Rika Kihira

[readernick]

Aaaaaaand Rika wins the short. Congratulations!! Now to win the free skate too with two 3As and two 3Lzs. I noticed that Rika didn't raise her arms for the 3Lz, so maybe she's still not 100% confident with the jump. If so, doing two 3Fs isn't so bad; might cost her a point.

Yes, but I think she probably wants to practice the 3Lz prior to Worlds. I think 2 3Lzs in the LP gives her that opportunity.

I liked Rika's interpretation of the program here, and there were nice small choreographic changes in the program.

Her 3A and her combo weren't as solid as they usual are...so the lower GOE on those elements was justified. I thought the 3Lz was beautiful and should have gotten higher GOE but perhaps it looks more impressive when she puts her hands over her head.
Hopefully, her jumps will be stronger at Worlds and she will score 83/84 in the SP.

Glad the see Rika well on her way to defending her title. Excellent performance.

 

[Greengemmonster]

WELL DONE CLEVER BABY GIRL!!!!!

I yelled at her for that waxel but it was kinda awesome to see her crazy improvised layout! My jaw dropped after the 3F3T2T. I was like: Did you...OMG did you just make that up?????

Perfor was bang on! She is REALLY bringing it performance wise! And the rest of those jumps were as smooth as butter!

Very very very proud of her!

Next year 4CC is in Sydney my hometown! Make it a hat trick Rika!

 

[jenm]

Aw man, i missed it again D:

CONGRATS ON RIKA BB FOR WINNING BACK TO BACK 4CC!!! That 3F+3T+2T was AWESOME in so many ways, FULLY ROTATED, ON THE FLY, and MAGNIFICENT. Reminds me of that time Yuna missed her 3Lz+3t at nationals and did a 3F3T afterwards. QUEENS ONLY.

If there's one thing I would want her to improve on is the interpretation especially on the face. I little flirty smile and dramatic facial expression would do wonders in this program
Everything else tho are smooth and beautiful. Her jumps are soo good here.

 

[lzxnl]

Aw man, i missed it again D:

CONGRATS ON RIKA BB FOR WINNING BACK TO BACK 4CC!!! That 3F+3T+2T was AWESOME in so many ways, FULLY ROTATED, ON THE FLY, and MAGNIFICENT. Reminds me of that time Yuna missed her 3Lz+3t at nationals and did a 3F3T afterwards. QUEENS ONLY.

If there's one thing I would want her to improve on is the interpretation especially on the face. I little flirty smile and dramatic facial expression would do wonders in this program
Everything else tho are smooth and beautiful. Her jumps are soo good here.

I know right!? Right after the axel pop, my first instinct was, wait, that means you can do another 3T instead of a 2T. When she only did a 3A-2T, I was concerned she wasn't going to make it up, but she figured out a way in the end.

Imagine popping a 3A to a single and still scoring first in the free skate. That's insane. Who even needs all those jumps.

Alas, Rika still hasn't skated two fully clean programs in a competition with 3 3As...yet...that will have to wait, and we didn't get to see a 4S. For now, at least she wins again. First singles skater to defend his/her title! Now for this quite random competition in the Netherlands in a few weeks time where hopefully we'll see a 4S, 2x3Lz and all clean performances, even if she'll be underscored there.

 

[gotoschool]

Congratulations to Rika for back to back victories at the 4CC's, showing grace under pressure after the big response of the audience to Young You's performance and after the first popped triple axel, coming back with a tremendous triple axel / double toe and two amazing triple flip / triple toe combos one with an extra double toe on the end done both done back to back to end up with 8 triples. Lovely arm movements and expression as well. I am a little confused as to why Rika is going to go to another competition. Does anyone know? But I wish her two great skates there and at Worlds.

 

[lzxnl]

Congratulations to Rika for back to back victories at the 4CC's, showing grace under pressure after the big response of the audience to Young You's performance and after the first popped triple axel, coming back with a tremendous triple axel / double toe and two amazing triple flip / triple toe combos one with an extra double toe on the end done both done back to back to end up with 8 triples. Lovely arm movements and expression as well. I am a little confused as to why Rika is going to go to another competition. Does anyone know? But I wish her two great skates there and at Worlds.

I'd imagine to try a quad salchow once before Worlds and to give her lutzes another shot.

