Hello to all. I was a fan of Wakaba (and still am, mildly). I loved Wakaba. She was and is, a great skater, and above all, at 13 and 14, she was very, very happy. I loved her character. It was comforting to see how well she jumped (and jumps). No matter how she threw herself into the air, she always landed well. But I met Marin Honda, that virus of beauty and grace and I forgot about Wakaba haha. I care more about aesthetics than athletics and that's why I prefer Marin despite her subrotations and pops. A Marin program always has grace and elegance. But from time to time I watch Wakaba.
I just read the note left by Banri. There is a beautiful picture of Wakaba. Wakaba would look beautiful by losing a little weight. That's why I'm happy to read it. But that article that Banri mentions is from a year ago. Today Wakaba looks her normal weight. It is difficult to make the body abandon the "programmed weight", it costs a lot of effort, but Wakaba has a lot of will, she is able to achieve it for longer periods.
I have discovered a great translator, the site deepl.com, which I recommend. With this tool I translated from Japanese the article mentioned by Banri. I only had to correct it a little, in less than 1%, since the translator was wrong about the genre of the subject described.
Deepl also translates Russian and Chinese very well, and the European languages are translated close to perfection.
Here is the translated article:
2019.12.24
Wakaba Higuchi honed and squeezed her mind and body to make a stunning comeback at the All-Japan Championships, coming in fourth in the SP, but a near-perfect performance in the free skate moved her up to second place with a total of 206.61 points, her first podium finish in three years, and second overall with over 200 points.
In the first half of the season, she finished sixth in both the Grand Prix (GP) series in Skate America and the French Cup. However, Higuchi herself was satisfied with her performance, and she was getting better and better at it. “I've been practicing a lot to keep going even if my jumps fail, to never give up, to never give up, to never give up, to never give up," she said, adding that she was confident going into All-Japan.
“I have been working hard to stay calm and not to give up, and I was able to do that in the competition," she said. I've been working hard for the past couple of months to prepare for Nationals, so it was good to be able to show the results. There were times when I felt like I was going to lose my mind during practice, but I knew that if I didn't work hard, the results wouldn't follow, so I held on and did my best”.
[Argiefan: What Marin never does, haha]
Higuchi's speedy skating and dynamic jumps have made her a promising hope for the future since she was a junior. In her first year as a junior, she won her first junior GP competition in 2014-15, and in the junior GP finals, she reeled off a fifth-place finish in SP to finish third overall in the free skate. It had been five years since Kanako Murakami stood on the podium at the Junior GP Finals since 2009.
That season, she was also the All-Japan Junior Championship champion, and at the All-Japan Championships, where she competed for the first time as a recommended competitor, she finished third overall, one of the podium finishes. It was the first time for her to be on the podium as an eighth grader since Mao Asada in 2004. At the Junior World Championships, she continued her success by setting new personal bests in both SP and FS to win the bronze medal.
Three seasons ago, she made the switch to the senior level after her success in the junior level. In the PyeongChang Olympics, she also made her first appearance in the GP Finals at two GPs, but she was not able to make it to the Olympics, as she was injured in a crucial competition, and missed out on representing the Olympics.
The main reason for her slump was probably because he had grown so big and struggled with weight gain after turning senior. She lost her overall sharpness and made more mistakes in her jumps as well. The triple axel (triple and a half jump), a big move he wanted to work on, seemed to be something she never even practiced.
The 18-year-old, who has a sweet tooth and a fondness for chocolate and ice cream, is growing up and is easily overweight. She has been so concerned about controlling her weight for the past year and a half that she has been under a lot of stress. This season, however, she has been able to control her weight well in the off-season by adjusting her diet, and her efforts are finally paying off.
“I've been working a lot on weight control, losing weight, gaining muscle, losing body fat. In training, I've been trying to avoid injuries and strengthen my muscles and tendons in areas that are weak and could lead to injuries that could be painful.
I adjusted my diet, but I also increased the amount of practice and training, so it wasn't a case of losing a few pounds in one week, but rather losing weight gradually over a period of three months, so I didn't really notice a change in my weight, which was great training. I think.”
The various efforts seem to have finally started to pay off, and she has the presence of mind to endure the rigorous training without the stress she had before. A reporter asked she, "How many pounds have you lost in the past three months?”. "I can't tell you that," she replied cheerfully, "I can't tell you that” (laughs).
It goes without saying that in figure skating, the lighter weight is better than the heavier weight, so what effect did the weight reduction have on her? Higuchi said with a real sense of accomplishment: "I feel less injured. I don't get injured as much as I used to, or at least not as much. I didn't really feel it at first, but then I suddenly realized that being light made it easier for me to jump and keep my strength up.”
In the second half of last season, when she were in a slump, she was not able to participate in the big international tournaments. So this year, she had set himself the goal of achieving results at the All-Japan Championships, which doubled as a preliminary round for the World Championships, to qualify for the national team.
“But my teachers, friends, and parents told me that my goal is All-Japan, so I had to work hard or I would regret it, so my awareness has improved since the beginning of the season. I'm getting stronger. It's paying off in practice and we've been able to show it in this game.”
“As a college student this spring, I've gained more autonomy in my life.” For example, she couldn't think of a dinner without white rice before, but for the past two months she has skipped the carbs and gone to a diet centered on protein and vegetable salad.
“I like white rice, so not being able to eat it at night has been the toughest thing to practice. I really couldn't eat carbs for dinner at night. I've been experimenting with a lot of things this season, and I was a little nervous about whether or not I'd get good results, but the results gave me confidence, so I thought it was important to make new discoveries.”
After a brief hiatus, she has also started to work on her triple axel, which she perfected in late November during a practice session at her home rink. [Argiefan: wow!] With hers high, wide and dynamic jumps, if she can improve her odds of being able to incorporate them into her competition, she should be a great weapon against the Russians.
End of article.
Regards!
thank you to 
