2018-19 Japanese Ladies' figure skating | Page 97 | Golden Skate

2018-19 Japanese Ladies' figure skating

lanceupper1114

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 3, 2018
Sofia's silver medal at Rostelecom with 198 is looking good for Kaori in case there's a tie breaker :agree:

I'm sorry for Mako tho but she got silver at skate Canada with 2 beautiful performances at her first GP it's not something to be shy about. Hopefully it was a great learning experience for her.

Kaori is most likely in the final.

Only condition where she won't get in now is if Mai or Bradie is 1st place in France AND Evgenia places second with 214+ score, or Konstantinova is second. Or if Evgenia and Konstantinova finish 1-2. I already assumed Rika Kihira is in the final since she only needs 4th place.

These are low probability scenarios.
 

gossipcow

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 4, 2018
A shame about Mako being off the podium today, but I am admittedly glad that Kaori's chances for GPF have gone up. I still think she should've gotten silver at Helsinki, so here's hoping she'll get to GPF one way or another! Same with Rika, but I feel somewhat confident that she can manage 4th or higher in IdF.
 

christinaskater

Medalist
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Yuka Sato is IMO the skater with the best SS - deep edges, easy turns, such power and the ability to seemingly vary speeds and change directions at will. All done on blades that are so quiet which is why I think Yuka has the edge even over the gold standard of SS which is Patrick Chan. Satoko has the smoothness but not the power, so she is in a way like MKwan who also had lovely edges and lyricism but was not an explosive skater that could skate big, although her jumps are better. Like Kwan, Satoko is solid and consistent and dependable, so if the stars with big scoring potential like Wakaba or Rika falters, she can still be depended upon to keep things afloat and keep Japan's 3 spots at Worlds.


I love all these girls!!!!!
I concur that Yuka Sato has the best skating skills ever in the sport. The “zen” and smoothness of the blade is the best ever. I love her so much. I’m happy she won Worlds 1994.

I love Michelle Kwan! She is truly one of the greatest of all time! She is magic and charisma on ice! The Kwan era is one of , if not, the greatest era in the sport for me.

I also love Akiko Suzuki one of the greatest and most musical skaters ever!


My top 3 skaters ever are

Michelle Kwan
Satoko Miyahara
Akiko Suzuki

Satoko has grown so much!!!!! Her musicality, class, attention to detail , work ethic reminds me of the great Michelle Kwan!
 

lzxnl

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 8, 2018
You make that assumption at your peril. Kihira runs hot and cold. A 5th place finish is not outside the realm of possibility.

Rika's win condition is landing 2 out of 3 triple axels. She will likely still medal if she lands only one of them. You're asking her to miss all three triple axels to not medal, and I find that unlikely.
 

lanceupper1114

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 3, 2018
You make that assumption at your peril. Kihira runs hot and cold. A 5th place finish is not outside the realm of possibility.

Sure it's in the realm of possibility that she will place 5th, but the probability is low; she's the highest scoring skater in the entire GP series with 5 events completed. Either way, I'm not in any sort of peril since there doesn't exist any sort of figure skating placements that place me in imminent danger.
 

micnow

Rinkside
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Kaori is most likely in the final.

Only condition where she won't get in now is if Mai or Bradie is 1st place in France AND Evgenia places second with 214+ score, or Konstantinova is second. Or if Evgenia and Konstantinova finish 1-2. I already assumed Rika Kihira is in the final since she only needs 4th place.

These are low probability scenarios.

Why do you think it is low probability scenario? It is still possible that four skaters could pass her (Kaori) in one event!! Although the results of the previous two GP-events were quite favourable for her, but things could be complicated for Kaori if Konstantinova would finish 2nd (not unlikely), which would Kaori knock out with the very probable result Medvedeva-Konstantinova-Kihira (not lower than 4th). Hope this wikll not happen but I am still afraid!
 

lanceupper1114

On the Ice
Joined
Jun 3, 2018
Why do you think it is low probability scenario? It is still possible that four skaters could pass her (Kaori) in one event!! Although the results of the previous two GP-events were quite favourable for her, but things could be complicated for Kaori if Konstantinova would finish 2nd (not unlikely), which would Kaori knock out with the very probable result Medvedeva-Konstantinova-Kihira (not lower than 4th). Hope this wikll not happen but I am still afraid!

The odds Mai or Bradie winning with Medvedeva 2nd place with score that beats Kaori is low because, honestly, what are the odds that Med would score 214+ and Mai or Bradie would BEAT that score to place first? To me that's very low, especially low with the way tech panels have been. If Med scores 214+, probably no one would beat her except Rika. 214 is a very high score this season.

France is probably the 2nd deepest field this GP season, I honestly would be very surprised if Konstantinova placed 2nd. Obviously anything can happen since the results this season have been unpredictable, but i still think Kaori is still heavily favored.

Only a combination of two skaters at this point can surpass Kaori in this final GP event with the assumption Rika is already in. She is guaranteed at the very least 1st alternate (7th qualifier). If Rika is 5th, Kaori is in for sure.
 

