Rika Hongo, where would you place her at Worlds?

[Alchamei]

What would give you that impression? Rika and Kanako are tops, in my book.

Everyone has its opinion. I like Rika a lot and find her memorable. She is tied with Satoko for me. Kanako is briliant, but I am always too scared that she might have a meltdown so it's hard to cheer for her.

 

[burntBREAD]

I think working with Akiko Suzuki has resulted in quite a lot of improvement in posture/presentation in a relatively short period of time! She still has work to be done, but compared to last year (or even earlier this season), it's much better.

 

[satine]

Aaaaaaaaaaaand she finished 6th!

 

[Interspectator]

Lucky Guess! Whooppie! Rika is quite amazing. I'm sure she will continue to improve.

 

[FlattFan]

She should be 4th had she done a 3T instead of that 3Lz-e<

 

[Blades of Passion]

She deserved to be placed 4th anyway. Very solid showing by her. Her expression is growing and she is consistent. She should really work more on the posture now. Cleaner, straighter body lines go a long way.

 

[FlattFan]

I would put her in 4th as is.
She should have done a 3T to convince the judges to put her in 4th place. She doesn't need to convince me.

 

[Alchamei]

She placed sixth! Certainly better than some might have thought. Proud of her!

I'm laughing to that poster who predicted her 15th.

 

[ks777]

She deserved to be placed 4th anyway. Very solid showing by her. Her expression is growing and she is consistent. She should really work more on the posture now. Cleaner, straighter body lines go a long way.

She also needs to work on her spins.. so ugly. but her posture is so much better now. I enjoyed her skating for the first time... ever. I can see her getting much better in a couple of years.

 

[Caustica]

Yay for Rika, proving all who doubt her wrong! Sure her posture still needs much improvement, but that was an impassioned skate! Consistency always wins.

 

[chloepoco]

British commentators were surprised at her placement. They thought she might possibly medal.

 

[Interspectator]

British commentators were surprised at her placement. They thought she might possibly medal.

She needs a bit more refinement, but if she shows her consistency again next season, and raises her difficulty a bit, the scores will go in her favor in a big way.
I hope she gets programs better suited to her quirky nature next year.
Gooo Rika!

 

[YesWay]

British commentators were surprised at her placement. They thought she might possibly medal.

She maybe could have - she had the highest technical score of the free skate... until the reviews... and then she got unclear edge on 1st Lutz, UR on the 3S in her 2A combo, and edge violation on her 2nd Lutz...

She needs to fix those to really be a contender. And continue to improve her PCS, posture etc as she has all season thanks to Akiko Suzuki...

 

[Sam-Skwantch]

Here is a jumpamatron I made of the 2a-1lo-3s and the second lutz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXALcmZ2w5g

I made it kind of quick but you can go to 720p HD. It's a little fuzzy because I took a shortcut on the download.

 

[YesWay]

Here is a jumpamatron I made of the 2a-1lo-3s and the second lutz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXALcmZ2w5g

I made it kind of quick but you can go to 720p HD. It's a little fuzzy because I took a shortcut on the download.

I think that shows the calls were correct, and actually - she was lucky not to get dinged for every jump in that combo? Or am I reading the protocols wrong? Would they show separate < sign for every under-rotation if there are multiple?

 

[satine]

I think that shows the calls were correct, and actually - she was lucky not to get dinged for every jump in that combo? Or am I reading the protocols wrong? Would they show separate < sign for every under-rotation if there are multiple?

Yes, they do show the < next to each individual jump (if necessary), but will only have < to the right of the jump listing once under 'info'. If one were << & another < would they show both? I'm not sure. But you can see an example here, scroll down to Chartrand at #12. She got 2A+1Lo<+3S<.

 

[wonderlen3000]

She did placed 6th in her first world. That's is pretty impressive, but she needs a lot to improve before she coould be medal contender at world.
1. her spins are medicore and ugly position, she needs to do better spins and get level 3 -4
2. her posture is bad, while doing crossover, before jump take off and landing and it looks like she is doing a mule kick like Caroline Zhang even thou she is not ..
3. better program, and coreography
4. needs to be Japan #1, as you do get more PCS bonus (she needs to surpass Satoko and soon, Wabaka)
5. fix her Lutz, and need smarter jumps layout (ex. why she is doing 2 lutz, when she had been getting edge call the whole season? 2nd Flip would have been better score wise

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

I would put her in 4th as is.
She should have done a 3T to convince the judges to put her in 4th place. She doesn't need to convince me.

She should have done it instead of her Lz(e).. A clean one would have got her 2-3 more points, which would have at least got her 5th.

 

[Sandpiper]

Here is a jumpamatron I made of the 2a-1lo-3s and the second lutz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXALcmZ2w5g

I made it kind of quick but you can go to 720p HD. It's a little fuzzy because I took a shortcut on the download.

Thanks, Sam. Calls were pretty fair. I would've gone ! on the lutz, but in turn, she was lucky to not get < for the 2A in combination.

Many of us saying she deserved a little more were, likely, a) disagreeing with the rules themselves rather than how they were applied b) or questioning the calls other skaters got in turn (e.g. Satoko)