Rika Kihira to add Brian Orser as her secondary coach
- Thread starter Greengemmonster
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- Nov 2, 2013
Going pretty well, huh? I'd say that Medvedeva in both of her seasons with Orser has performed far, far, far worse than she did in any season before then, but I guess everyone can see things how they wish to.
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I don't think Medvedeva is doing worse than in previous seasons. She has improved in some aspects her skating including skating skills, 2As and step sequences. At the same time, her spins are weaker. (likely due to her back injury). The fact is that the competition just got better technically. She wasn't competing against Alena, Anna, Sasha and Rika in previous seasons. Guess which 4 ladies have higher season's bests than Medvedeva? Her 2019/2020 SB's score is higher than all the other more "seasoned" skaters including her former training mate Alina.
Anyway, this thread has turned away from its original purpose. It will be interesting to see how training with Brian will affect Rika. Rika doesn't have anything that needs "fixed" she just needs to improve her quad consistency, gain some speed, and learn to connect more with the audience. In that regard, she is similar to Yuna and Yuzuru who really thrived under Brian's training. I hope Rika thrives, too.
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- Jul 3, 2018
This article claims that Rika has decided to not switch to Orser, even if travel restrictions are lifted since there will likely be only domestic competitions this season.
https://amp.sport24.ru/news/other/2...u-medvedeva-kikhira?__twitter_impression=true
https://amp.sport24.ru/news/other/2...u-medvedeva-kikhira?__twitter_impression=true
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- Nov 2, 2013
Are you serious? She only got firsts and seconds before going to Orser - And not very many seconds at all. Since then she's gotten some bronzes, even placements outside the podium, etc. One silver.
It's not an opinion-based thing.
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That might have more to do with other skaters getting better not Medvedeva getting worse.
Thatās a shame. Is the Switch delayed or just abandoned!
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- Apr 26, 2018
Tbh, Iām not sure I would trust that source. Of course Iāve wondered myself how the part-time coaching thing with Brian would work in the middle of a pandemic but it doesnāt mean that itās never going to happen, right? Everythingās just so unpredictable at the moment, which is a shame since the time to make a change before the Olympics is now.
Yeah, but if youāre so insistent on facts, you canāt just ignore the other half of the picture. Who was she competing against before the switch? In the three seasons she was always winning/getting silver her rivals were all below her in their technical difficulties other than Zagitova. Compare that to Kihira, Trusova, Kostornaya and Shcherbakova ALL doing ultra-c elements.
Improvement doesnāt only have to mean improvement in scores/medal count. Sure, sheās less consistent than before. But sheās also noticeably gotten better in some (!) areas of her skating. And this is not an opinion-based thing either since many professionals of the sport (who happen to know a thing or two more on skating than we on goldenskate do) have commented on it.
Also, it was always going to be an up-hill battle, from the moment she decided to continue skating after the Olympics, no matter the coach.
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- Dec 5, 2015
Yes, I am serious. There is a obvious difference between an individual skater's personal improvement and their results. As I mentioned in my original post and several other posters have mentioned here, Medvedeva hasn't gotten worse, the competition has gotten better technically. Medvedeva never had a 3A or quad, it isn't like she lost technical skills. In fact, she actually added in loop combos but it just isn't enough right now to compete against the 4 skaters who have higher season's bests because they have 3As or quads.
Anyway, this isn't a thread about Medvedeva. It is about Rika. I would not trust what the Russian media says about Rika. They previously reported she's wasn't doing a lutz last year( she was injured) because she had to avoid edge calls. ( quite laughable actually given the fact that she is one of the few skaters with proper technique on the lutz) It sounds like gossip and guesswork to me. It is probable that any coaching she receives from Orser will be delayed due to COVID19, but I would wait for a Japanese source or interview before forming an opinion.
If true, this makes sense to me. Orser from my understanding is pricey, while I'm sure there can be "some" good things in terms of advice/coaching via video-chats, I doubt its worth the cost, and skaters are probably needing to monitor their expenses more closely since most of them that usually do multiple skating tours in the offseason were unable to do that this year.
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- Jun 13, 2018
@Amei and @Shayuki With all due respect we dont need people like you lecturing us on the apparent pitfalls of Evgenia. As usual you don't seem to properly understand or aknowledge the bigger picture.
