Mai Mihara: Greatest #4 Skater of All Time? | Golden Skate

Mai Mihara: Greatest #4 Skater of All Time?

zanadude

Medalist
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Country
Japan
Mai Mihara is a Universiade champion and former Four Continents Champion. She has made the podium at 4CC three times, and in six appearances at Grand Prix events has never finished worse than fourth.

And yet, throughout all of that, it's hard to make the argument that she has ever been one of Japan's top three female skaters. She has a single bronze in Nationals, and made the World Championships as an alternate, but has never really had a claim to being one of Japan's "elite" skaters.

I can't even think of a Russian skater that has accomplished so much and never even had a cup of coffee as being considered one of their countries best skaters.

Still have faith that Mai will one day break free and no longer be the answer to such a trivia question.
 

brens78

Medalist
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
Country
Australia
It was a big shame she didn't go to the Olympics last year. ( was always gonna be upsetting due to only 2 spots available )
 

zanadude

Medalist
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Country
Japan
It was a big shame she didn't go to the Olympics last year. ( was always gonna be upsetting due to only 2 spots available )

Ironically, her greatest claim to an elite spot was the fact that she was the highest placing skater at Worlds that season. Her fifth place finish more than held up her end of the bargain towards securing three spots.
 

yume

🍉
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 11, 2016
Seems to me that she qualified for 2017 worlds by being on nats podium and didn't get the spot by being an alternate.

Glad that this thread was created. Mai is one of the most underrated of these last seasons.
She has the full package. The jumps, the spins, the SS, the consistency. What she lacks is maybe that famous x factor. But IMO she's a very watchable skater.
But the main, the most important thing she lacks is luck. I mean, give her Samodurova's luck and she would have a world spot now.
Mai Mihara's consistency is 3 falls in three seasons (i only remember two but maybe there is a third).
An average of 3 obvious mistakes per season
200+ at each competition this season
I don't remember the last time she bombed. Like 2 obvious costly mistakes in a program.
Did she ever fell in a free program?

Mai Mihara's bad luck/underscoring is:
Getting a score that could have make her win a GP but she finished fourth with that.
Always getting tough fields in GP.
Her occasional URs and phantom lip being called 3/4 of the time while others get a pass most of the time.
The cleanests judge's scores at nats this season and one of of the best execution among top contenders but a 4th place finish.
 

Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
It makes me mad that Mai didn't make the Worlds team this year...but I don't really have anyone to be mad at. :( Mai was unlucky, and the JSF prefers other skaters. The current world team all deserve their place as well.
At least Mai has never disappointed me for the past 3 seasons I have been a fan.
I hope next season she can come out with 2 new programs that will shake the judges into seeing her in a new light. -And that her arthritis can give her a break. :pray:
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I don't want to butt in on this Mai Mihara thread, but if the thread is intended to be about candidates for the "best forth place skater of all time," I would throw in the name of Matthew Savoie. A sublime artist with excellent technique, from 1999 to 2006 Matt fished 4, 4, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 3 at U.S. Nationals, always just behind the likes of Todd Eldredge, Michael Weiss, Tim Goebel, Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek -- he might have been better than any of them, except Eldredge.
 

yume

🍉
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 11, 2016
-And that her arthritis can give her a break. :pray:
I forgot that. She's doing all of this with a serious desease. A desease that got her hospitalized and miss nationals during her final junior season.

Yukari Nakano is another 4th skater. Never got a world medal or made it to olympics while she could have to.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
michal brezina

twice 4th at worlds (his best result is 4th)
3 times 4th at euros (his best is a bronze)
even managed to finished 4th at GPF

and 3 times 4th at skate canada... thought it was worth mentioning too ;)
 

Heleng

Medalist
Joined
Dec 29, 2014
Country
United-States
I hope Mai achieves her dream of making it to the Olympics. Matt Savoie did.
 

CanadianSkaterGuy

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
I was gonna say Brezina is probably who I most associate with 4ths but Mai has had some unfortunate luck.

I agree that Mai is a total package skater but unfortunately there's something a bit bland about her programs and I wish there was more versatility in her skating. I wish she showed a bit more fire to really stand out because she doesn't have Satoko's sophistication, Kaori's explosiveness or Kihira's tech abilities. Glad to see her do well at Universiade.
 

4everchan

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 7, 2015
Country
Martinique
I was gonna say Brezina is probably who I most associate with 4ths but Mai has had some unfortunate luck.

