Japan Figure Skating Championships

[catanet]

Congratulations to Mao for the three-peat. Great accomplishment!

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

1. Mao Asada 182.45
2. Fumie Suguri 178.59
3. Miki Ando 174.09
4. Akiko Suzuki 173.98
5. Yukari Nakano 172.60

The numbers tell it. Fumie is back in the mix. Will the top 3 go to 4CC?

 

[Okami]

Fumie is back in the mix. Will the top 3 go to 4CC?

Mao, Fumie and Akiko will go to 4CC. I'm not sure about this. I'd rather Fumie and Mao stayed home, got some well deserved rest and worked on their jumps. OTOH Yukari and Nana could use some ISU points. They skated well, and if they can't make the Worlds team, they should at least go to 4CC.

The ceremony... OMG, Nobu looks so adorable with this hairstyle! Please never slick your hair back again!!! I totally missed what the skaters were speaking about because I got distracted by the hair...

 

[siberia82]

Yay Fumie!!!!! I generally don't follow ladies' skating, but her comeback story really touched me, and I wanted SO much for her to make the podium here!

 

[Bennett]

I am sooooo happy for Fumie, too!!! She had a hard time. But she never gave up. I am really glad that she made it.

 

[demarinis5]

CONGRATS to Fumie!!!! Honestly I did not think she would place in the top 4 never mind win the FS and place 2nd overall. She fought back to win the FS, well done Fumie.

 

[Bennett]

I just watched Nobu's LP and Kozuka's LP. Both did very well and I am very happy for both.

In particular, I really like Kozuka's program because of the very interesting transitions and well-thoughtout choreos that accentuate every note of the music.

I am also very glad that he did better than GPF. But the final 3A may be giving him trouble. His 3A is very big and I am sorry that he misses it. I bet Morozov wouldn't put it there. It would be too risky. But he is still a growing skater so that it may be a good learning opportunity in terms of enhancing stamina etc.

 

[museksk8r]

CONGRATS to Fumie!!!! Honestly I did not think she would place in the top 4 never mind win the FS and place 2nd overall. She fought back to win the FS, well done Fumie.

WOAH!! Fumie beat Mao in the LP!!!

Heartbreak for Nakano . . . 4th at the last worlds and won't even go this year.

 

[SKNG]

Worlds/4CC/Universiad

Japan Skating Federation decided:

Worlds:
Men:Nobunari Oda, Takahiko Kozuka, Takahito Mura
Dance:Reed/Reed
Ladies:Mao Asada, Fumie Suguri, Miki Ando

4CC:
Men:Nobunari Oda, Takahiko Kozuka, Yasuharu Nanri
Dance:Reed/Reed
Ladies:Mao Asada, Fumie Suguri, Akiko Suzuki

Universiad:
Men:Yasuharu Nanri, Itsuki Machida, Takemochi Ohgami
Dance:Emi Hirai/Ayuto Yuzawa
Ladies:Yukari Nakano, Nana Takeda, Ayumi Miyamoto

I was watching on Friday and Saturday, and it was great night especially for Men's free and Ladies' free...

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

They seem to be putting Yukari out to pasture. I don't agree. She did a very nice Giselle.

 

[Morning Glory]

Mao, Miki, and Yukari, who qualified for GPF, seemed to be very tired.Mao and Yukari competed in NHK Cup, too. Actually, Mao had 4 competions in 2 months.

I hope Japan Federation will manage to handle this congested schedule.



I loved Akiko's FP and Kanako's FP
Fuji finally broadcasted Kanako

 

[R.D.]

I'm surprised they are sending Suguri over Nakano.

 

[demarinis5]

I'm surprised they are sending Suguri over Nakano.

Why? Yukari came in 5th. As much as I like Yukari's skating she has not had a stellar season to warrant being sent to Worlds over Fumie who won the FS and placed 2nd. IIRC last year Fumie came in 4th at Nationals and Yukari was 3rd. Yukari went to Worlds.

 

[Bennett]

True. Besides, Fumie could not make the Worlds in 2007 despite being the Silver medalist of 2006 Worlds.

 

[Tonichelle]

what is "Universiad" ?

 

[Mathman]

what is "Universiad(e)" ?

*Ahem*

This is the University Games, for university students around the world. There is a summer one and a winter one, in alternate years. Last year (2007) the University Winter Games were in Torino, Italy. Daisuke Takahashi and Akiko Suzuki won for mens and ladies, and Zhang and Zhang and locals Cappellini and Lanotte won in pairs and dance.

The U.S. sent Stephanie Roth (ladies) and Michael Peters (men), no pairs or dance teams. (I don't know why they didn't send U.S. ladies' collegiate champ Alissa Czisny.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_skating_at_the_2007_Winter_Universiade

This event is organized by the International University Sports Federation, based in France. At the beginning of the Cold War(1946) a rival Communist front organization called the International Union of Students was set up by the Soviet Union to try to "win the hearts and minds" of young people in developing countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa. The IUS put on its own University games. So for a few years there was the Communist university games for the countries under the Soviet influence, and the Western games for the anti-communist crusaders.

The biggest such crusader was Allard Lowenstein, president (around 1950) of the United States National Student Association. To combat the growing influence if Communism at university campuses world wide, he founded yet another organization, the International Student Conference. (I knew Lowenstein pretty well in the 1960s. One of his major accomplishments was to bring the plight of Southwest Africa -- then a repressed mandate of the Republic of South Africa, now the independent country of Namibia -- to the attention of the U.S. public and to leaders of the United Nations. He was later a U.S. senator from Long Island, and was murdered in 1980.)

Anyway, the ISC did not hold sports events, but they did send people around the world trying to counter the program of the communist group, the I.U.S. (Ah, the good old days. )

 

[saltypig]

what is "Universiad" ?

aka World University Games

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universiade

 

[Tonichelle]

thanks for the info, MM!

 

[Mathman]

thanks for the info, MM!

Correction: Stephanie Roth was the U.S. collegiate champion in 2006. The men's champion was Ryan Bradley, with Michael Peters (who BTW is fluent in Italian) second. But the 2007 University Games coincided with U.S. Nationals, so Bradley went to Nationals insread, and Roth and Peters represented the U.S. at the Universiade.

Alissa Czisny was U.S. collegiate champion in 2004 and 2008. (Hey, why hasn't she graduated yet? )

 

[R.D.]

Why? Yukari came in 5th.

Really?? I did not know that. All I heard is that Asada won