For example have you seen Evgenia's performances at last seasons Rostelecom Cup? They were arguably the best quality skated performances of her career so far. Technique, skating skills, jumps, artistry the lot of it. She defeated Sasha Trusova in the SP, and only lost to Sasha in the free due to her sheer amount of quads which imo are not sustainable for Sasha in the long run.
The last two seasons have been transitional, she's had to rework her technique, jumps, spins etc for a more mature figure skater. This was including a coach change, training in Canada, disappointment at the Olympics, immense pressure from the Russian public / media, recovering and dealing with near career-ending injuries, yet she still came back and won World bronze in 2019. She was only behind Elizabet by 0.96 points in silver who had a quad.
Until the unfortunate boot issue at the 2020 Russin Championships, she was building up momentum for a strong finish to the season. Her top 6 finishes in seasons best in the SP and combined total show this.
Sure technical level has risen in the sport with quads / more frequent 3A's etc. But she's on the right track and we don't know how sustainable this tech will be for the 3A etc. I'd much rather Evgenia gradually attain new tech like a quad in a healthier way than do something irresponsible like what Elizabet did. She damaged her body so badly rushing to train for a quad that after winning silver at 2019 worlds she had to skip the 2019-20 season.
About Rika with everything going on / travel restrictions atm I'm not sure how much time she's going to be able to spend at TCC. I'm all for her continuing to improve and it would be interesting to see what Brian can add to her skating.
For example have you seen Evgenia's performances at last seasons Rostelecom Cup? They were arguably the best quality skated performances of her career so far. Technique, skating skills, jumps, artistry the lot of it. She defeated Sasha Trusova in the SP, and only lost to Sasha in the free due to her sheer amount of quads which imo are not sustainable for Sasha in the long run.
The last two seasons have been transitional, she's had to rework her technique, jumps, spins etc for a more mature figure skater. This was including a coach change, training in Canada, disappointment at the Olympics, immense pressure from the Russian public / media, recovering and dealing with near career-ending injuries, yet she still came back and won World bronze in 2019. She was only behind Elizabet by 0.96 points in silver who had a quad.
Until the unfortunate boot issue at the 2020 Russin Championships, she was building up momentum for a strong finish to the season. Her top 6 finishes in seasons best in the SP and combined total show this.
Sure technical level has risen in the sport with quads / more frequent 3A's etc. But she's on the right track and we don't know how sustainable this tech will be for the 3A etc. I'd much rather Evgenia gradually attain new tech like a quad in a healthier way than do something irresponsible like what Elizabet did. She damaged her body so badly rushing to train for a quad that after winning silver at 2019 worlds she had to skip the 2019-20 season.
About Rika with everything going on / travel restrictions atm I'm not sure how much time she's going to be able to spend at TCC. I'm all for her continuing to improve and it would be interesting to see what Brian can add to her skating.
Trusova lost almost all her SPs last season.
Like everyone else who lost against her.
Tursynbaeva didn't start to train her quad with Eteri, but with Orser. There were videos of her landing the jump two seasons before joining Eteri's camp. Eteri just worked on the consistency so Lil Bet would attempt the jump in competition. So it's not something that she learned in some months.
Besides, no one knows if it's the quad which hurted her back like that. Skaters like Pogorilaya and Radionova got their backs severely damaged without training quad. And Lil Bet had her good share of injuries before switching coaches.
Calling her irresponsible for attempting a jump she was landing in practice since more than two years is weird.
At least she took the time to recover and did not continue the season after Shangai Trophy.
About Rika, going to TCC is a good idea if her plan is to get a quad. She can work with Ghislain every day. And she nneds a quad. Aside that i don't know what Orser can improve on her skating.
She don't need to attend regionals and sectionals so she has 5 months to work with Orser before going back to Japan.
She switches coaches for better chances in Beijing. So GP series or even any intl event not happening this season can't be the reason she would stay in Japan imo.
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- Jan 14, 2020
With all due respect: Who, please, is "we"? You? I? In any case, I don't need people to teach me about the sustainability of Trusova's quads.
