Crystal Skate

Saitama, Japan, December 2013: A beautiful lady in a flowery dress lands a Triple Lutz in the roar of the crowd. This is her home country and she is loved here, but she's about to be even more famous and become everyone's sweetheart. The Lutz is only the first jump out of a perfect series that will eventually bring her the prize she's been looking for, for the last 14 years: the National title. Skating on music by Bill Whelan. Photograph: Jasper Juinen /Getti Images North America Akiko Suzuki became known worldwide years before being crowned Japan's national champion. She made her debut on a major international stage at the 2009 Cup of China, which she won. Immediately striking us as artistically brilliant, she skated the short on Andalucia  and Fire Dance  by Bill Whelan. She then went on to showcase her versatility by telling the story of modern-day Romeo and Juliet with West Side Story . This was the programme that would show us just how good she was at expre...

Last season, Akiko Suzuki and Elene Gedevanishvili emerged as two promising names, winning a World bronze medal, for the Japanese, and a European bronze medal, for the skater from Georgia. This season, the fairy-tale came to a not-so-happy ending - Gedevanishvili ended 14th at the European Championships, while Suzuki finished on 12th place at the World Championships. Despite it, there is something about these ladies that will always catch our eyes. Akiko Suzuki managed to finish the season a lot less bruised than Gedevanishvili. In fact, if we look carefully at  her competitions and ignore the fiasco from the World Championships, we'll realize this was not a bad season at all for her - silver at the Four Continents, silver at both Grand Prix competitions, bronze in the Grand Prix Final and a brilliant gold at the World Team Trophy. Her short programme music was a mash-up between the Kill Bill  and Once Upon a Time in Mexico  soundtracks. The programme was a hit, even...