RafaelAstro

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 22, 2018
poor mako and yuna :(, first grand prix without a japanese ladie in the podium this season, what happened to Mako? she is normally consistent and she did so great at skate canada, I really wanted her to qualify to the grand prix final, and seriously Yuna was robbed at Helsinki, she deserved silver or bronze no fourth place, I hate everything :(, only one grand prix left and I hope Rika, Mai and Marin do their best no matter what, Rika Kihira you can win there, you are incredibly, please do 2 clean programs :( and get the second gold! good luck girls!
 

leoleo

Medalist
Joined
Jul 5, 2018
Why do you think it is low probability scenario? It is still possible that four skaters could pass her (Kaori) in one event!! Although the results of the previous two GP-events were quite favourable for her, but things could be complicated for Kaori if Konstantinova would finish 2nd (not unlikely), which would Kaori knock out with the very probable result Medvedeva-Konstantinova-Kihira (not lower than 4th). Hope this wikll not happen but I am still afraid!

I don't think Konstantinova has that great of a shot at silver, she's just not that consistent and the competition is tough which it wasn't at Helsinki when she won. It was a shame Kaori had that nasty fall during practice that resulted in her messing her short, Stasya grabbed that occasion to shine + she got lucky her URs were ignored. Everybody else would have to mess up really bad for that to happen and even if Rika happened to completely fail Mai is really consistent and if Stasya & Mai are both clean, Mai would definitely score higher (even tho she always gets robbed in terms of pcs scores, her total scores at both her competitions this season are above 200, Stasya's total score in helsinki is 197). Then there's Bradie Tennel who could spoil the whole thing too.

I edited my post because the first one sounded kind of mean
 

Globetrotter

Medalist
Joined
Jan 17, 2014
I don't think Konstantinova has that great of a shot at silver, she's just not that consistent and the competition is tough which it wasn't at Helsinki when she won. It was a shame Kaori had that nasty fall during practice that resulted in her messing her short, Stasya grabbed that occasion to shine + she got lucky her URs were ignored. Everybody else would have to mess up really bad for that to happen and even if Rika happened to completely fail Mai is really consistent and if Stasya & Mai are both clean, Mai would definitely score higher (even tho she always gets robbed in terms of pcs scores, her total scores at both her competitions this season are above 200, Stasya's total score in helsinki is 197). Then there's Bradie Tennel who could spoil the whole thing too.

I edited my post because the first one sounded kind of mean

Hmm just like Rika, Stasya is someone who blows hot and cold. When she is on, she can be very good since she is one of the really naturally talented skaters. When she is off, it gets ugly. It all depends on how "on" both Rika and Stasya are on the ice during IdF. Kaori does have a good shot at making it but it is not exactly improbably that someone like Stasya and Mai may be spoilers.
 

balabam

🥕🥕🌵🌵😈😀
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 23, 2015
Country
Slovakia
OK, criteria for Worlds selection in Japan are published:
https://twitter.com/tsubakindy/status/1065311496362553344

For Ladies&Men Singles (3 spots available):

1. The winner of Japanese Nationals will be chosen

2. One athlete will be chosen by judging comprehensively between athletes who met criterias below
---(a) Ranked 2 or 3 in Japan Nationals
---(b) Top 2 in Grand Prix Final Standing
---(c) Top 3 ISU personal best scores by the time Japan National ends3.

3. To gather 3 names aside from the ones chosen in point 1+2
An athlete will be chosen from judging comprehensively between those who met the criterias below:
---(a) Athletes who met the requirements from point 2a to 2c but were not chosen
---(b) Top 3 of ISU Season World Rankings
---(c) Top 3 of ISU Season's Best Score

To qualify for the spots, participation in Japan Nationals is mandatory ( the selection of substitutes are not limited by this) However if an athlete has archieved top 3 in past World Championship fails to compete in Japan Nationals due to inevitable reasons such as injuries, an evaluation will be made of the athlete's performance before the said injury happened, based on the criterias cited above. Some considerations will be made by seeing the conditions before World Championship.

My translation of criteria for women:
1. Satoko Miyahara is in. (99%, unless injured).
2. Rika Kihira has very good chance, but needs to deliver at least once, ideally two times of the following three (France GP, GP Final, Nationals)
3. Mai and Kaori, if they won't achieve GP Final, it will be very tough journey through Nationals, but achievable.
4. They have opened the door for Wakaba Higuchi, despite the injury, but she will need to be footperfect at Nationals.
5. Mako Yamashita and Yuna Shiraiwa, they should overcome herself at Nationals and hope for some mistakes of others.
6. Yuhana Yokoi, she has outside shot and enough quality to be on some circumstancies in top 3, but considering criteria virtually no chance for Worlds this year (maybe 4FC, if lucky? )




 

Danny T

Medalist
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Wishing all the best to Mai, Rika and Marin this weekend :yahoo:

I haven't seen Mai's run-through anywhere, but Rika's and Marin's looked good so far!
 
Top