Rika Kihira | Page 45 | Golden Skate

Rika Kihira

leoleo said:
oh so sorry! it seems even on vimeo they're taking down videos now! i personally had downloaded everything you uploaded already :agree:

GOOD NEWS: Rika did a Q&A with fans during the instagram live she did with her sister today, she mentioned that pink is her favorite color and that her new boots feel great (she got new boots yeay :hap10: ). She is also already jumping the 3A with them.

cr: https://twitter.com/kc_kobelife/status/1079740883203813377
We'll see her in a few days at Nagoya's festival
Click to expand...

oh, thank god! :drama:
I was already suffering in antecipation :laugh:

so I guess if all goes well her chances for Worlds podium is huge! :hap10:
 
leoleo said:
oh so sorry! it seems even on vimeo they're taking down videos now! i personally had downloaded everything you uploaded already :agree:

GOOD NEWS: Rika did a Q&A with fans during the instagram live she did with her sister today, she mentioned that pink is her favorite color and that her new boots feel great (she got new boots yeay :hap10: ). She is also already jumping the 3A with them.

cr: https://twitter.com/kc_kobelife/status/1079740883203813377
We'll see her in a few days at Nagoya's festival
Click to expand...
that is a relief... :agree:
 
I just realised, you know how we keep talking about how Rika's 3Lo is iffy? It's actually her most consistent jump this season, believe it or not. She's made mistakes on every other jump (I'm not sure if she made a mistake on it during Sectionals though)

3S: Ondrej Nepala FS
3T: IdF FS, 3Lz+3T<
3F: Japanese Nationals SP 3F+2T pop
3Lz: Japanese Nationals FS 3Lz+Eu+2S, two footed landing even though the combo was genius and won her the silver
3A: every single competition :'(

Please don't slip up on this jump too, Rika. It's the last one.
 
It's incredible to me that Rika was able to overcome the psychological and physical stress of major boot problems in the SP and skate so great in winning the Nationals LP despite heavily deflated PCS scoring in comparison to what she received relative to both Kaori (-5.7 points) and Satoko (-5.9 points) in the Grand Prix Final LP. I think Kaori and Satoko skated very well, but I think Rika landed her best pair of triple axel / triple toe and solo triple axels in her career in her Nationals LP with excellent skating skills, expression and step sequences and she won the tech score in the LP by 4 points with a higher tech score than she had received in the Grand Prix Final LP. In addition, Rika rotated all 3 triple axels she tried even if she fell on the one in the SP and had the highest recorded speed heading into her jumps of any of the top 3 finishers at 16.9 lm/hr while maintaining erect posture and doing many quick multiple direction turns. After looking at the high quality of Rika's performance in the LP and analyzing the relevant patterns in PCS and the nature of the tech calls, with a couple of skaters having triple lutz urs or edge calls overlooked, I think Rika should have won Nationals in a close finish. The rankings show that seniority was given preference and youth deflated in contrast to the scores in the Grand Prix Final and in contrast to the speed measurements which were consistent with the Grand Prix Final scoring.

I noticed that the value of the triple axel also fell slightly this season when in my opinion the value should have increased considering the difficulty and risk especially for women and how impressive, beautiful and exciting it is. I also think that especially difficult elements for woman like a second triple axel in a program, (which has only been done twice in one program by Rika, Mao, Ayaka Hosada, and maybe Midori that I know of) should receive a bonus since there is already one for landing jumps late in a performance. In any case, this has a profound effect on how impressed I am with a performance.

Rika's second triple axel was the highest measured women's jump I could find in the women's competition at .53 meters and the longest I could find in seniors, but I didn't see a measurement for her second one. Making the euler / double salchow improvisation so smoothly and quickly shows phenomenally fast reflexes and agility. I am happy that Rika has a new pair of skating boots now and is already practicing triple axels in them, so I hope she will be in the lead and not have to face making a comeback in the LP in the 4CC's or Worlds, but if she does she certainly has the remarkable mental resilience to rebound.
 
I went down memory lane and checked out Rika's old programs. My main conclusion is that Tom Dickson is a genius, and I hope she stays with him. I've thoroughly enjoyed Rhapsodie in Blue, Kung Fu Piano and Beautiful Storm, although Kung Fu Piano was mesmerising, both due to the musical choice and because of her performance. When I was watching her Nationals SP from 2017, after I saw the successful 3A, I thought, 'how did she not win this?' Then, the pop on the 3Lz came, right before the music turned sad again, and I thought that was unfortunately ironic :'(
But she's come out stronger than before, so all is good.

