Great news! Kurasawa-san confirmed that Kazuki's latest Mainichi article is being published today (26/11)
Also, someone kindly paid for the post-Finlandia Nikkon Sports interview as a gift:
https://www.nikkansports.com/premium/sports/figure/news/202411170001254.html
Machine translation:
Kazuki Tomono: ‘I discovered a new way of adjusting’, 100% to All-Japan.
＜Figure Skating: Grand Prix Series Round 5 in Finland◇ 17 November◇ Helsinki, Finland◇ News conference
What I learnt from my injury
-How do you feel about the tournament after the first night?
I feel like I'm getting better, but I still wasn't in a state where I could show everything. I felt in this GP series that I still have a lot to learn, and I was really disappointed with the result because I thought this Grand Prix would be "this year", but I'm glad the injury didn't last long and it was only a matter of a few weeks. But I learned a lot from that. I felt like the free skate was all about gliding, and I was able to show good concentration throughout the short program and the free skate, so I think I just need to practice so that I can stay calm until the end, and my jumps weren't all subtle, and there were good things about them, so in that sense it was a very productive competition. I felt a little more at ease compared to the France (Cup), so there were things that I could gain confidence from in places that were not visible beyond the score, and I want to continue practicing so that I can turn those things into results.
-How long have you had pain in your hip joint?
About a month before the French competition. It spread to other parts of my body, and at first my left hip joint felt bad, but it healed after 2-3 days. It's quite common. At first, I just felt like my joint was a bit out of order, and it spread to other parts of my body, and I pushed myself too hard when I wasn't in good condition, and it ended up causing a big problem, and that was a pulled muscle. It was in my psoas muscle, and I'd heard that it's common in track and field athletes, so I thought it was just skating.
After that, it took a little longer, about three weeks, I think, and I was unable to jump, but if you ask me if my practice was particularly fulfilling, it wasn't actually that. If you ignore the competition, it was a time when I thought it would be nice to be able to practice like this, and I thought it was fulfilling. I focused on areas other than the jumps, and I made a lot of adjustments to the single rotation, and the quality of my performance really improved. By adjusting the single rotation, I was able to improve my jump form. Although I made a few mistakes in the second half this time, when I finished my jumps for the first time in a while, I felt better than I did in France, and I was able to make new adjustments in areas where I wasn't just doing everything recklessly. I think I discovered a way to adjust it, or conversely, because I'm not good at jumping I always end up focusing on that, but by focusing on other aspects as well, I felt less anxious about jumping and my body movements improved, and I was able to feel that during the period I was injured, so I think it was a good hint for me to grow in the future. Everyone else has grown through various injuries, so I think it was good that I was able to have that experience, and although getting injured may not have been a good thing, I think there was a lot I could have learned from it.
-Have you been able to jump better since your injury?
I had been able to jump well before, so I don't think it's that I couldn't jump before that. I had a lot of practice saved up until the Grand Prix, so I was able to improve my form a little bit, and although I hadn't regained my muscle strength, I was able to jump to a certain extent. I think I was able to get to the point where I could jump reasonably well. But I still feel that my legs are not tight enough, as you can see in the video, so I had a great toeloop in the free jump, and I was able to go all out. The second half of the film is a little bit. I don't want to say ‘it can't be helped’, and to be honest, there is a part of me that thinks I could have done more, but it's also really frustrating that I missed both Axel jumps, which I'm particularly good at, and that's how it ended up. Anyway, the result was the exact opposite of the Cup of France, so I took it as positive that I could do both next time, since I made one, and I'm good at one-shot competitions, so I hope I can do it.
- You're good at the Axel. How do you analyze your mistakes?
On the contrary, I think I was too cautious, and even with the 6 minutes (practice), I felt like my Axel wasn't very good, so I think the anxiety in the back of my mind led to my failure. If I had been able to do it, I would have felt okay in any situation, so I think the fact that I practiced with anxiety is what ultimately led to my mistake. Every year, I go into the All Japan Championships saying, "This year has been the best," so that I don't have any regrets, and I hope I can practice so that I can say the same this year.
--Are you planning to practice at 100% when you get back?
Of course, I think I can do it at my maximum, and I'm already close to 100%. But I'm a little surprised, when I was in pain, I really had a bad mental state for the first time in a while, like "I can't do anything anymore," but when I recovered, I thought "what was that?" Since it was a pulled muscle, I think there is a way to prevent it from recurring once it heals, but (Miura) Kao is also suffering, so I want to be careful when I see that, but when it heals, I think it's like it's solid and I think "what was that?". I'm completely fine now, so I don't feel like I'm back to my maximum, but I think it's good that I'm not in pain. But I'm glad I was able to keep it in the back of my mind and learn how to deal with it. I think I have some physical habits, and I think I'll continue to get these kinds of injuries in the future, so I'm glad I was able to learn about that. Even after I injured my back once, I haven't had another injury since, and I think it's okay if you experience it once, so I think I'm closer to having the strongest body in that respect.
--Did you not get a diagnosis in France?
Yes. But in France, it seemed like it would heal after the match. But I went to the hospital to see the results, and I think it takes about a month for a pulled muscle to heal, but I did go to the hospital just to be sure, to check if there were any abnormalities with my bones, and to check everything else. As expected, it was a pulled iliopsoas muscle, and it seemed like the other muscles were also hurting a bit. But it seemed like if I skated well without any pain, I'd be fine. That reassured me.
--You went to a sauna with Yamamoto-san.
Many of the players go to Finland, so I gather a lot of information from them. I hear things like "This place is good," and I write a series about saunas, so I get information. Surprisingly, the information came in quickly, so I was the one who looked into it.
-What was your sauna experience like?
It's not about what's good or bad, but I was happy to experience the feeling that it's rooted in the culture, and even though it was a competition, I'm glad I went and enjoyed it. I always think of the Grand Prix as being busy, but time seemed to flow quite slowly in this country. It was a really great country, and the sightseeing was pretty crammed, so it was easy to get around, and I was able to take my time even in the short time, so it was a tournament that made me want to try my best to come back again.
-What other places did you go to?
Like the Moomin shop. Alvar Aalto is an architect. He loves Scandinavian design, so there's a bookstore, but there's also a cafe in a building he designed, and it's all contained in one building. I didn't buy anything, but I just window-shopped and looked around while I was walking around, and it was kind of fun.
Well, in the end, the preparation + stamina probably wasn't there yet for Kazuki, and he couldn't hold on to the medal. But he looks good, he has a small bronze and a small silver medal, and I wish him the best at Nationals.
I guess I'll need to stick with B events and Challengers from now on, for the 'good luck charm' to work! Hopefully JSF assigns Kazuki to those! They really owe him at least one since skipping him for Challengers was so unreasonable and unfair.
He said he hasn't tried the curry yet, but he already checked out the trading cards 
that was not made into a postcard, but only used as a reception panel for the event! A clear file with all the photos we took!
