2018-19 Japanese Ladies' figure skating

Are you overreacting? It was very close between 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Kaori was a 3Flip (even with negative GOE) away from the podium, and Rika.... well, in the end, all she needed was a simple double axel in the SP to medal. But that's shoulda-woulda-coulda.

It's ok. I'm sad about the results too, but their time - all three ladies here, and Mai, Wakaba, Marin, Yuna, and everyone else - will come again. Next season will be glorious, I'm sure :thumbsup:

rollerblade said:

Are you overreacting? It was very close between 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Kaori was a 3Flip (even with negative GOE) away from the podium, and Rika.... well, in the end, all she needed was a simple double axel in the SP to medal. But that's shoulda-woulda-coulda.

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If Kaori is training in a better environment it may make a difference...
You know she is a top skater in Japan that doesn't have a real home rink...

Noxchild said:

It's ok. I'm sad about the results too, but their time - all three ladies here, and Mai, Wakaba, Marin, Yuna, and everyone else - will come again. Next season will be glorious, I'm sure :thumbsup:

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That's all i hope for. Japan has a fabulous field. With maybe a bit more work from fed, things can be easier for these ladies.

We will maybe see Kaori's 3A at next nats https://mobile.twitter.com/Iron_Klaus/status/1109150322872774656

WTT Team will be announced monday!! I love this event it's always so fun

At this point I think Mai is in good position and for the second spot either Kaori or Rika. But I'm not good at prediction so...

feel a little sorry that they just missed the podium. But they were all great fighters. Look forward to next season now. Kaori plz plz plz pick Skate America

Winry said:

WTT Team will be announced monday!! I love this event it's always so fun

At this point I think Mai is in good position and for the second spot either Kaori or Rika. But I'm not good at prediction so...

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I didn't know that, thanks!
My dream is Wakaba but I think more likely Rika and Kaori.

sk8ath said:

No Japanese ladies on podium...
I hope JSF can evaluate thoroughly and has a better plan to cultivate skaters.

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One thing the JSF can do to nurture its medal hopefuls is not deflate the skater with the highest tech score in the Nationals LP by giving them third place PCS, especially when the same skater, in this case Rika, had received far higher PCS than her teammates in the Grand Prix Final LP after winning every competition that season. I think the reason not to do this is because a similar process happened again at Worlds in Japan with the exception of Satoko with Nationals perhaps planting the idea for extrapolating Rika's relative PCS deflation internationally. First, the Nationals precedent for PCS deflation apparently based on age was repeated internationally at the Challenge Cup when Rika was again given a lower PCS than another senior Japanese skater, Wakaba, despite having an even much higher relative tech score than in the National LP. And finally the precedent was carried out in the Worlds LP in Japan where Rika received the highest tech score yet again in the LP, but distant 4th place PCS despite having excellent skating skills and artistry. In addition, the deflation between Rika's tech score (almost 83) and her PCS score (almost 71) was greater than any other skater in the competition except one finishing 16th place.

Put more generally, I don't think the JSF should deflate or "meddle" with the minds of skaters at Nationals who have had the most successful season internationally by underscoring them and forcing them to adjust to a suddenly hostile scoring regime because it may harm their chances of "medaling" at Worlds or the Olympics by negatively affecting their psychological game and potentially setting a precedent for underscoring internationally, while the federation tries to teach them a "punitive scoring lesson." for mistakes made or tries to promote seniority when younger skaters are more likely to medal internationally.

Furthermore, the JSF shouldn't deflate skaters who achieve the highest tech content because otherwise the penalty would cancel out the reward of the risk.

But, the JSF has been known to undermine their best bet for medals before like when they forced Mao, the Grand Prix Final Champion, and Akiko, the National Champion, to train in a sandy and bitterly cold rink far away from the comforts of Japan before Sochi, while callously refusing urgent requests to train at home. The adjustment in the blades alone wreaked havoc with training and preparation for the event.

JSF should mostly take master classes of politicking. Because what happened to their skaters in Japan wouldn't have happened to skaters of the 3 other big feds at home.

Let's wait to see how men's under rotations are called, especially Uno vs. other top skaters.

yume said:

JSF should mostly take master classes of politicking. Because what happened to their skaters in Japan wouldn't have happened to skaters of the 3 other big feds at home.

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hippomoomin said:

Let's wait to see how men's under rotations are called, especially Uno vs. other top skaters.

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Uno got a call in SP. Seems like tech panel doesn't want to be blind this time.

I was just going to say Kaori is my #1 Japanese lady because she has better ss and more spectacular jumps than Rika. If she gets a 3A, that would be great.

yume said:

We will maybe see Kaori's 3A at next nats https://mobile.twitter.com/Iron_Klaus/status/1109150322872774656

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Yes. Rika will have to get this quad to beat her. I hope Wakaba will get her 3A too (though i have little hope with that coaching team). Things would get more interesting.

hippomoomin said:

I was just going to say Kaori is my #1 Japanese lady because she has better ss and more spectacular jumps than Rika. If she gets a 3A, that would be great.

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She was injured because of practicing this jump during her junior years...
and I doubt if she can make it because of her training conditions

But I am sending kudos to Coach Nakano anyway
She knows what her skaters need and give something to her skaters at the right moment.

I thought all the Japanese skaters did very well. Very few skaters do their best performance under that much pressure. Hardly anyone was clean last night. Maybe now these clowns will stop calling Wakaba a choker everytime she makes a mistake. As a matter of fact her Skyfall at last year's event was better than anything I saw last night.

Joekaz said:

I thought all the Japanese skaters did very well. Very few skaters do their best performance under that much pressure. Hardly anyone was clean last night. Maybe now these clowns will stop calling Wakaba a choker everytime she makes a mistake. As a matter of fact her Skyfall at last year's event was better than anything I saw last night.

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To be fair, Wakaba's Skyfall at Worlds was better than anything I saw pretty much ever, by anyone -- a true one in a million performance.

yume said:

Yes. Rika will have to get this quad to beat her. I hope Wakaba will get her 3A too (though i have little hope with that coaching team). Things would get more interesting.

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Kaori has to land the 3A first. As this season has shown, the 3A is not an easy jump to land consistently, and Kaori has popped 2As before, so I wouldn't be so sure of that. You'd surely give the mental edge to Rika with just 3As against Kaori with 3As if Rika has competed with it for two more years.

But regardless, I am already trying to put this frustrating Worlds behind me. I hope to see a clean quad something from Rika, or three 3As, sometime early next season pls. And I hope she rids herself of the comeback queen label, as she should be winning competitions in the short, not in spite of it. I hope Satoko's jumps get higher, as by gosh they're tiny. And I look forward to seeing more excited reactions from Kaori as she lands her first 3A in competition some time.

Joekaz said:

I thought all the Japanese skaters did very well. Very few skaters do their best performance under that much pressure. Hardly anyone was clean last night. Maybe now these clowns will stop calling Wakaba a choker everytime she makes a mistake. As a matter of fact her Skyfall at last year's event was better than anything I saw last night.

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Makes me think that as no one medaled, and that Satoko and Kaori haven't been rock solid this season, maybe fed will start to look at other skaters too and give them some love (Mai).

It is still very early, but how is the more serious and informed Japanese sports press and resident figure skating experts reacting to the outcome of the ladies single figure skating competition?

Sports psychology is sort of taboo in the minds of many people in charge over sports, regarding their athletes as cold blooded warriors that 'do or die'.
What is the JSF' stance on this?