I agree that Mai is a total package skater but unfortunately there's something a bit bland about her programs and I wish there was more versatility in her skating. I wish she showed a bit more fire to really stand out because she doesn't have Satoko's sophistication, Kaori's explosiveness or Kihira's tech abilities. Glad to see her do well at Universiade.

have you seen her live? i find her very "small"... on tv she is exquisite ... but at the rink, the time i saw her.. and yes.. maybe she wasn't at her best... who knows? everything looked small and bland and not drawing the crowd in... and i went there as a huge fan. :( but if the question is "is mai the best of the 4thss.... i would say yes... in the sense that i'd rather watch her skate than michal " but i know some will disagree
 

wanderlust

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 23, 2010
I'm probably among the minority, but I much prefer Mai over her training mate, Kaori. I just find her stiff and awkward from the waist up, especially her arms.

Not disputing any of Kaori's wins or placements anywhere. She deserves her spot on the world team. I just don't enjoy watching her skating as much as other Japanese ladies (Satoko, Rika K., Wakaba, Marin).
 

zanadude

Medalist
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Country
Japan
Brezina is a three time national champion. I really don't think you can say that he was never a Top 3 Skater in his country.
 

Noxchild

Medalist
Joined
Feb 14, 2018
Country
Canada
Mai was very close to making the GPF this year. I hope she strikes more luck next season, because she is certainly capable of it. I like her FS but I do agree she needs a signature program that makes people go, "wow, that's HER!" She is so graceful and elegant and light, and exudes such charm on the ice. I demand to see her on more podiums!

Brezina is a three time national champion. I really don't think you can say that he was never a Top 3 Skater in his country.

I mean... who does Michel even have for competition back home?
 

[email protected]

Medalist
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Mai is the hostage of the current country quota rule. With such in mind I don't see that she has been treated unfairly. I would argue that Liza's not getting to the Russian team is a bigger injustice. Liza is the current bronze GPF winner while Mai even was not there.
 

randomfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
Mai is such a beautiful skater, and her artistry is pretty underrated at this point IMO.

Back then, I remember she became well-known as the cute Cinderella girl with all-around high quality elements, but lacking in artistry, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much she improved this in the 2017-18 season. Her Libertango SP was actually choreographed very well and had the potential, but Mai was just not used to that kind of intense music so it ended up not being as successful. Meanwhile, her Gabriel's Oboe FS quickly became one of my favourites, and it proved to me that while her skating lacked the wow factor, it had a natural soft and pure quality. As for her programs this season, I first found her SP very boring and bland, but as the season progressed I started to appreciate it more. The step sequence in particular stood out to me - it was very detailed and matched the music well. The changes made to her FS this season made the program not as great as last season, but it is completely understandable why they were made (2nd half bonus changes), and she still gave some really great performances with it.

Still, I agree that luck has never really been on her side. Other than 2017 4CC, I can't remember a time when she won a major competition (so not Universiade), including a GP. But still received high-enough scores to win, which just shows how fierce her competitions were - she was often either 2nd or 4th :(. And the top 4 at Japanese Nationals this season all deserved a World spot, but of course only 3 could be sent, so that was unfortunate for her. However, I'm glad that she did very well at the events she WAS assigned too, and scoring over 200 in every competition this season is pretty impressive, along with constantly rebounding so well from her struggles with arthritis. I hope her next season can be even better, and I will always be rooting for her! :clap:
 

yume

🍉
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 11, 2016
Mai is the hostage of the current country quota rule. With such in mind I don't see that she has been treated unfairly. I would argue that Liza's not getting to the Russian team is a bigger injustice. Liza is the current bronze GPF winner while Mai even was not there.

Well, if the scoring was properly done at nats she would have been third and would have a shot at winning the spot. But yeah, girls who got the spots are strong.

Injustice is not a strong enough word to describe what happened in Russia.
 

zanadude

Medalist
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Country
Japan
I mean... who does Michel even have for competition back home?

I think that I really meant this topic more as a comment on the depth of the Japan ladies as a whole, in that someone this talented and accomplished is not a top three skater in her country, despite being ranked as high as #5 in the world.
 

voolfee

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 6, 2014
I think Tuktamysheva is the Greatest #4 Skater of All Time. Skater with a bronze medal of GPF and with 3A. :drama:
 
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