 

[SkateSkates]

Great job to Rika today! Her 3T combos were definitely the best they have been all season - I had no question about the rotation of either of them! Hopefully she focuses on herself (as she usually does) and doesn’t get upset by the unfair scoring of others in relation to her. I don’t want to bring negativity here but it’s just not fair to Rika.

 

[readernick]

Great job to Rika today! Her 3T combos were definitely the best they have been all season - I had no question about the rotation of either of them! Hopefully she focuses on herself (as she usually does) and doesn’t get upset by the unfair scoring of others in relation to her. I don’t want to bring negativity here but it’s just not fair to Rika.

Yes, I usually don't complain about scores and usually Rika is scored fairly ( a few other skaters are overscored), but she was judged harshly here.

If you look at the top three ladies GOE and PCS, I felt Bradie was scored fairly . Young was overscored by about 5 points(I like her but she really telegraphs her jumps and her SS, transistions, musicality and performance need improvement). And, Rika was underscored by a good 5/6 points between the two programs. She deserved higher GOE on a few elements and higher PCS by 1/2 points in the short and 3/4 points in the free. However, she is amazing and I don't think this will effect her in anyway. The way she did jump math in the long program was so impressive. I really want to see her nail a flawless performance at Worlds ....

 

[gotoschool]

Yes, I usually don't complain about scores and usually Rika is scored fairly ( a few other skaters are overscored), but she was judged harshly here.

If you look at the top three ladies GOE and PCS, I felt Bradie was scored fairly . Young was overscored by about 5 points(I like her but she really telegraphs her jumps and her SS, transistions, musicality and performance need improvement). And, Rika was underscored by a good 5/6 points between the two programs. She deserved higher GOE on a few elements and higher PCS by 1/2 points in the short and 3/4 points in the free. However, she is amazing and I don't think this will effect her in anyway. The way she did jump math in the long program was so impressive. I really want to see her nail a flawless performance at Worlds ....

I agree that Rika should be scored higher especially in PCS because I think she has the best overall qualities in these categories of all women currently competing, but I disagree that Young You is overscored as do many people posting especially outside this forum where more suggest she should have place in second by a greater margin. While I think Young You needs to improve the crispness and fluidity of turns in her step sequences, I could say the same thing about other first year seniors who are getting level 4 at the moment, and I think she needs to hold her spins a bit longer. However, she has really good positions in many spins particularly her I spin and Biellmann. She also has impressive and beautiful jumps in terms of height and even more distance and in the beauty of the air position and arm expressions on exit. She also has some of the greatest and most daring rink coverage I have seen in placing most of her jumps including her most challenging ones like the triple axel and triple lutz / triple toe jumps next to the boards and making many turns right next to the boards. This is an indication of not only excellent speed but also excellent rink awareness and it brings the performance much closer to the audience and for me it is one of the prime and most obvious hallmarks of great skating skills. The risk is obvious because even great skaters have collided with the boards before. Young You also has more fluidity in movement as shown in her head and shoulders than many other skaters, while the stiffness of a number of others is overlooked. I found Young You's freeskate to have a lot of emotional resonance, more so than other first year seniors receiving as high or higher PCS scores with less rink coverage, though I agree that Rika is more refined and fluid overall with more impressive step sequences and smoother edges.

In a larger perspective, I like the style of skaters and type of expression that Hamada's kind of teaching brings to skating the most with Rika and now Young You though still needing a little refinement being fine examples.

 

[Greengemmonster]

Everyone you need to go watch Rika's new exhibition! She is SO SO SO AMAZING in it and so cute! I was cooing like a crazy person!

She was EVERYTHING in that exhibition! Pure sunshine and joy!

 

[breadstal]

I loved her new exhibition as well!!! It was so lovely, she was so light on ice and she really enjoyed herself! I wonder if it would not be a good idea for her to do some modern music programs, she seems more expressive during them. I also liked her Symphony and Faded programs. When she did 3x 2A, I was SHOOK.