And regarding the "She defeated Sasha Trusova in the SP, and only lost to Sasha in the free due to her sheer amount of quads", you can see the whole thing the other way round. She defeated Sasha Trusova in the SP only because there is a completely senseless rule that quads are not allowed in the SP.
Please celebrate your favorite skater without disparaging other skaters! Thank you.
Well said 
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- Jun 13, 2018
@Yume Thats fair enough I didn't realise she had been training a quad for nearly 2 years. All I would say is yes we don't know exactly what caused her injury but it happening soon after her intensely learning and landing a quad with Eteri at worlds looks suspicious to me. Especially as Eteri's methods are questionable in terms of the long term health of her skaters.
@Fried It's called being polite and showing some respect towards other users who I am about to reply to. Okay but I wasn't replying to you specifically in that message about Trusova's quads. As a fan of hers you know much more about her than me and that's fine. That's just my opinion about her tech after looking at what has happened to Eteri's students tech in the past.
About the SP, those are the current ISU rules about quads. She defeated her in the SP with the current rules. She's beaten Evgenia in all of their encounters so far, be happy enough with that and not try and disparage what happened in the SP.
About being disparaging against other skaters. I've been on this site since 2018. I've never once been insulting or horrible about any skaters or other users on this site. Neither have I said anything disparaging about skaters on social media or as a Moderator on MedvedevaNation. I'm sorry if that was how it appeared but it wasn't my intent.
@Fried It's called being polite and showing some respect towards other users who I am about to reply to. Okay but I wasn't replying to you specifically in that message about Trusova's quads. As a fan of hers you know much more about her than me and that's fine. That's just my opinion about her tech after looking at what has happened to Eteri's students tech in the past.
About the SP, those are the current ISU rules about quads. She defeated her in the SP with the current rules. She's beaten Evgenia in all of their encounters so far, be happy enough with that and not try and disparage what happened in the SP.
About being disparaging against other skaters. I've been on this site since 2018. I've never once been insulting or horrible about any skaters or other users on this site. Neither have I said anything disparaging about skaters on social media or as a Moderator on MedvedevaNation. I'm sorry if that was how it appeared but it wasn't my intent.
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- Jan 14, 2020
No panic. Basically, fan fights don't affect me. The only thing that struck me was that in your post you are basically doing exactly THAT you accuse others of. I wanted to draw your attention to this (in the same tone). So was meant purely educational. So just understand my post not as an attack, but as a hint. 
Have a nice weekend!
Have a nice weekend!
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- Jun 13, 2018
Cool no worries, yes I usually stay away from fan fights. Have a good weekend too.
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- Oct 20, 2017
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We are in the edge, not Medvedeva's fanfest thread, critical posts are perfectly acceptable. Perhaps if you have such an issue with someone being critical you should consider sticking to fanfest threads. My critical post was regarding Medvedeva's consistency which is her second biggest problem after the fact that she's no longer doing the most difficult technical content of the field. Rostelecom Cup was lovely (technique wasn't so "best quality" as you described it on that lutz with the e that got called) however her other GP appearance was pretty bad. I don't recall too many instances of skaters "losing" triple axels; while it's true we don't know how "sustainable" the quads are long term for the ladies we do know that both Trusova and Shcherbakova have been doing quads for years, and they were still cranking them out last season.
My critical post was regarding Medvedeva's consistency which is her second biggest problem after the fact that she's no longer doing the most difficult technical content of the field. Rostelecom Cup was lovely (technique wasn't so "best quality" as you described it on that lutz with the e that got called) however her other GP appearance was pretty bad. I don't recall too many instances of skaters "losing" triple axels; while it's true we don't know how "sustainable" the quads are long term for the ladies we do know that both Trusova and Shcherbakova have been doing quads for years, and they were still cranking them out last season.
None of the "3A's" is consistent either. Anna is UR'ing her "quads" and even tripels, and Trusova was bombing at all the important competitions. Same with Kostornaia, who has only the 3A, but still wasn't able to skate clean.
Medvedeva is improving in many areas, and there are a lot of things to fix, that's why she might not be at 100% yet, which is logical. But it's also possible, that the peaking strategy is different ( just as with Yuzuru), it's more important to be in top form at nationals and in the second half of the year
