2018 Team Japan 4CC Olympics JWC World

[Li'Kitsu]

As always, dumbest thing they could have done. Both Satoko and Kaori doing 4CC, team event and Olympic is insane. Sending Waka nowhere until WC where the pressure to deliver to get the spots back will be worse then at the Olympics... Insane too. Unbelievable

 

[tzazu]

oh, annoyed because she can´t get the olympics, and now annoyed because she got Worlds :sarcasm:

 

[nolangoh]

4 Continents team substitutes

Kazuki Tomono, Daisuke Murakami, Ryuju Hino

Wakaba Higuchi, Rika Hongo, Marin Honda, Yuna Shiraiwa

 

[Yatagarasu]

oh, annoyed because she can´t get the olympics, and now annoyed because she got Worlds :sarcasm:

I'm not annoyed she didn't get Olympics, she shouldn't have. I've stated that multiple times. Thanks for ignoring that.

I am questioning putting her on the Worlds team, and not Kaori, if the criteria is who has the highest potential for scoring, and then letting Wakaba shoulder the responsibility for the spots next year. Why not Kaori at Worlds too? It should be her. She is the one who will have the momentum from 4CC and Olympics. Wakaba will have nothing from now to Milan.

 

[Marin]

https://twitter.com/hueber_sydney/status/944930432491106304
Yuzuru fans brought their flags specifically for the Olympic announcement

 

[gravy]

I'm heartbroken for Wakaba as she really won me over at the Cup of China but it's heartwarming to see Kaori have one of those "competitions of their life" performances and get rewarded for it! Thrilled for Satoko too and the men were expected, really so no complaints there (sad for Mura though!).

I will say though that the JSF is screwing themselves over by not sending Wakaba to 4CCs or sticking with Kaori for Worlds--she's gonna end up in such a low starting group in Milan because she won't have any ranking points from those two prior competitions which could affect their chance of getting 3 spots. The Japanese women have had so many competitions this season where starting early really hurt their chances to move up... I figured the JSF would learn from it. I really hope one withdraws from 4CCs to give her a chance.

 

[liv]

Glad Mai gets one more chance to show clean programs and see how she stacks up against the Olympic challengers. I would have preferred her at World's since she was highest there last year, but she was 5th at Nats, so nope to that. Obviously they have faith that Wakaba can do better than last year and help get 3 spots back for Japan Worlds after that. I wonder if Satoko/Kaori will actually go to 4CC with it being so close to PC?

 

[demarinis5]

I think JSF made a good decision on its selections for Worlds and 4CC.

Since it is Olympic season I suspect we may see movement of the skaters who actually
attends 4CC. It may be a completely different team than what was announced today.

 

[sk8ath]

As always, dumbest thing they could have done. Both Satoko and Kaori doing 4CC, team event and Olympic is insane. Sending Waka nowhere until WC where the pressure to deliver to get the spots back will be worse then at the Olympics... Insane too. Unbelievable

JSF is always unbelievable.

 

[dorispulaski]

So no pairs or dance at 4CCs??

Or at Jr. Worlds?
?

 

[rosacotton]

Olympic seasom

But during the last Olympics season didn't the National Champions, Akiko Suzuki and Yuzuru, skip 4CCs? I think Kanako Murakami and Mura won 2014 4CCs.

 

[tzazu]

As always, dumbest thing they could have done. Both Satoko and Kaori doing 4CC, team event and Olympic is insane. Sending Waka nowhere until WC where the pressure to deliver to get the spots back will be worse then at the Olympics... Insane too. Unbelievable

Satoko and Kaori need more competition before Olympics, so makes sense. Satoko has been injured long and Kaori is her first year in senior. WC are important too, so they send the most reliable of them, Satoko, and gives a new option to deliver to Wakaba, which is a good opportunity for her to show her potential.

 

[Leonardo]

So Wakaba gets the real tough assignment. Well ok. Curious they suddenly feel like she is good enough for that particular responsibility.

It's not about that: it's clearly the consolation prizes for amazing performances but not getting to the olympics: Mai gets 4cc, Wakaba gets worlds and 1st alternate for the olympics.

Wakaba is good enough for the olympics, for worlds, for anything. The thing is, they thought Sakamoto was 0.00001% a better choice for the olympics. It's not that Wakaba was not good enough. It's really close and it could go either way.

If the olympic spot had gone to Wakaba, then Sakamoto would go to worlds. It's as simple as that.

 

[Barb]

So no pairs or dance at 4CCs??

Or at Jr. Worlds?

Does Their selection in Pairs at Worlds have TES required ?

Maybe it is because they will compete in both segments in the Olympic Team Event. it would be too much 4cc

 

[Lota]

As always, dumbest thing they could have done. Both Satoko and Kaori doing 4CC, team event and Olympic is insane. Sending Waka nowhere until WC where the pressure to deliver to get the spots back will be worse then at the Olympics... Insane too. Unbelievable

What would you do in their place? No judgement, I'm just really curious. If Satoko is going to 4CC, I feel that this was probably her own wish, otherwise she would've given the position to someone else. Kaori needs as many international competitions before Olympics as she can get, as she needs the experience, so sending her to 4CC seems like a good idea. Sending Wakaba to Worlds is fairly risky, but with her partner being Satoko, the Federation probably felt that it was safe enough. I felt that they got a pretty good balance of both sending athletes that need to compete as preparation for Olympics, and also sending as many athletes throughout all the competitions as possible. I don't think it would have been fair if Mai got sent nowhere

 

[Yatagarasu]

If the olympic spot had gone to Wakaba, then Sakamoto would go to worlds. It's as simple as that.

And then it would have been a bad choice for Kaori, there's no difference. The point is they're sending a skater who has nothing between these Nationals and Worlds, into a massive pressure cooker situation, where the stress will be through the roof. That, after Olympics and 4CC, which will cause Wakaba in this case to probably drop in ranking, instead of allowing Kaori to carry on the momentum from 4CC and Olympics onward into Worlds.

So they must suddenly have some insane belief in her to overcome all that when arguably, there's more riding on Worlds in terms of future than when it comes to the Olympics.

 

[FSLover17]

Congrats to Kaori and Satoko! Do we know when the team competition skaters will be announced?

 

[cohkaix]

So no pairs or dance at 4CCs??

Or at Jr. Worlds?

Does Their selection in Pairs at Worlds have TES required ?

Adding 4CC pairs and dance team:
Pairs:
Riku Miura / Shoya Ichihashi
Narumi Takahashi / Ryo Shibata
Miu Suzaki / Ryuichi Kihara

Ice dance:
Kana Muramoto / Chris Reed
Misato Komatsubara / Timothy Koleto
Rikako Fukase / Aru Tateno

As for JWC, pair goes to Riku Miura / Shoya Ichihashi, but there's no ice dance team (making the requirement) this year...too bad.

 

[cohkaix]

Adding the Olympic team alternates:

Men:
Alt 1: Mura
Alt 2: Tomono
Alt 3: Daisuke

Ladies:
Alt 1: Wakaba
Alt 2: Mai

Pair:
Alt 1: Narumi Takahashi / Ryo Shibata
Alt 2: Miu Suzaki / Ryuichi Kihara

Ice dance: no alternate

 

[Leonardo]

And then it would have been a bad choice for Kaori, there's no difference.

What would you do in that case, then?