nationals 2nd and 3rd placements	Ikura	Rena	--
	2-B. JGPF participants	Mao	Rena	--
	2-C. Nationals top 3 placement	TBD	TBD	TBD
	2-D. Top 3 placement from SB (ISU)	Mao	Hana	Rino	Rena
	2-E. Top 3 of average score	Mao	Rena	Yo	Ikura

*By the time this table was published, Mao has fulfilled the selection requirement, as she's the champion of Jr. Nationals.

NB: it looks like Hana (Yoshida) and Rino (Matsuike) has been included in the list (still age eligible?), which implies if they might still be sent to JWC.