Is Rika an exciting skater? | Page 2 | Golden Skate

Is Rika an exciting skater?

nussnacker

one and only
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 16, 2019
Depends how one interprets 'excitement'.
I don't think Rika oozes a lot of bright emotions on her face when she skates, or maybe has some special quirks, like Yuzu does, and she doesn't really need any of those, imo.
She's exciting because of the way she is, she's Rika!
Not every skater needs to be very extra to be exciting.
I personally find Mai Mihara very exciting, I think she's delicate and sweet, there's softness to her movement, she's like a tender beautiful flower. I find Mai to be very underrated personally, she's one of my all-time favorite skaters.
Similarly, I find Rika exciting as a personality and a skater, I think she's very committed and driven, and realistically, she's the only skater out there capable of really challenging 3A girls, she's constantly improving and working on herself, one can only applaud her character and hard work.

I'm always looking forward to what Rika brings out next, how will she further develop herself, and following her is super exciting.
 

lariko

Medalist
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Country
Canada
I have mentioned this before, but watching GPF reaffirmed to me that Rika reminds me of an in good form Mai Mihara with a 3A. This isn't meant as an insult, since Mai is very good also. What I mean is that Rika is very good at almost everything without really being great or spectacular at anything. Does anyone else have an opinion on that?

To me it mostly depends on the program of each individual skater. I found her presence on ice in practice very strong live, she draws eye with how energetically she jumps, plus I think she was wearing her competition dress instead of fatigues. This year I like Kihira’s short, but not her free or exhibition skates. From the Japanese ladies, I found Sakomoto the most memorable since the Olympics rather than Kihira. In general, I prefer energetic, dramatic performances to livelier music over the sweeter, more subtle ones.
 

jenm

The Last One Degree
Medalist
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
Rika is a very exciting skater for me. I find her and Alyona similar. Great jumps, good artistry, great skating skills. Both of them need improvement of course but the goods are there. They just need some fine-tuning.
What Alyona's advantage is the height on her jumps. Rika's jumps, except the 3A, are on the smaller scale in terms of height.

Her outing this season is not a reflection of her overall capabilities as an athlete. Had she been injury-free, we would have seen her Lutzes and maybe even a clean quad in competition.

To be very frank, Rika's Lutz is one of the best with deep outside edge and great flow. Can't say the same with others with very shallow to flat edge, even those with quads. Her 3A is for me the best in the field. It has great height AND distance, very tight and nice air position and good flow out.

What I like about Rika is how everything she does is seamlessly woven together. Her programs are very cohesive and well thought out. Her music is never badly mashed up. Her costumes are pretty. She's an overall package. Kinda reminds me of Yuna. But Rika has a lot less facial expressions. I think that's the area she needs to work on and I think she does work on it. It's just a work in progress.

Being exciting is very subjective. During Zhenya's reign, I never found her skating and programs to be exciting. I never did also like Yulia L. and her Schindler's List program. But a lot of people did and it's fine. YMMV
 

vesperalvioletta

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Country
United-States
I actually enjoyed watching Rika much more in her final junior season than I do now, at least from an artistic perspective. She's much more consistent now technically, so when she lays down a clean program with all of her high-level elements its exciting to see, but I think her senior programs haven't always been a great match for her. Beautiful Storm was nice, but I really enjoyed her La Strada free program from 2017-18 much more. I think it allowed her to show a more charismatic side of herself that doesn't always come through in these more conceptual programs.
 

Noxchild

Medalist
Joined
Feb 14, 2018
Country
Canada
Rika is exciting beyond measure. I love her jumps, her grit, her desire to be the best in her own methodical, yet bold way. Very apropos of our Beijing '22 champion ;)

BTW if you weren't moved by Mai Mihara's glorious free skate at Four Continents 2019 I don't even know what to say. Mai is also excellent!
 
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Country
Russia
Who are mentioned in ISU Progression of Highest Scores Statistics?
Except 1st competitions on new rules - only five girls.

Alena KOSTORNAIA RUS
Rika KIHIRA JPN
Alina ZAGITOVA RUS
Alexandra TRUSOVA RUS
Anna SHCHERBAKOVA RUS

All five, including Rika of course, are extremely strong and no doubt exciting skaters.
 

YuBluByMe

May Rika spin her hair into GOLD….in 2026.
Final Flight
Joined
Mar 21, 2018
Who are mentioned in ISU Progression of Highest Scores Statistics?
Except 1st competitions on new rules - only five girls.

Alena KOSTORNAIA RUS
Rika KIHIRA JPN
Alina ZAGITOVA RUS
Alexandra TRUSOVA RUS
Anna SHCHERBAKOVA RUS

All five, including Rika of course, are extremely strong and no doubt exciting skaters.


I'm not going to lie. When I saw this thread and saw an "AlexRUS" was the last poster I immediately rolled my eyes thinking that whatever you had to say will be worthy of the "reasons for toxicity among figure fans" thread. How wrong I was and I won't make such a stupid assumption again.

Anyways, Kihira's exciting. Very much so. Of all the ladies, I enjoy her and Kostornaia the most. What excites me is musical expression and exciting choreography. I took notice of her last year through her "Beautiful Storm" program. The musical interpretation in that program is sublime . Every movement of her feet, every gesture of her arms, even her spins, were timed to the music. That's much more difficult to do than plastering on a fake smile or frown every time you skate and it's why I couldn't care less that she skated it every time with a completely blank facial expression. Watch her body, not her face. (In this respect, I consider her male counterpart to be Junhwan Cha - another very musical skater that emotes with his body not with his face.)

