[Sportiva(4/2019)] Rika Kihira season playback
Rika Kihira-Playback season 2018-2019
Text by Oriyama Toshimi – Photo by Noto Sunao
Rika Kihira,
16, steadily stepping ahead, evolving at astonishing speed.
In the 1st senior season, she took the ladies figure skating world by storm. While she is still adjusting between successful and unsuccessful SP triple axel attempts, in this season, Rika Kihira has developed significantly.
At the Grand Prix Final held in last year’s December in Vancouver, Canada, Rika Kihira, has made herself known as “Grand Prix newcomer who dominates the Final” with her brilliant achievement. After her performance, she voiced her thought towards her “ultimate weapon”: “We decided that I could incorporate 3A in my programs just last year (2017), so actually, jumping it is difficult… I had thealternative of “not to jump 3A” too, but right now, looking back, it’s good that I decided to continue jumping it.”
After she landed it successfully in 2016, 3A became one representative technique of Rika Kihira. This was informed to the world from 2017’s Japan National Championship. Although she was outsider to the battle for representing Japan at Pyeongchang Olympics among senior skaters(due to age limit), she landed 3 3As in both SP and FS, taking the 3rdspot on the podium.
As she was decorated with a spectacular debut at (senior) Japan National Championship, she was expected to be “the next generation’s Ace”, she faltered at last year’s World Junior Championship, finishing at 8thplace. Kihira acknowledged with concerns that “It was due to my weak mentality in international competitions”. Despite all, she burst into the senior scene with a bang this season.
In her international senior debut this season, September’s Ondrej Nepela Trophy, she won both SP and FS sections, setting a personal best of 218.16 for total score, and was placed 1stin the competition. 2 months later, with her skating at top form, she won her GPS debut-NHK Trophy, and proved her true ability.
She fell on the 3A inserted into her senior’s SP but in the FS, she successfully landed all her jumps. Not only that, all her spins and steps were evaluated at level 4, and with a perfect performance, she received a score of 154.72 and secured a reverse victory from 5thplace with a total score of 224.31.
Kihira continued to dominate the GP event in France, and advanced into the final with 2 consecutive victories in the GPS. Compared to other competitions (she had competed in), the Grand Prix Final was of greater pressure, but she landed 3A successfully in the SP, won the segment with a score of 82.51, and took the lead going to the FS. In the FS, apart from the 2 3As, everything else was done without mistake, and she received 150.61 points. With a total score of 233.12, she surpassed Pyeongchang Gold medalist Alina Zagitova by 6.59 points and accomplished “complete victory” (in the GPS).
When she was still competing in junior level, she has said “I don’t function well in big rink, so the matter is trying not to be nervous”. Now, looking at her performing magnificently and rising to the top, that seemed to be so long ago. What were the major factors of her astonishing growth this season?
Firstly, she could upgrade her program components steadily. Last year, from spring, even in ice shows, before performing, she stretched to make her body more flexible, and while skating she tried to stay aware of every movement down to her fingertips. Moreover, she also learned from starting her performance in a spectator-crowded atmosphere, and that was essential preparation towards her senior career since compared to junior competitions senior competitions attract more spectators.
The next thing could be her “good ability to correct (herself)”. At NHK trophy, she made mistakes with her 3A in the SP, and she analyzed “it was due my take-off timing being a little bit too early”. She re-watched and compared videos of her SP, and videos of past competitions from which she can grasp the sense of a good 3A many times, and was successful in fixing her timing in the FS.
2 weeks later, at the Cup of France, she also missed the 3A in the SP. “It may have been because of my muscles (affected by (intense) activity) weren’t in good condition”, and she also reflected that she wasn’t able to focus in the 6-minute warm-up. In the Final, in the morning practice, she could create a proper image (of her 3A), and managed to land it successfully in the SP. In the FS 2 days later: “Since I was the last one to skate, there was vacant time after finishing 6-minute warm-up, so my timing was a somehow off.” She missed the 1st3A, but landed the 2ndone in combo successfully. Moreover, she responded calmly (to the mistake) with the emergency combo 3Lz+3T in the 2ndhalf.
“Even with 3As in my programs, I still made many mistakes and I believe those are the results of “my own weakness” and lack of confidence. However, I won’t give up, and I will be bringing my conditions up to a good level for competitions, raising my success rate and improving the quality of my performance while maintaining my confidence.”
After the GPF, she faced the Japan National Championship, but her skating boots were causing her great concerns. Since the start of the new season, her new boots weren’t fitting in terms of size, so from September she returned to her old pair, which turned out to be too soft. She taped it around the ankle’s area for reinforcement, but in the 6thminute warm-up, she felt like the right boot was “too soft” and ended up taping it too tightly just right before her performance. Due to that disturbance, she made mistakes, and was ranked at 5thplace with 68.75 points, 13.76 points lower than her score at GPF, in the SP. However, in the FS, she changed the way of taping her boots, and managed to land 2 3As with 2+ GOE, and all jumps in the 2ndhalf, with the exception of the last 3Lz+Eu+2S combo, where Eu added as an attempt to save her step-out in her 3Lz was ruled as Eu<<. Nevertheless, she won the FS with 155.01 points and rose to at 2ndplace in total.
“After finishing SP, I thought “this is not the performance of someone who won GPF” and I was very anxious. However, it occurred to me “Someone who can’t win here can’t win the Olympics” and that recharged me, and I was able to become “my always-positive self". At the last Japan Nationals, I was so anxious that I couldn’t think, and only depended on my good conditions to jump. In the opposite, this time is a when I can push forward only with my emotions. This season, I have been to win after surpassing failures, so I think now I have come to know “what I can do in difficult time”.
In the practice session right before competition in February’s 4 Continents Championship, her pinky finger was injured, and she was sent for medical inspection. The accident made it painful and prevented her from clasping her hand tightly when jumping. Kihira finished at 5thplace in the SP, but in the FS, she removed 1 3A, and concentrated on delivering a stable performance instead, and succeeded in a reversal victory, which brought her number of consecutive international competition victories to 5.
In the prelude to the World Championship, Kihira also against the current from 2ndplace in the SP at the Challenge Cup. Rika Kihira, who has ample experience with victories, would be likely to show us her growth next season as well.