2019-20 Japanese ladies' figure skating

[Colonel Green]

On its own, the performance outside of the quad is a nice improvement in terms of consistency compared to earlier in the year, though I’m a bit less sure of the utility of doing a whole other (admittedly very low-stakes) comp right before 4CC.

 

[Flying Feijoa]

The key for both her and Wakaba is managing their weight, for both jump consistency and potential 3A and 4T attempts. They are both built very powerfully in the thighs and that can be a problem as you mature.

Weight loss in specific body areas only is impossible though. If you naturally have a compact body type with muscular thighs, no amount of starving will prevent your thighs from being proportionally thicker than the rest of your body. A Midori Ito-shaped girl can't be transformed into a Scherbakova - in fact, attempting to do so would probably be detrimental to her jumps. IIRC Midori's jumps actually got worse when she slimmed down in her later career.

Best bet for Kaori and Wakaba is to work on refining their technique. That 4T attempt by Kaori was off-axis, plus she was a bit slow snapping into the rotational position - both problems that can be fixed without sacrificing muscle mass.

 

[Joekaz]

Weight loss in specific body areas only is impossible though. If you naturally have a compact body type with muscular thighs, no amount of starving will prevent your thighs from being proportionally thicker than the rest of your body. A Midori Ito-shaped girl can't be transformed into a Scherbakova - in fact, attempting to do so would probably be detrimental to her jumps. IIRC Midori's jumps actually got worse when she slimmed down in her later career.

Best bet for Kaori and Wakaba is to work on refining their technique. That 4T attempt by Kaori was off-axis, plus she was a bit slow snapping into the rotational position - both problems that can be fixed without sacrificing muscle mass.

They both have already had problems with gaining too much weight. Wakaba has battled it for 2 years. And Kaori this year. Wakaba finally found a way to manage it without sacrificing strength she said. However neither one has the right body type for quick rotations regardless of weight. No one, not even Wakaba, can be compared to Midori's jumping ability.

 

[denise3lz]

Momoka Hatasaki, 2019 National Novice A champion, plans 3A at ongoing competition Inte-Junior High School.
https://twitter.com/online_on_ice/status/1223884948714577920

(She performed at 2019 World Championships gala and 2019 NHK trophy gala)

 

[Wombat1800]

Agreed. If clean she can absolutely make the podium at 4CC, no 4T needed though it's cool she's going for the 4T in general.

I think training 4T is helping her confidence because she has said multiple times this season that she feels discouraged as she feels she can't compete with the younger Russians even if she's perfect

 

[YuBluByMe]

I hope Sakamoto’s on an upward trajectory. Fall on the downgraded 4T aside, the rest of her program was clean. Although she doesn’t need a 4T to podium, 4CC is the perfect time to go for it. Same for Kihira. She should definitely go for the 4S, regardless of the standings after the SP.

 

[RafaelAstro]

I think training 4T is helping her confidence because she has said multiple times this season that she feels discouraged as she feels she can't compete with the younger Russians even if she's perfect

Yes but there are not russians at 4cc, it's not necessary, she could try it in the other minor competition she has internationally and in local competitions right now

 

[Joekaz]

I hope Sakamoto’s on an upward trajectory. Fall on the downgraded 4T aside, the rest of her program was clean. Although she doesn’t need a 4T to podium, 4CC is the perfect time to go for it. Same for Kihira. She should definitely go for the 4S, regardless of the standings after the SP.

She wasn't close to landing it though. She should concentrate on being clean. The more intriguing question is if Higuchi will do 3A.

 

[lzxnl]

I hope Sakamoto’s on an upward trajectory. Fall on the downgraded 4T aside, the rest of her program was clean. Although she doesn’t need a 4T to podium, 4CC is the perfect time to go for it. Same for Kihira. She should definitely go for the 4S, regardless of the standings after the SP.

