Ando's return highlights busy season ahead for Japan

[pinky166]

Kanako hasn't skated a decent long since she turned senior. It's starting to become a huge issue for her. Her SPs are almost always exceptional and rank her in the top three but her consistent bombs in the free skate cause her to finish much lower overall!

That's not actually entirely accurate. Kanako skated strong longs at the 2010 GPF, 2011 AWG, and 2011 Worlds. THIS PAST SEASON, she didn't skate any very strong longs, her best being the 112+ she got at Worlds, which wasn't that great of a skate or score and won't be enough to challenge for a World or Olympic medal barring a number of odd meltdowns from at least a few of the top ladies.

Kanako's rotation slowed down after she grew, and her technique was never great to begin with, and now that's starting to show as she continually gets dinged with URs. Plus she doesn't have great spins or lines either, she doesn't point her toes, her flexibility is not exceptional, her legs are short, and some of her positions look sloppy. Even her 3t-3t, by far her strongest element, routinely gets dinged for under-rotation. Then she has the big flutz, mule kick into all her toe pick jumps, seems to struggle with 3lo and often 2-fts her 3sal. I would honestly be surprised if Kanako manages to medal, let alone win, a World or Olympic medal anytime soon because I think she'd need a major overhaul of her technique or a lot of polishing in her spins/stretch and artistry, and maybe both these things, to have a good chance, and that will take some time to carry out, if she even chooses to address these issues at all.

In my eyes, Kanako is the weakest link of the "top" Japanese ladies right now, but she's also by far the youngest, and probably the best hope for the future simply because the others aren't likely to stick around past 2014 and none of the youngsters are really exceptional as of yet. But the Japanese Fed seems to like her, at least prefer her to Akiko, so it's hard to know what will happen.

[kittyjake5]

More about Miki Ando. Looks like she's not thrilled about comeback...
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/...t_15434373.htm

Thanks for the article. I don't think Miki will be back, she makes it clear that the competitive circuit is not where she wants to be anymore. She seems pretty happy being a show skater. Whatever she decides to do I wish her luck.

[Jammers]

I think Japan women might be heading for a slump post Sochi since Ando, Suzuki and Mao will most likely retire. Other then Murakami are there any youngsters on the horizon for Japan? There is not as much depth in Japans Ladies right now as there is in the US. Yes their top Ladies are better then the US girls but after about the top 4 their isn't that much in terms of quality right now for Japan especially in terms of younger skaters.

[Leticia]

I think Japan women might be heading for a slump post Sochi since Ando, Suzuki and Mao will most likely retire. Other then Murakami are there any youngsters on the horizon for Japan? There is not as much depth in Japans Ladies right now as there is in the US. Yes their top Ladies are better then the US girls but after about the top 4 their isn't that much in terms of quality right now for Japan especially in terms of younger skaters.

There is Satoko Miyahara, who was in 4th place in this year's Junior Worlds.
Considering top three finishers are Lipnitskaya, Gold, and Sotnikova, she's highly talented young lady in Japan.

[pinky166]

Miu Sato also has huge jumps and great technique and seems to be past her growthspurt. Needs a lot of polishing artistically, but could go further than someone like Miyahara who has itty-bitty jumps and is still super tiny so may struggle when she hits puberty. Also, Haruka Imai may stick around, she's inconsistent, but capable of 3-3s when on firm. If Risa Shoji can recover from her injury and work out her UR issues, she could also be a factor, very strong artistic skater with strong basics who has done well on the JGP the past 2 seasons.

[icellist]

Miu Sato also has huge jumps and great technique and seems to be past her growthspurt. Needs a lot of polishing artistically, but could go further than someone like Miyahara who has itty-bitty jumps and is still super tiny so may struggle when she hits puberty. Also, Haruka Imai may stick around, she's inconsistent, but capable of 3-3s when on firm. If Risa Shoji can recover from her injury and work out her UR issues, she could also be a factor, very strong artistic skater with strong basics who has done well on the JGP the past 2 seasons.

ITA, Miu Sato, Risa Shoji, and Haruka Imai are safer bets for the future than Miyahara. Both Miyahara and Murakami have so many technique issues to fix.

[Jeschke]

ITA, Miu Sato, Risa Shoji, and Haruka Imai are safer bets for the future than Miyahara. Both Miyahara and Murakami have so many technique issues to fix.

miu sato always reminds me of young miki ando back in 2002, 2003. let´s hope she has a broight future ahead of her

[ainouta]

I really like Haruna Suzuki. She just got the lutz and flip this year but her basics and technique seem quite solid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R92pfvvC2j0

[Triple Butz]

I really like Haruna Suzuki. She just got the lutz and flip this year but her basics and technique seem quite solid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R92pfvvC2j0

Hadn't heard of her, thanks for posting. Looks promising!

