Rika Kihira’s Q&A ACI

Rika Kihira’s Q&A: “I really want to jump beautifully” 

Source(Sanspo)

You landed the 3A.

-      It was nice that I could land it in my performance. The GPS will start (from October). It’s vital that I land perfect triple axels that could gain good score. I think it must try my best to jump beautifully. 

Your free program was an elaborated performance (T/N: much contents embodied in the program). 

-      It was very scary. I have to perform wrathful expression and at the same time portray fleeting dance. I practice, and I think I was able to do that on reflex (unconsciously). I want to drill deeper on expression and stabilize my jumps.

When will you show us your quad?

-      I want to jump quad at whichever competition coming up next, but in occasions like this time (when there’s instability with other jumps), I think incorporating quads will lower my ranking. It’s important that the other jumps (other than quads) are concretely stabilized. 

Source(Sankei)

Throughout 6min warmup, she only landed 1 3A. The practice and competition rinks are different, and the ice in competition rink was hard, so her jump timing was messed up.


She was skating last but wasted no time. Coach Hamada gave her advice: “Pay attention to only entering speed and posture”, and she was able to focus well while keeping her centre of gravity at the front.

She was very happy to jump 2 3As one in 3A2T combo. About her flawed 3A: “The (usual) height wasn’t there, but I landed it with force and the practice I’ve done”. Although that 3A was called ur, she managed not to fall.
“If there’s no problem with other jumps, I’ll plan to put my quad (into competition). I’ll practice with the aim to including quad in the next competition”

She strengthened her torso with pilates exercise in Switzerland, and practiced ballet and dance too. Her off-ice training helps a lot with accumulating strength for difficult technique.