I love her SP. A different sort of music does not automatically mean you are experimenting with a different style. She doesn't fall victim to this and her skating and her choreography in her SP is the most exciting and original in the ladies field right now and it's also nothing like what she did last year. I would make a brief comparison to further illustrate my point: Miyahara also has unusual music for her SP but that's as far as it goes. The step sequence especially calls for some rawness. She's supposed to be skating to hip-hop but she may as well be skating to Chopin.
 

skatefan17

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 9, 2014
She is extremely talented and I enjoy watching her performances. Her technical feats are exciting but she as an overall skater is not imo.
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Rika's FS last year was one of my favorites and seeing it live twice really reaffirmed that she has a lot to offer. She definite has a charisma to her, she connects to the audience well. I agree with the poster above she expresses with her body quite well. The jumps are done well -- her consistency on the 3A is so impressive-- and she has some great in-betweens. I don't love her programs this season as much, but I still enjoyed watching her in person at SCI.

Mai Mihira is my absolute favorite. Mai is not a in your face skater and I think a lot of people take that for being boring. She's a ehterial, cerebral skater and she floats on the ice. Seeing her doing her Mission program live at 4CC was one of my personal highlights last season.
 

SNAKSuyun

did it spark joy?
On the Ice
Joined
Feb 23, 2018
Country
China
I find her more exciting than Kosternaia. Fight me. :laugh:

I love Kaori, Wakaba, Liza, and Anna, and admittedly Rika is different from all of them, in that she doesn't quite have Kaori's burning passion and wonder, Liza's sass, or Anna's fragile but tenaciously long lasting beauty (like, coincidentally, a perfume). But you can tell Rika is invested in her artistry, in wanting to perform, in wanting to show that feeling of bracing a beautiful storm, that dignity and empathy of an international angel of peace. She moves across the ice with a grandness of gesture and a sense of understanding - even if she might not perfectly understand everything she wants to convey now, she's learning about them. Unlike many others, I don't get the sense that she is skating for herself (and there's nothing wrong with skating for yourself and being yourself - Aliona savored the joy of that in her Twilight program), but she is skating to try to learn about, and become a part of, bigger things. And I personally find that beyond admirable.
 

Jetta

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 13, 2018
She has the tech, great flow and speed, great edges and first rate spins. I’d like to see her connect more with the music- especially with her facial expressions and bring a little more personality to her programs.
 

ruga

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
She has her own unique style and like many skaters, brings something new to this sport. I can't describe her skating style, but it's very unique, I can't recall any skater that has similar style to hers. It's contemporary, classical and exotic at the same time. Rika doesn't use many facial expressions, but gets the viewer involved with her unconventional artistry. Also, she has sublime skating skills and obviously triple axels that surely are exciting.
 

madmax

Rinkside
Joined
Sep 6, 2017
Rika is my second favorite after Aliona.
For me, one of the highlight of each season is the presentation of her new programs and so far I have never been disappointed.
So yes, Rika is definitelly an exciting skater.
 

labgoat

I have no words
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 3, 2007
Country
United-States
I beg to differ. Sakamoto is a current day comparison to Yuka Sato. Dead ringer with the edges and artistry and everything.

But I'm not going to sit here and try to convince someone who can't see it. So we'll agree to disagree.

I think Yuka Sato had a bit more polish and better toe point. Kaori is a bit more unfinished, for me she resembles Yukari Nakano a bit more. Sakamoto has the same kind of power aa Yukari and the same, diamond in the rough charm. I also see Wakaba Higuchi as more in the Midori Ito mold. I hope I have not insulted any of these fine Japanese ladies as I enjoy them all - that is just how I see it.
 

VenusHalley

Final Flight
Joined
Jan 6, 2018
Yes, she is exciting as hell. She just flies, she has interesting programs, she has gotten quite consistent this season and she is lovely to watch.

She is a true angel. The kind of angel that fights hard battles sometimes.
 

Greengemmonster

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
I think the only thing we can agree on universally is that different things appeal to different people.

This is so weird but I totally want to give her an affectionate squish when she's smiling so happily after she skates. (Don't worry I'll never get to watch live and if I do I'm not going to be creepy I promise).

So jumps, skating, beautiful movements aside I find Rika extremely adorable. Like all "pinch your cheeks you cutie pie" adorable hence I'm quite gaga over her.

Also I totally agree with Noxchild who mentioned above that Rika is "methodical but bold". That's a very accurate way of putting it!
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
I think Yuka Sato had a bit more polish and better toe point. Kaori is a bit more unfinished, for me she resembles Yukari Nakano a bit more. Sakamoto has the same kind of power aa Yukari and the same, diamond in the rough charm. I also see Wakaba Higuchi as more in the Midori Ito mold. I hope I have not insulted any of these fine Japanese ladies as I enjoy them all - that is just how I see it.

Yes, but I still see Sakamoto becoming more and more like Yuka as she develops her skating. ;)
 

Bentley

Rinkside
Joined
Mar 5, 2012
Rika is a very gifted skater. I absolutely hate her choice of music especially in this years Free Skate. And she needs to dump that ugly pea-green dress.
 
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