[Iceman]

I fear Mao's golden moment has passed her by. Too bad she wasn't age eligible at the time imo her golden moment occurred.

[Iceman]

I really like Haruna Suzuki. She just got the lutz and flip this year but her basics and technique seem quite solid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R92pfvvC2j0

Is she kin to Akiko?

[ainouta]

Is she kin to Akiko?

Don't believe so. Suzuki is a very common surname in Japan.

[pinky166]

miu sato always reminds me of young miki ando back in 2002, 2003. let´s hope she has a broight future ahead of her

I agree with this. The strength and size of her jumps and the solid technique are what is most assuring, plus she already has a woman's body unlike Miyahara who is built like an 8 year old. Sato also has some great spins, for example her flying sit spin is terrific. Miyahara is like Kanako but at least Kanako has big jumps, and even at Miyahara's age wasn't quite so tiny, so realistically Miyahara may never get as far as Kanako has managed to. I really like Shoji and it was sad to see her struggle this season but it seems like that was mostly due to her injury, her URs are a big issue and she has weird flip/lutz technique, but she is usually consistent and she didn't appear to put on a lot of weight or anything with puberty so once the injury is healed she will hopefully go back to doing well. Her scores from the junior competitions the past couple seasons were regularly higher than Imai's from senior competitions, so when she moves up it's possible she will get to compete at GPs and 4CC like Haruka has regularly been able to do.

[galaxy]

JSF is willing to do anything to send their favorites (with big corporate sponsors) to Olympics anyway. It's the same organization that sent Ando instead of Nakano to Turin in 2006 even though Ando terribly underperformed that season, and even had a fracture in her foot. Nagakubo, Suzuki's coach thought she would not make it to the Olympic team when he saw the judge panel at 2009 Nationals. (She did by 0.17 though JSF tried really hard to give the third spot to Nakano this time probably out of guilt.)　The question may not be who to send but how to manipulate the selection process, especially when their favorites are not performing well.

I agree about the 2005 Nationals before Turin, but they received huge criticizm for sending Ando to the Olys instead of Nakano or Onda, so I don't think they are still manipulationg the selection process any more. Actually, Suzuki was sent to Vancouber instead of Nakano. She may not be Japanese media's and TV stations' darling, but I feel she is really loved by Japanese fs fans and I heard she got more cheering from the crowd than Kanako at WTT in Tokyo. And I don't think she is held down at competions in Japan either.

Nagakubo, Suzuki's coach thought she would not make it to the Olympic team when he saw the judge panel at 2009 Nationals.

Did he really say that?

[mikeko]

I agree about the 2005 Nationals before Turin, but they received huge criticizm for sending Ando to the Olys instead of Nakano or Onda, so I don't think they are still manipulationg the selection process any more. Actually, Suzuki was sent to Vancouber instead of Nakano. She may not be Japanese media's and TV stations' darling, but I feel she is really loved by Japanese fs fans and I heard she got more cheering from the crowd than Kanako at WTT in Tokyo. And I don't think she is held down at competions in Japan either.





Did he really say that?

Yes, he did.
http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/column/sh...OHT1T00171.htm
長久保「でも、全日本は苦しかった。ジャッジ席のメンバーを見た時点で、『あ、これは明子が負けるわ』と思 ったからね」

Watch and compare Nakano's and Suzuki's performances to see if the 0.17 difference was reasonable. Many thought Suzuki was undermarked while the tech panel ignored Nakano's URs, and their total difference could have been up to 10 points if scored by ISU judges.

This series of interviews was done with Noriko Shirota, one of the JSF officials that were in the center of the 2006 fraudulent accounting scandal. She resigned after the scandal was uncovered, but is back with the Federation.

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/column/sh...OHT1T00162.htm
According to this article, JSF didn't consult Nagakubo at all when they decided to send Takeshi Honda overseas to train with foreign coaches. It makes me wonder if Hanyu's case was like Honda's.

Yes, Suzuki has many fans in Japan, but it doesn't mean that JSF likes or recognizes her. They love skaters who can bring them money.

[kwanfan1818]

Not even a fax?

[love_skate2011]

I don't think Ando will be instant star again
she has to challenge Akiko who is clearly the most dominant Japanese
lady at the moment.

[Lis]

another interview here :

http://www.absoluteskating.com/index...d=2012mikiando