Btw, according to https://twitter.com/tsubakindy/status/1080995329040777216, Rika wants at least one type of quad next season, so it looks like I may have been right when I said that she's looking at both 4S and 4T.
 
I’ve always said my favorite program from Rika was Kung Fu Piano. Tom Dickson really works well with her, I hope this is a permanent partnership.

About Rika going to Colorado to train quads, who will help her? Is Ghislain involved again? I would hope so but I’m sure he’s a busy man. It would be interesting if she has a 4S or 4T by next season. I’m also curious to see the quality of those jumps. I don’t think they would invest in poorly executed quads because bad technique can be dangerous in a long term deal.
Wow, Rika is like the gift that keeps giving! She’s having this wonderful senior debut and next season she’ll bring other surprises! I can’t wait!
 
rikaquegira said:
I’ve always said my favorite program from Rika was Kung Fu Piano. Tom Dickson really works well with her, I hope this is a permanent partnership.

About Rika going to Colorado to train quads, who will help her? Is Ghislain involved again? I would hope so but I’m sure he’s a busy man. It would be interesting if she has a 4S or 4T by next season. I’m also curious to see the quality of those jumps. I don’t think they would invest in poorly executed quads because bad technique can be dangerous in a long term deal.
Wow, Rika is like the gift that keeps giving! She’s having this wonderful senior debut and next season she’ll bring other surprises! I can’t wait!
Click to expand...

The technique she has shown in her quads to date hasn't been awfully bad, just lack of rotation, and I reckon they can fix that pretty easily. We shall see in her next summer shows :)
 
lzxnl said:
The technique she has shown in her quads to date hasn't been awfully bad, just lack of rotation, and I reckon they can fix that pretty easily. We shall see in her next summer shows :)
Click to expand...


I think she can pull them off with just a little more work. My main hope is that she stays healthy because she is ridiculously talented and it would be sad if she burned out early. (Also, I'm very late and new to GS but congrats to Rika so far this season on becoming more consistent and taking her skating to the next level. I'm a big fan and I hope she slays at 4 conts and worlds)
 
And this is in contrast to skaters who miss out on combinations in short programs AND free programs and don't remember to make up for them later. I'm not naming anyone; you can probably think of a few.
 
her 3A is no longer a problem now, whether she has the Quads now or after the off-season 2019 not changes anything, she's still wow.
She made me laugh when she rocked in her chair and she accidentally hit Kaori, she is a strong technician, but she is still a child and I find it incredibly cute, she still has a lot of things has shown she will be part of the pillars and a future legend, she is a hard worker I am sure she will, she is a good example for me. I'm glad she was able to change her boots in time for the next competitions, I dream where she has o_o gold blades.

Someone would have a video of her EX at the Nagoya festival I saw some gifs when she was dancing on USA the Da Pump song with the other skaters and I would like to see her in full.
 
sakurano said:
her 3A is no longer a problem now, whether she has the Quads now or after the off-season 2019 not changes anything, she's still wow.
She made me laugh when she rocked in her chair and she accidentally hit Kaori, she is a strong technician, but she is still a child and I find it incredibly cute, she still has a lot of things has shown she will be part of the pillars and a future legend, she is a hard worker I am sure she will, she is a good example for me. I'm glad she was able to change her boots in time for the next competitions, I dream where she has o_o gold blades.

Someone would have a video of her EX at the Nagoya festival I saw some gifs when she was dancing on USA the Da Pump song with the other skaters and I would like to see her in full.
Click to expand...

The day I see 3 clean 3As in the same competition is when I'll stop worrying about her 3A
 
RafaelAstro said:
Ehhhh.... 2017-18 japanese figure skating championships
Click to expand...

I think pulling it off again, after her documented struggles with the 3As this season, would be confidence boosting for her. That was the first competition that season, I believe, where she had a 3A in the SP, and thus didn't have the mental burden of having missed it so many times.
 
rachno2 said:
Isn’t she assigned to 4CCs as well? She’ll be going into Worlds with a lot of competitions under her belt.
Click to expand...

I don’t know, I hope she goes to 4CC too. If she finishes this season with a medal from each competition she entered it would be an incredible result!
 
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