Rika has landed quad salchows for months now, so hopefully she's confident enough to try it in competition. She really has nothing to lose. She's defeated one main frontrunner for a medal, Young You, by about 15 points when she didn't have any lutzes and slipped up in the free when Young's only mistake was a fall on a FS 3A.

 

[zanadude]

Final day competition for National Sports Festival.

No Ayaka Hosoda listed. Has she retired?

 

[elliana]

Does anyone know why Rika chose to learn the quad salchow out of all quad jumps?

 

[Yucky]

Watched the ladies official practice session today! Was great to see each of them challenging higher difficulty elements - 4T for Kaori, 4S for Rika and 3A for Wakaba. Kaori's speed and deep edges instantly stood out to me, both her and Wakaba have explosive jumps!

 

[P44]

Does anyone know why Rika chose to learn the quad salchow out of all quad jumps?

3S was probably her best jump.
And if I remember well she trained 4T and 4S so I guess it was the jump with the higher success rate

 

[PyeongChang2018]

What's the likelihood we see Kawabata make Worlds next year and Olympics in '22? I feel with some more maturing, she could grow to be Arakawa-like. She has great command.

 

[lusterfan]

Watched the ladies official practice session today! Was great to see each of them challenging higher difficulty elements - 4T for Kaori, 4S for Rika and 3A for Wakaba. Kaori's speed and deep edges instantly stood out to me, both her and Wakaba have explosive jumps!

How did the practice go? And how successful were they with the 4T, 4S, 3A? That's so exciting!!

 

[Colonel Green]

What's the likelihood we see Kawabata make Worlds next year and Olympics in '22? I feel with some more maturing, she could grow to be Arakawa-like. She has great command.

I'm a big Tomoe booster. If she keeps skating with the competitive nerve she showed at nationals, she'd have a shot at it, though there's a separate issue of how many of the Japanese ladies who are trying to master big elements succeed in doing so by the time of the Olympics. If Wakaba, Kaori, Mana, etc. are bringing triple Axels or quads too, Tomoe would probably need to up her tech as well.

 

[Joekaz]

How did the practice go? And how successful were they with the 4T, 4S, 3A? That's so exciting!!

Kaori not close on 4T and Wakaba a little closer on 3A, but not looking likely.

 

[Ice Dance]

I'm a big Tomoe booster. If she keeps skating with the competitive nerve she showed at nationals, she'd have a shot at it, though there's a separate issue of how many of the Japanese ladies who are trying to master big elements succeed in doing so by the time of the Olympics. If Wakaba, Kaori, Mana, etc. are bringing triple Axels or quads too, Tomoe would probably need to up her tech as well.

Nana Araki defeated Tomoe this past week at the National Sports Festival. "Keeps" is perhaps premature. If Tomoe develops more consistency, she could have a shot at it. I still feel that in Japan the current generation is the stronger one--that they have a shot of getting through these growing years and coming out strong for the Olympic season. (Wakaba, Sakamoto, Mihara, Honda, Shiraiwa). And Satoko, who was on the scene previously. They won't all get through. It's certainly possible someone else will snag a berth by peaking at the right time. But those are good numbers. The junior ladies just haven't stepped up consistently since those ladies went through, and I think it's generally the competitor personalities that make it. There are 3-4 junior ladies that have shown great moments. Just very hit & miss, while the generation before them was and/or is more solid in competition.

 

[MiraiFan]

What's the likelihood we see Kawabata make Worlds next year and Olympics in '22? I feel with some more maturing, she could grow to be Arakawa-like. She has great command.

I love her--she skates with joy and her lutz is a thing of beauty!

 

[hippomoomin]

It is interesting to see that when Kaori and Wakaba struggle with their jumps, people here are openly talking about weight gain, while weight loss/weight gain/body change seem to be a taboo to talk on this forum most of the time. I personally think these terms are just neutral words if they are based on the pubic's observation. And there is a stronger correlation between losing weight and gaining jump consistency/ability after a skater passes puberty. However, if the same observation is made on some other skaters, the suggestion of losing weight might be labeled as promoting unhealthy eating habit and so on...