Rika Kihira

[Lunalovesskating]

Rika's beautiful 3A at ACI's practice https://twitter.com/courtneymilan/status/1171906480427143168?s=20 :luv17:

So beautiful. Rika said in an interview that her consistency in jumping the 3A has gone up

 

[Lunalovesskating]

Rika jumped 8 3As today in practice

 

[yyyskate]

really loved Rika's musicality and dance sensibility in the short practice, she's got talent! just the costumes IMHO is not a proper match.

 

[readernick]

Rika has always had great speed in and out of her 3A but the ones today were even better than I remember.

 

[Noxchild]

Don't think I'll be able to watch our lil pumpkin live, but I'm rooting for her to nail those 3As and start off her season with a bang!!

 

[RafaelAstro]

Rika is in a good form wow!, and also has that mental strenght when something wrong happens, her triple axels are better and more beautiful every time I see them, good luck triple axel princess!, I'm okay with she doing 3lo intead of 3lz if she feels better with that jump at the moment, the important thing is kept health and bring clean performances, I just hope she will bring it back in the next competition after healing completely

 

[lzxnl]

Rika is in a good form wow!, and also has that mental strenght when something wrong happens, her triple axels are better and more beautiful every time I see them, good luck triple axel princess!, I'm okay with she doing 3lo intead of 3lz if she feels better with that jump at the moment, the important thing is kept health and bring clean performances, I just hope she will bring it back in the next competition after healing completely

Clean short! I forgot exact numbers, but TES around 44, PCS around 33, total score 78, certainly going to win the short
I want to see protocols

 

[VenusHalley]

She was good today. The music is something else... but she interprets it well. But maybe... a black dress would be more fitting?

whatever. HUUUUGE 3A, yay. I am pretty certain she is gonna win here.

 

[RafaelAstro]

For me Rika should has scored 80-81 in the sp, she was crearly underscored, actually many ladies were underscored today at autumn classic :/

 

[readernick]

For me Rika should has scored 80-81 in the sp, she was crearly underscored, actually many ladies were underscored today at autumn classic :/

ACI always has conservative scoring and the scoring was conservative for everyone. So, it was fair. Also, Rika has room to grow PCS wise. The SS and TR are great but she isn't fully preforming this fun/ quirky program. It will grow as the season progresses. Additionally, she did not include the lutz and did not have the beautiful running edge out of the combo and loop that she usually gets. With a lutz, more mileage in the performance and better landings she can score close to 84/85.

 

[macy]

ACI always has conservative scoring and the scoring was conservative for everyone. So, it was fair. Also, Rika has room to grow PCS wise. The SS and TR are great but she isn't fully preforming this fun/ quirky program. It will grow as the season progresses. Additionally, she did not include the lutz and did not have the beautiful running edge out of the combo and loop that she usually gets. With a lutz, more mileage in the performance and better landings she can score close to 84/85.

agree with this- hoping as she gets more comfortable with the program she can put more personality into it.

but she has made big noticable improvements on the 3A! she doesn't look as cautious going into it and it looks much more stable.

 

[Noxchild]

Rika... good job, girl. I for one think her dress is breathtaking, and while I thought her SP choice initially baffling, it is really warming up on me. Fingers crossed that International Angel of Peace is truly as epic as it sounds!

 

[lzxnl]

She landed all 12 triples!! Although I need to see why they only gave her 145.98 for a clean skate.

 

[readernick]

She landed all 12 triples!! Although I need to see why they only gave her 145.98 for a clean skate.

It wasn't clean. She had 2 UR. Her 3A and her 3Lz in combo were UR and were called as such. If clean she would have scored 6-10 points higher. But, I love the dress and the program is good. She also had room to grow PCS wise in this program.

I was most impressed by her mental strength. This program was better in competition than in practice. That says a lot about her growth.

Also, her smile at the end made me so happy!

 

[moonstruck]

Well done and congrats Rika! It's great seeing her start the season with gold and good performances, and I look forwards to watching her grow into these programs more over time I thought both of her dresses were pretty, although I expected white for her 'angel of peace' free, blue also suits this concept well.

 

[jd0505]

Even though the third one was < is this the first time Rika has landed all three triple axels?

 

[RafaelAstro]

Even though the third one was < is this the first time Rika has landed all three triple axels?

That would be 2017-18 japanese nationals, and those were landed cleanly, but on international competition this was the closest one I think followed by 2018 Ondrej Nepela trophy and then 2018 nhk trophy

 

[RafaelAstro]

Congratulations for the first gold of the season! Good job Rika! What a way to start a season! Better than last one with a clean sp and almost clean fs, I hope the injury is heal fast and you can bring back that lutz!

 

[lzxnl]

Congratulations for the first gold of the season! Good job Rika! What a way to start a season! Better than last one with a clean sp and almost clean fs, I hope the injury is heal fast and you can bring back that lutz!

She managed to almost land a 3Lz in her FS anyway and her 3S GOE was pretty decent, so perhaps it's not a particularly severe injury. It's good to start with 3 3As with no falls anyway.

That would be 2017-18 japanese nationals, and those were landed cleanly, but on international competition this was the closest one I think followed by 2018 Ondrej Nepela trophy and then 2018 nhk trophy

2018 ON: fall in SP, two clean FS
2018 NHK: fall in SP, two clean FS
2018 GPF: clean in SP, downgraded fall in FS, one clean

IIRC her best 3A performances last year

This makes her the first woman to land 12 triple jumps in a single competition, right? Even if underrotated; has Mao or Liza ever done so?

 

[denise3lz]

This makes her the first woman to land 12 triple jumps in a single competition, right? Even if underrotated; has Mao or Liza ever done so?

Liza did it at 2019 WTT.