Rika Kihira

[Lunalovesskating]

Rika performed her FS today at the show. Apparently it has 8 music cuts and a lot of difficult choreo before the jumps.
https://twitter.com/juronom/status/1155428725090967552?s=20

 

[yyyskate]

Rika's new free music tracks identified so far:

1. O Virtus Sapientae Maya Beiser

2. Beirut Taxi . 《Syriana》OST

3. Wings of the Eagle Uttara-Kuru 2nd track from East Wind . (I just identified this one myself)

4. Mother Tongue (Remastered) . Dead Can Dance

5. Sacred Stones . Sheila Chandra

6. In A Moment of Greatness . Larry Groupe 《This Is Epic Music Vol. 1》

 

[RafaelAstro]

Any news about Rika? Its been awhile

 

[Lunalovesskating]

Any news about Rika? Its been awhile

She is in Colorado training

 

[Noxchild]

Good luck to our dearest Rika at the Autumn Classic! Fingers crossed for her first gold of the season... and certainly not her last!

 

[RafaelAstro]

I'm so nervous! Go Rika!!, I wonder if we will se the quad salchaw and the triple axel in the same program for the first time. I know she can win the gold medal and I hope this season surpass the amount of clean performances from last season to get even better results

 

[nussnacker]

I'm so nervous! Go Rika!!, I wonder if we will se the quad salchaw and the triple axel in the same program for the first time. I know she can win the gold medal and I hope this season surpass the amount of clean performances from last season to get even better results

She will do great, I'm sure. And I'm quite excited about her quad too, hope training in Switzerland helped her to get it more rotated =)

 

[Noxchild]

Same. I am perhaps naively excited by how often she has been training in Colorado Springs this summer, as if it will magically give her super stamina lol... who knows.

 

[readernick]

I am going forward to seeing Rika compete for the first time this season. She is ( along with Aliona K.) one of my favourite skaters. I hope that I see some improvements in her skating this year.

1. I hope she had become more mentally strong. The difference between her last junior year and her first senior season were amazing in terms of mental strength and I hope that this progress will continue this year.

2. I am usually a fan of Tom Dickson's choreography but I am a bit sceptical of this lp. I hope it has improved over the last month.

3. I hope Rika's performance skills have improved. She has great SS, musically, extension but sometimes she doesn't fully sell her programs. I hope she sells it hard core this year. ( she needs a bit of the Ashley Wagner, Evgenia Med, Satoko drama)

4. Technically, she is already amazing but I hope she rotates her quad at some point this season, improves her sit spin and works a bit on the 3lo. ( she gets a strange axis on that jump occasionally)

Most of all, I hope she feels like smiling at the end of each program!

 

[lzxnl]

Practice runthrough for Rika Kihira: 3A, 3F3T, 3Lo - interesting that she's taken out the lutz for this short program, it was a jump that was giving her some trouble toward the latter part of last season. (courtesy of Rocker Skating)

Practice notes
Kihira: 3Lo, 2A, 2A, 3F2T, 3F3T, 3F3T, 1A, 3A, 3A, runthru (3A, 3F3T, 3Lo), 1A, 3A(step), 3F3T, 3F3T, 2Lz, 3Lz2T2Lo, 3F, 3F, 3F3T(ur?step), 3F3T, 3Lo, 3Lo

No falls, two pops (1A, 1A), two stepouts (I'm assuming the 2As, 3F2T, 2Lz in the beginning were to warm up). It's looking good! Although ditching the 3Lz for the 3Lo is a...surprising...choice. I can't wait to see videos of it tomorrow!

 

[readernick]

Strange she took the 3lz out of the short. Her 3lo is a reliable jump but her 3Lz is so much prettier. (note: this change might be related to a leg injury she got last week- it might be a temporary change)

On a positive note, she seems fast across the ice and the 3As look beautiful.

 

[Yuzuruu]

Weird indeed, lutz was usually a reliable jump for her. I wonder If she’ll try the 4Sal - I think she should If she wants to include it in her FS this season.
Another thing is she’s went back to Risport boots again! It is giving me axiety because the boots were troubling her throughout the entire season maybe Edeas didn’t work so well for her though

 

[Logirl]

Problems Again

Weird indeed, lutz was usually a reliable jump for her. I wonder If she’ll try the 4Sal - I think she should If she wants to include it in her FS this season.
Another thing is she’s went back to Risport boots again! It is giving me axiety because the boots were troubling her throughout the entire season maybe Edeas didn’t work so well for her though

Yes she definitely will need that Lutz along with 3A in short to build best possible lead over Trusova because Trusova will be a best in the long.

 

[nussnacker]

Practice runthrough for Rika Kihira: 3A, 3F3T, 3Lo - interesting that she's taken out the lutz for this short program, it was a jump that was giving her some trouble toward the latter part of last season. (courtesy of Rocker Skating)

Not sure I understand where RS is getting it from. She fell on it once, I think? It definitely looked like a 'no problemo' jump to me last season.
Probably there's a different reason for taking it out.

 

[Lunalovesskating]

Not sure I understand where RS is getting it from. She fell on it once, I think? It definitely looked like a 'no problemo' jump to me last season.
Probably there's a different reason for taking it out.

She injured herself a little last week and therefore will decide today or tomorrow if she will do the 4S. The Lutz currently irritates her ankle a little therefore she took it out for now. I am sure it is back for Japan Open.

 

[Yuzuruu]

She injured herself a little last week and therefore will decide today or tomorrow if she will do the 4S. The Lutz currently irritates her ankle a little therefore she took it out for now. I am sure it is back for Japan Open.

I didn't know about the injury The cursed Lutz seems to be the nemesis for all my favorites

 

[lzxnl]

She injured herself a little last week and therefore will decide today or tomorrow if she will do the 4S. The Lutz currently irritates her ankle a little therefore she took it out for now. I am sure it is back for Japan Open.

She'll probably still do a 3Lz in the free, surely? As for the 4S, how much extra exertion is a 4S compared to a 3A? Same takeoff leg, same landing leg, sure the takeoff faces differently with half an extra turn for a 4S...

 

[Lunalovesskating]

She'll probably still do a 3Lz in the free, surely? As for the 4S, how much extra exertion is a 4S compared to a 3A? Same takeoff leg, same landing leg, sure the takeoff faces differently with half an extra turn for a 4S...

Yes she will probably jump one in the Free. She jumped one during practice yesterday.

Concerning the 4S
https://twitter.com/juronom/status/1171959427039055872?s=20

 

[readernick]

I think it is wise of Rika to not bother her leg/ ankle more than necessary. This is definitely not the most important competition of the season. She shouldn't risk injury to get a slightly higher score. She hurt her herself slightly doing the lutz last week and the 4S being a new element is more risky .

 

[Ulrica]

Rika's beautiful 3A at ACI's practice https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/status/1171906480427143168?s=20 :luv17: