Rika Kihira

[sakurano]

congratulations to Rika for this second victory.
I'm not disappointed that she made mistakes this is only her first senior season, I'm proud of what she accomplished, I hope she does not put too much pressure, it's better missed some competitions to be even better just like former skating star Mao and Yuna.

What I like about her is that despite the mistakes she can not be defeated and the arthistique is not penalized.

 

[DiamondDust]

Congratulations Rika!!! It's also nice that she's made plan B's should she not land her 3As. The program itself is as lovely as I remember and she did well with the performance. Goodluck at the GPF!!!

 

[leoleo]

Here's what she said at the conference: "I couldn’t condition my body well, so considering that I think I did well. My morning practice went better than this but for some reason my muscles were not adjusting on the ice. My next assignment is to get used to competitions that happen late in the day. I’m happy with the result but not how I skated. I want to get PBs at GPF. Until last year I couldn’t really show my strength at competitions. I learned from my mistakes, built on my experiences and remember when things were not working. I am determined not to repeat that. I am grateful to be able to compete in these international competitions. Satoko is not just a hard worker, she trains considering how to do things at the actual competition. For a long time I have learned by watching her, she is a role model for me. I really appreciate being able to train with her."

Can i just say i am SO SO SO proud of her! I was crying during the victory ceremony She immediately felt that trying another 3A after the first one didn't go too well would be risky as she said she wasn't feeling the best physically. And her yolo 3lz-3t!!! She has learned so much from her failures, i am so incredibly proud. Experiences like this continue to build her competitive spirit. You can feel during her free skate that she was getting more comfortable as the program went by.

After the victory ceremony she stayed until they asked us to leave to close the venue (it was 11pm already); she signed so many autographs, unfortunately i did not bring something to sign cause i just didn't imagine i could have the chance to see her this close. I stayed just to watch her interact with fans being a cutie tho. She was very happy. Hamada kept taking mom pictures of her, she was so proud :luv17:

 

[rikaquegira]

I've always said that she's quite beatable if she misses all 3 3As; her FS <3A was worth as much as a clean 2A, so essentially she didn't land a single 3A. Fortunately, the field misfired too and she won; this score would have been woefully inadequate at NHK. Also, this is probably almost as bad as it gets for her, essentially doing FS with 2As and not having an axel in the SP; the truly worst outcome would have been to fall on the opening <3A and even that only costs another 3 points, yet keeps her above 200 points. We know it only gets better here; 3 clean 3As and she'll probably win against Zagitova (who would really need her CS Nebelhorn scores). And we know she can do it.

She did have a 3Lz-<3T call; probably comes from having to suddenly adapt and do a 3T at the last minute. Also, level 4s on spins and step sequence would be nice...

Rika always gets level 4 on the stsq, even in Juniors. I’d guess her clusters weren’t clean. The flying sitspin is such a miss for her... She really have trouble with those. Her best spins are definitely the CCo and the Layback, those are great. The combo she can sometimes travel quite a bit, usually when the rest of her performance is not good either. One of the best qualities of her spins is how centered they are. She can lack speed sometimes. But that’s just when there’s something off at that day, usually her spins are flawless. Except for the FSSp, that one is always a struggle... [emoji23]

 

[rikaquegira]

Rika was so amazing, I'm so happy!
btw, why do I get slight Hanyu vibes from her? :whack:
https://twitter.com/misshanyu/status/1066474807166947328

 

[Colonel Green]

Looking ahead to the Final and the faceoff with Alina, the short program is where she really needs to buckle down. They've both been up-and-down in the free skate so far this season (in Alina's case, her FS scores have been in progressive decline since Nebelhorn, though we're still talking 142 at her most recent event), but Alina's been 2-for-3 in the short program, and could easily bank 10 points on Rika there if things go well for her and Rika does what she's been doing so far.

 

[leoleo]

Looking ahead to the Final and the faceoff with Alina, the short program is where she really needs to buckle down. They've both been up-and-down in the free skate so far this season (in Alina's case, her FS scores have been in progressive decline since Nebelhorn, though we're still talking 142 at her most recent event), but Alina's been 2-for-3 in the short program, and could easily bank 10 points on Rika there if things go well for her and Rika does what she's been doing so far.

