Rika Kihira

Yeah, I'm agreed with others. I think Rika should concentrate on her healing. Actually it's easier for russians than for her and Bradie because [almost] no time difference between Moscow and Italy. Another crazy thing - why competitions are held so late in the evening?:eeking: For Rika it's twice harder, because in Japan it's already the next day dawn and she has to skate after a whole sleepless night:shocked:. Just a bad luck... But anyone knows - Rika is the best skater in generations:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Good luck to Rika for her FS! No matter what happens, I hope she puts out a skate she is proud of - and that she rests and recovers over the winter. She deserves all her kudos!

The judges are a little harsh on Rika here...and not harsh at all on the other skaters...

Great comeback for Rika with the excellent effort to try and land the 4S despite the fall, while landing two triple axels, the triple flip / triple toe, the double axel / eulur/ triple salchow and she skated with a lot of impressive artistic expression. The angle of the camera showed off really well the graceful beauty of her choreographic sequence with the great skating, flexiblity and musicality of the Ina Bauer, followed by sliding smoothly through a variety of moves with find posture on and off the ice, and and then into the arabesque right next the boards. There was obvious deflation in scoring again as shown by almost 4 points less in PCS compared to NHK freeskate, even lower than Anna with a fall, and Rika received a very harsh ur call on her triple axel, especially since Alena's first triple axel with even slightly less rotation was overlooked and again her unclear triple lutz edge was again overlooked with even higher GOE than last time and even higher PCS than at NHK. GOE inflation / deflation between Rika and the top 3 also added to the effective underscoring. To show a consistency in between different events, Haein Lee from South Korea also received a 3 point deflation in PCS from her last Junior Grand Prix assignment while skating at a similar level of quality in the Junior Grand Prix Final with skaters coming after her. Again, Rika is held to a higher standard and underscored across tech, PCS and GOE which adds up to a lot relative deflation because she is not a preferred skater and because she poses the biggest threat to the more preferred skaters which has become even more pronounced since the power play memo.

Anyway, I hope Rika can rest now. She should be proud for battling back and skating so well. I meant to add that it appears jet lag and lack of sleep may have something to do with how Rika felt in the SP as this video interview suggests, especially since in Japanese time she would be skating at about 3-4 am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYUAGqs9Nuc

Rika!! I'm so proud she tried her 4S and skated as best she could, no matter the final score. Yes it would have been lovely if she medalled, and yes I also boggled at her PCS, though it was harsh for everyone save Kostornaia. But the competition is done now, and I hope she gets her rest and heals that darn tendon soon. Good job!

She fell in the short and long. That is why the PCS was low. Even so, she PCS was higher than 3 of the other competitors. She would likely have had PCS close to Aliona without the falls. (which she deserves). I am a huge Rika fan but I don't think she was underscored by too much. She UR the first 3A and all the jumps just didn't seem as effortless as usual. I really think she might have been suffering from injury/jet lag.

Anyway, I am glad she tried the 4S. She needs to compete it a few times to get comfortable with it. However, it is very close. I think she will be able to land it cleanly soon if injury doesn't interfere.

I'm thrilled with potential Rika has!:agree: All other skater showed maximum they can do but Rika can do even more in the future (as soon as injury stops bothering her). Becuase of trauma she didn't have lutzes + can include another quad Sal later. Technical BV will be way higher.:thumbsup: I'm also happy that quad she did at competition is fully rotated (just looked at judges protocols). So the best is yet to come for Rika!:thumbsup::luv17::thumbsup:

Rika deserves a hot bath and some time off to enjoy Turin
I hope she comes back healthier and happier.
Alyona beating the field quadless and with great skating skills gives me hope for Rika because I think they are very similar and Rika has a quad so... ))

I'm still sad that her PCS dropped 4 pts. I think she should've gotten at least 69-ish to 70. still because the skills are still there. But I'll admit she was not her best here.
What frustrates me most is that relative to the field, she was dinged the harshest on GOEs and PCS. No way could Alina skate like that and get the same PCS as Rika who only has 1 major mistake and has better skills.

Aaahhh, I am so impressed that Rika went for the 4S! Better luck on landing it next time, but she's going to fight for the podium placements in future competitions for sure. I really do hope that she is more healed up than we thought after the SP, though, because I worry about jumping quads and 3As on an injury. Concerns aside, she did a lovely job with her FP, which has to be challenging, with all the music changes, and as always was a pleasure to watch.

Good luck at Nats!

"2019 Japanese Championships: Nationals Predictions Game" already started [URL="https://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?84059-2019-Japanese-Championships-Nationals-Predictions-Game-Round-1/2019-Japanese-Championships-Nationals-Predictions-Game-Round-1/[/URL]
Rika #1 in every single bid! The true Queen of Figure Skating!

When is our girl skating?

She's vanished off the radar!

Greengemmonster said:

When is our girl skating?

She's vanished off the radar!

Click to expand...

There are links but they are in japanese
Official schedule:
https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2019-2020/fs_j/nationalsenior/11-22_schedule.pdf

Ladies SP is going to be held on Thursday 5pm, and FS on Saturday 5pm (JST).

Same schedule in english (may be outdated)
https://www.inthelopodcast.com/calendarv1/2019/12/18/japan-figure-skating-championships-2019-20
Judges scores
https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2019-2020/fs_j/nationalsenior/index.htm
Women entries page:
https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2019-2020/fs_j/nationalsenior/data0200.htm
It's funny if you translate this page via Google Translate. Google thinks that 'Rika' is 'Jiping pear flower' (she's number 9 on the list)
Other translations even more ridiculous: Wakaba (#19) is just 'New mouth' (what?), Mana Kawabe (#8) is 'River love dish' (what???), Rino Kasakake (#6) - 'Hanging pear'
Poor Google!

Haha thanks @SkateChan

I might just call her the Pear Flower from now on

SkateChan said:

There are links but they are in japanese
Official schedule:
https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2019-2020/fs_j/nationalsenior/11-22_schedule.pdf

Ladies SP is going to be held on Thursday 5pm, and FS on Saturday 5pm (JST).

Same schedule in english (may be outdated)
https://www.inthelopodcast.com/calendarv1/2019/12/18/japan-figure-skating-championships-2019-20
Judges scores
https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2019-2020/fs_j/nationalsenior/index.htm
Women entries page:
https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2019-2020/fs_j/nationalsenior/data0200.htm
It's funny if you translate this page via Google Translate. Google thinks that 'Rika' is 'Jiping pear flower' (she's number 9 on the list)
Other translations even more ridiculous: Wakaba (#19) is just 'New mouth' (what?), Mana Kawabe (#8) is 'River love dish' (what???), Rino Kasakake (#6) - 'Hanging pear'
Poor Google!

Click to expand...

Google has evidently translated her name from Chinese. That's how 纪平 (jiping) is pronounced. 梨 means pear
花 is flower

According to this post Rika plans 4S but still no lutzes. I think it's clever decision - she needs to fully recover:agree:
https://twitter.com/figureskatingm1/status/1207159908577079297

goodluck, Rikaaaa!!!
I tuned in just in time for group 4. yeyyy

This was probably the worst 3A this season but Rika still 4 points ahead of Kaori:thumbsup: Back at 2018 Nationals SP was sort of a disaster. Hold on, Rika!:thumbsup:

I think she was very underscored in both TES and PCS but oh well she is still in first place and I think she will stay there, anyway a great skate Rika! gambatte in the free! you can do it! go for your first national tittle! I will always support you my queen! <3

Did they hammer everyone in TES???

They were mean with her GOEs but she was one of the few to keep her TES in the box at the end of the skate. Everyone went down by approximately 3 points.