 

[Silvia451]

The exhibition was so beautiful! and the dress also:luv17:

 

[readernick]

I agree that Rika should be scored higher especially in PCS because I think she has the best overall qualities in these categories of all women currently competing, but I disagree that Young You is overscored as do many people posting especially outside this forum where more suggest she should have place in second by a greater margin. While I think Young You needs to improve the crispness and fluidity of turns in her step sequences, I could say the same thing about other first year seniors who are getting level 4 at the moment, and I think she needs to hold her spins a bit longer. However, she has really good positions in many spins particularly her I spin and Biellmann. She also has impressive and beautiful jumps in terms of height and even more distance and in the beauty of the air position and arm expressions on exit. She also has some of the greatest and most daring rink coverage I have seen in placing most of her jumps including her most challenging ones like the triple axel and triple lutz / triple toe jumps next to the boards and making many turns right next to the boards. This is an indication of not only excellent speed but also excellent rink awareness and it brings the performance much closer to the audience and for me it is one of the prime and most obvious hallmarks of great skating skills. The risk is obvious because even great skaters have collided with the boards before. Young You also has more fluidity in movement as shown in her head and shoulders than many other skaters, while the stiffness of a number of others is overlooked. I found Young You's freeskate to have a lot of emotional resonance, more so than other first year seniors receiving as high or higher PCS scores with less rink coverage, though I agree that Rika is more refined and fluid overall with more impressive step sequences and smoother edges.

In a larger perspective, I like the style of skaters and type of expression that Hamada's kind of teaching brings to skating the most with Rika and now Young You though still needing a little refinement being fine examples.

Agree to disagree about YY. Speed does not equal good SS. She is fast because she doesn't do transitions and she telegraphs her jumps. She also ignores her choreographr through large sections of the program. Young You is just not showing any Mie Hamada like qualities yet and I am also, generally, a fan of Mie Hamada's students. But, this isn't the place to have this conversation.

 

[readernick]

Everyone you need to go watch Rika's new exhibition! She is SO SO SO AMAZING in it and so cute! I was cooing like a crazy person!

She was EVERYTHING in that exhibition! Pure sunshine and joy!

It's amazing. She was so committed throughout the performance and she floated on the ice. I hope we see more of that joy in performances in the future.

 

[gotoschool]

I really enjoyed Rika's exhibition performance and she really skated with a lot of marvelous fluidity and freedom of expression. I like the little drive movement she made with her hands to coincide with the lyrics of ride with me. As I watched the series of 3 beautiful double axels after Rika's victory, I couldn't help but remember that Mao Asada performed her exhibition to How Deep is the Night with 3 double axels after she won the 4CC's competition in 2008 also in a blue dress, also in South Korea and also when she was 17 years old like Rika, especially since Rika has been vocal about Mao being one of her main inspirations for skating.

Mao's double axels https://youtu.be/Fp0tqRL9dTM?t=157


Rika's double axels https://youtu.be/SoxJn94Rr_I?t=185

 

[lzxnl]

Also, Rika Kihira number 1 World Standing. Let us not forget that.

 

[Giu]

Congratulations to Rika for her back to back title!!!
I’ve just catched up with her exhibition and wow She looked so fresh and free!!! The song is just perfect for her age so congratulations to her team, in the last few years we have seen some 16 years old from others countries posing and dressing up like mature women and I’ve always found it quite inappropriate...

 

[gossipcow]

Huge congratulations to Rika, especially on her recovery after the popped axel in the FS. Her exhibition was so great, she looks like she's having so much fun and so free, wonder if she'd consider an SP to more modern music like this next season. I had really loved her Faded EX last season too. Also, I'm mildly amused that her exhibition song is 2002 - wasn't that her birth year, hah.

A side note - in the exhibition video, the commentator said it seemed like Rika didn't realize she's slated for Challenge Cup? Wonder if she'll go through with it, don't want her to be too tired at World's, but at the same time, wouldn't mind her having another chance to do her FS layout with 4S and 2 lutzes. Either way, best of luck!

 

[Greengemmonster]

I vote shorter and more fitted dresses for Rika from now on! She looked AMAZING in that exhibition dress!

I was too bowled over by the performance to care about her styling but upon several rewatches I started paying attention to how gorgeous she looks in that dress!

 

[Briananing]

She should do more pop songs for next season. The ex program suit her better than any of her programs for these past 2 years. And yes i do think they underscored her PCS, with Bradie higher than her and YY close in behind her. In YY case, her PCS would probably be more reasonable on Worlds, but then there is sasha and we dont know what would happen then lol. It would be too harsh to put YY PCS equal to sasha but it would be very unreasonable to put it so close to rika.

Nevertheless i hope Rika would skate clean on worlds and hopefully she would choose her current ex's choreographer as her next season choreographer. No more heavy dresses and programs for such a young girl atleast for a season