If she wants that victory yeah, she will need to work on both the SP axel and making sure she skates like she did in NHK or even Ondrej Nepela again. I personally don't expect her to win everything this season (even though if you asked me i'd give her all the gold medals ) cause well she does usually struggle here and there but more importantly, her layout is the most ambitious and most difficult among the senior ladies this season so it is the easiest to mess up. But Rika, well she is ambitious and if victory is what she is looking for at GPF she has to put in the work to get it. And she can if she wants, because Alina is struggling with her growth spurts this season resulting in URs and shaky landings here and there so it could be her occasion to grab her chance (although Alina tends to peak in the last competitions of the season). She'd need to be perfect or near perfect and go against a non clean Alina because Alina can still easily edge her out in PCS scores. There's also Tuktamysheva, she has been really consistent this season, the quality of her jumps is phenomenal and her pcs scores are going up now that she's back in the game so let's not think Alina is the only threat here.
I can't believe GPF is already in just 2 weeks :eeking:

 

[Sam L]

Does anyone know what boots Rika wears, I noticed she's not on Edea like everyone else. lol Congrats to her for the win also, a Star is Born!

 

[gossipcow]

Thrilled that Rika won IdF and is on her way to the GPF! Glad she was able to change her FS layout on the fly after the initial 3A attempt - which looked like it had more height than usual, so I wonder if that affected her ability to land it steadily?

A little sad she didn't have a clean 3A between both her programs, but she did what she needed to here, so I'm happy. Hope she finally does a clean SP in Vancouver .

 

[Amef]

Wow she is on her way to becoming a major contender in the senior ladies. Excited for this girl to win GPF and Worlds.

 

[Vilord]

Does anyone know what boots Rika wears, I noticed she's not on Edea like everyone else. lol Congrats to her for the win also, a Star is Born!

I think it looks like Risport (the gold thing on the heel and the seams at the side) but it could also be Graf i think since they look rather similair from afar.

 

[Vili67]

Last night i did see the future of ladies skating and the name is Rika Kihira:hap57:
I think that Alina most do absolutely her best to beat this young lady in GP final and worlds.
So good she is WOW

 

[leoleo]

Rika saying she is not used to skating this late in the evening really made me realize she’s still a kid i almost forget she’s just 16 when i see the beast she is in competition. She should have been in bed already but she was out there trying to get a gold medal and a qualification for the GPF. What do i do with my life as an adult?

 

[leoleo]

Last night i did see the future of ladies skating and the name is Rika Kihira:hap57:
I think that Alina most do absolutely her best to beat this young lady in GP final and worlds.
So good she is WOW

Rika must do her absolute best too and get a personal best. I really want to see her on top of the podium and she definitely can get that gold if she does what’s necessary &#55357;&#56490;&#55356;&#57339;

 

[DenissVFan]

Congratulations to Rika I still need to catch up with her FS.

 

[Logirl]

Rika presentation score was only 66. There are no words for how unjust that is in comparison with what was put out there that scored higher in presentation.

 

[leoleo]

Rika presentation score was only 66. There are no words for how unjust that is in comparison with what was put out there that scored higher in presentation.

I’ve learned not to expect much for the japanese ladies pcs scores. No matter how they perform they always seem to have a cap while other would get a boost simply for having more transitions. It sucks but i am now used to it unfortunately hwell:

 

[Logirl]

It is just so blatant in this competition. I am like how do they even justify it this time. The only skate I saw that was presented better than Rika was Marin Honda that is it.

 

[sakurano]

who would have seen this broadcast in full?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqkRDweBkpe/
we can work hard on the arthistique, it must not be easy to juggle between dance classes, ballet, school, physical preparation and skating for a teenager 16 years.

This is reminiscent of Kanako Murakami's interview, they are brave young women when we see the result.

I wish a lot of success to Rika I hope that all this media attention is not going to make her fail in her goal, she has a great talent.

To say that it was supposed to have only one gp and now here it is to describe

 

[MarinHondas]

who would have seen this broadcast in full?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqkRDweBkpe/
we can work hard on the arthistique, it must not be easy to juggle between dance classes, ballet, school, physical preparation and skating for a teenager 16 years.

This is reminiscent of Kanako Murakami's interview, they are brave young women when we see the result.

I wish a lot of success to Rika I hope that all this media attention is not going to make her fail in her goal, she has a great talent.

To say that it was supposed to have only one gp and now here it is to describe

loved watching it! thanks! Go Rika!!