Rika Kihira | Page 40 | Golden Skate

Rika Kihira

Finally, the translation we were waiting for is out.
https://rika-kihira.tumblr.com/post/181109569410/it-was-good-that-i-did-not-give-up-the-3a
It's a long one so you'll love it. She talks about her childhood, what she has done to improve so much mentally this season and much more.

Some infos about how Hamada prepares her girls for mistakes
"Coach Mie Hamada often speaks about the value of recovery-oriented practice on ice in progressive and strategic ways, to immediately bounce back after errors during performances.
“Mistakes are inevitable. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. What matters is dealing with how to minimize those mistakes at actual competitions. This is the reason why skaters must develop the recovery-oriented practice when on ice. This will help them manage any unexpected mistake that occurs during their performances."

Coach Hamada teaches her students that they should not become too happy and complacent with their current level in their performances.

Also, she tries hard to make her students understand the importance of the recovery-oriented practice through repetitive practices on ice. Satoko Miyahara properly executes what Coach Hamada teaches her at practice, and Rika Kihira emulates Satoko with her genuine respect. Through the repetitive practices, Satoko’s and Rika’s mentalities have been strengthened.
This was clearly shown in the Rika’s Free program performance of the last Grand prix Final when Rika mistakenly touched the ice with her hand in the first triple axel of triple – triple combo and failed to be the combination. Then, Rika immediately bounced back after the miscue and swiftly changed the next jump component from only one triple axel jump to the combination jump to get more points. Rika successfully minimized her mistakes and replaced the negative points with positive ones, leading to the positive result in the total score.
The same is often seen in the Satoko’s performances.
cr: https://twitter.com/yuppy04143881/status/1073490641747767297
 
I love her progression trough the years, mental strenght is something so dificult to have and I admire her for that. Yesterday I exposed some homework in front of my partners and teachers and I said that Rika Kihira is my atlete idol, it was so satisfying hahaha. She makes me so happy with her performances and that helped me for finally study what I love, Biology. I was finally selected in the Biology facultie and Rika made me strong for that admission exam, thanks so much Rika you are the best skater I have meet <3
 
RafaelAstro, you are so adorable but i feel the same way about her. I have loved her so much from the moment i first saw her skate and did not lose interest or hope in her one minute despite the hard times she went through, especially at JWC (and will not give up on her in the future no matter how things go).
It's crazy how attached you get to people you don't even know. I was so happy at NHK trophy my heart was beating so fast then at the GPF i couldn't sleep all night after she won, went to bed at 5am.

I don't know if you have read her interview i posted yet (you should) but she says her mentality has changed a lot. She used to think "this is not something i can do" but now she has grasped the way to control her emotions, and it shows. It's so impressive how much she has changed since last season, it's almost as if she's a new person; but that's what learning from your mistakes does. I cannot wait to watch her grow as a skater and as a competitor. :hap10:

Only a week left before we get to see her compete again. Pressure must be high as Japan has a lot of expectations for her after the GP. I hope she can handle it and impress us again. GO RIKA :hap10:
 
I love how Rika is still taking selfies with everybody at the banquet like in the old days now that she is the GPF champion ;)
 
leoleo said:
This was clearly shown in the Rika’s Free program performance of the last Grand prix Final when Rika mistakenly touched the ice with her hand in the first triple axel of triple – triple combo and failed to be the combination. Then, Rika immediately bounced back after the miscue and swiftly changed the next jump component from only one triple axel jump to the combination jump to get more points.[/URL]
Click to expand...
I can totally see Hamada's teaching in Rika's skating. In this case, it was not just her making the second axel into a combination instead of the first one, but also making her planned 3lz-2t into a 3lz-3t later in the program, as she had jumped a 3a-2t instead of the 3a-3t that was originally planned (which was right in this case)🙂.
 
lauravvv said:
I can totally see Hamada's teaching in Rika's skating. In this case, it was not just her making the second axel into a combination instead of the first one, but also making her planned 3lz-2t into a 3lz-3t later in the program, as she had jumped a 3a-2t instead of the 3a-3t that was originally planned (which was right in this case)🙂.
Click to expand...

She had that backup plan ever since IdF. She was seen practising a 'nine triple FS' in case she ever needed the 3Lz-3T.

The way I see it, when she puts a 4T in, she'll need a Lo combo.
 
