December 27, Beijing time With the sixth victory of Yu Yu's wish, the 2021 All Japan Figure Skating Championships also came to a successful end. After nearly two hours of discussion, the Japan Skating Association also officially announced its lineup for the Beijing/Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics in early February next year and the World Championships in Montpolier, France in March:
Led by Yusei Yusei and Hanori Sakamoto, the men's/women's singles triathlet competed in two major competitions full attendance; ice dance champion Komatsubara won the Winter Olympics, runners-up Mura Motoya naka / Daisuke Takahashi debuted at the World Championships; and the two pairs were scheduled early for Miura Ritsura / Ryuichi Kihara.
Japan Figure Skating Olympic Squad: Riri Miura / Ryuichi Kihara did not compete
Beijing/Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics
Men's Singles: Yusuke Habu, Masama Uno, Yumasa Key mountain
Onna no Maki: Hanako Sakamoto, Shinka Higuchi, Kanna Kawabe
Ice Dance: Miri Komatsubara / Calleto (Sōtō Komatsubara)
Double: Riri Miura / Ryuichi Kihara
Montpollier World Championships
Ice Dance: Muramoto Tsuneyoshi Naka / Daisuke Takahashi
According to the original schedule, the lineup was announced at the development conference one hour after the men's singles, but in fact, it waited for nearly 2 hours. The only difference between the two lists is the ice dance, and it can be seen that this project is the main reason for the entanglement of the Japan Skating Association.
First of all, there is a very delicate contrast between Miri Komatsubara/Teleto and Muramoto Yachu/Daisuke Takahashi:
The former has won four all-day championships, including this one, and won the world rankings in the last three seasons;
The latter has a higher world ranking this season and has scored more prominently in international competitions (including NHK matches in the same competition). So which pair can participate in the Winter Olympics, even the players themselves have no bottom.
In this way, the state of the all-day showdown is crucial:
Sure enough, as Daisuke Takahashi accidentally hit the female partner ice knife when he was sliding backwards in the rhythm dance derivative steps and preparing to turn around, the two fell on the ice, causing double losses in foundation and execution points, and were deducted 2 additional points, and finally began to start with a gap of nearly 5 points behind the Komatsubara group at 63.35, and the situation began to clear.
Even in the free dance, Muramoto/Takahashi beat Komatsubara's group of 110.01 with 112.96 nicks, but the two sets of programs combined, the Komatsubara group still won 178.17 vs 176.31.
Komatsubara and his wife hugged each other and cried after winning the championship
More importantly, Daisuke Takahashi also once slid backwards before the end of the free dance to prepare for a direction change when his center of gravity was unstable and almost fell! It can be said that although he retired from the men's singles after achieving brilliant results, he returned to become an ice dancer, and gradually achieved good results. However, compared with the long-term run-in of the Komatsubara combination, especially the longer and more professional training of the male partner, Takahashi eventually lost on the basic skills.
Although there was more time than expected on which pair to go to the Olympic Games, the result was that whether it was Calleto, who was 30 years old and had changed from the United States to a Japanese national, the target was the Olympic Games(married to his female partner for 17 years, the Japanese name "KomatsubaraZun"), or the 35-year-old and said "forever in service", Takahashi, who was quite capable of turning to ice dance two years later, was the best solution.
Kawabe Yuna
In addition to ice dance, perhaps the third person in the women's singles should be the rookie Kawato Love Vegetables, or the veteran Mihara Maiyi, somewhat suspenseful: Kawatsugi Loves Vegetables can complete Axel for three weeks, the upper limit of difficulty is higher, but she has not participated in the competition, may face pressure and fluctuations; Mihara Maiyi has performed particularly well in international competitions including two sub-stations, only in this free skating off the chain.
Mai Mihara
However, the Japan Ice Association is obviously so worried about Mihara Mai's situation of sending assists at such a critical moment, so that even the World Championships are Pai Kawaji's favorite dish.
Of course, compared with the All-Russian Tournament in the same period, the champion Valeva's score of 283.48 is not at all in the same dimension as the Japanese Sanshu; the runner-up Trusova's 248.65 is also crushed in the case of two jump errors; and even the third runner-up Serbakova, who is not in good shape, has 239.56 - only the full-fledged Kihei Ewha can challenge this result.
The Japan Ice Association really does not need to worry too much about who should be sent in the third person, and the players try their best to show their style.
Men's Singles Top 3
The men's singles were almost ready to come out after the short program, and after the addition of the results of the two sets of programs after the free skating, Yu Yusuke 322.36, Uno Masama 295.82, and Yumasa Key mountain 292.41, while the fourth-ranked Miura Yoshio, despite his excellent performance, had a significant gap from the top three at 276.16.
Judging from this competition, the three people who each still have about 10 points of upside room can face the main opponents Chen Wei and Zhou Zhifang without any fear. It can be said that this year's three people are the strongest lineup in the Japanese men's singles under the previous Winter Olympics.
However, compared to facing Uno and Key Mountain all day, judging from the completion of the four Axel in training, warm-up and free skating matches, if Yusheng insists on challenging this action at that time, it is likely to cause Chen Wei a greater impact. Exactly how to decide, let's wait and see.
In terms of doubles, Riri Miura / Ryuichi Kihara have finally looked decent from the first two seasons after a few years of running-in, and this season is the first time to represent Japan in the finals. The ice association's trust in the two people is evident from locking the place in advance, telling the two not to travel from Canada to Japan to compete, and fully preparing for the Winter Olympics.
(Tang Xuemi)