Unfortunately it seems Rika has boots issues. She had a clean run through in practice, landed 6 3As with one in combo but she says her boots have gotten too soft. I am getting nervous. I hope she can still find a way to perform well and hopefully get on top of the podium. Prayer circle :pray:
 
leoleo said:
Unfortunately it seems Rika has boots issues. She had a clean run through in practice, landed 6 3As with one in combo but she says her boots have gotten too soft. I am getting nervous. I hope she can still find a way to perform well and hopefully get on top of the podium. Prayer circle :pray:
Click to expand...

oh no!!! I'm already having JW flashbacks!
I noticed from GPF that her boots are heavily taped. :scratch2:
May nothing hold Rika back!!
:ghug:

Btw, I saw on twitter that apparently, Rika's 3A is about 54cm high and 3m long(if I remember correctly) according to that IceScope thing they use in Japan. I wonder if they will use it at Nats. It would be very interesting.
 
I'll update before going to bed, i need to get up early for ladies SP haha

Rika switched out her nude short program gloves to some blue bedazzled ones that match her dress. She was wearing these gloves that match her costume in this morning’s practice. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Du51V6nU8AEgdq7.jpg

This morning she landed 8 clean 3As, including one in a clean run through. Seems to be doing a lot better than yesterday. And yes her boots were heavily taped at the GPF so it seems these boots issues are not new. I hope she can still skate well here but they'll have to find a solution to that boots problem cause they do not want them to be an obstacle at 4CC & Worlds.

Good night and let's cross fingers for our girl :pray:
 
Based on other interviews I've read, seems like Rika pays very close attention to her boots and are pretty sensitive if something is off with them. I hope it doesn't hinder her too much for Nationals! For some reason I am less stressed about nats than I was at the GPF, although the stakes could be considered even higher here!
 
rikaquegira said:
oh no!!! I'm already having JW flashbacks!
I noticed from GPF that her boots are heavily taped. :scratch2:
May nothing hold Rika back!!
:ghug:

Btw, I saw on twitter that apparently, Rika's 3A is about 54cm high and 3m long(if I remember correctly) according to that IceScope thing they use in Japan. I wonder if they will use it at Nats. It would be very interesting.
Click to expand...

Yes they are using i-scope for Nationals :)
 
Ayaka Hosoda did a clean triple axel today. Would be interesting to see the differences in height and distance Iscope measures between them :D Ayaka's had a height of 47cm, distance of 2.33m and speed of 14.8km
 
I hope Rika can skate better tomorrow but if her boots are not good anymore than I don’t think we can expect much.
If she bombs the FS then the only thing I can hope for is that they fix this boot problem ASAP, even if she doesn’t get sent to Worlds she’ll still have other competition and it would be nice to finish this debut season on a happy note and not with a disaster.

Btw, Rika’s 3Lz in the SP stats from I-Scope:

2.15m
0.39cm
15.1Km
 
I think that federation will send her to worlds regardless of her place in nationals. One bad competition shouldn't cross out whole season. She won the final and have highest personal best out of all Japanese skaters. I still believe she will find her way on the podium, but just in case I think she's safe. But I agree on her boots problem, she need to fix that right away, can't imagine Rika enter 4CC of World with any kinds of equipments problems.
 
rikaquegira said:
I hope Rika can skate better tomorrow but if her boots are not good anymore than I don’t think we can expect much.
If she bombs the FS then the only thing I can hope for is that they fix this boot problem ASAP, even if she doesn’t get sent to Worlds she’ll still have other competition and it would be nice to finish this debut season on a happy note and not with a disaster.

Btw, Rika’s 3Lz in the SP stats from I-Scope:

2.15m
0.39cm
15.1Km
Click to expand...

Yeah why is she so sensitive to boots? Doesn't seem very sustainable to me.
 
"Rika explained her lost of balance when landing 3A: "In 6min warm-up, I thought it was fine when I fixed the boot, but in the performance, it became soft again, so it was hard. That was only on the right foot, and that's my cause of regrets. I will do my best to avoid this situation the day after tomorrow" cr https://twitter.com/juronom

This is the worst situation cause it's not like NHK where she just happened to fall because of nerves but had all the weapons to come back in the FS. With bad boots it is a lot more difficult. There is nothing to be done. I am just so mad they had no back up boots even tho it has been bothering her for at least weeks. I know they'll send her to worlds no matter what but i am mad as hell cause gold would have probably been an easy grab for her here :(
 
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