Crystal Skate

Sometimes you need to sacrifice something in order to get what you wished for. That's how I feel about the ladies' final rankings in Osaka. I got what I wanted, but it's bittersweet because one of my favourite skaters dropped a few places in the process. The results have nothing to do with my wishes of course, but with  a lot of hard work from some brilliant skaters, some of whom I'll talk about in this blog post. Rika Hongo  was the bitter part of my 'bittersweet' emotions. She didn't make any catastrophic errors though - there was a 3Flip that was all sorts of wrong, but otherwise, the elements were alright. What hurt her more was the presentation - there were some blank spaces in terms of interpretation. Absolutely loved the black and red costume though, very Frida Kahlo-like. Her free score was 122.00 , her total score was 187.83  and her final rank was 7th. Satoko Miyhara  was the sweet part, but barely. I wanted her to move up to the top 5, and she...

Did anyone expect the ladies' short programme in Osaka to end as it did? Okay, okay, I don't mean the top spot, but the order of say...the next five skaters? I was a bit surprised when I found out the results, so I'm having a look at the top five ladies to catch up on what went on. Mirai Nagasu  has grown so much technically since I last saw her. Congratulations on landing that amazing 3Axel. After I saw it, it suddenly made sense why she looked rather stressed at the very beginning. She's one of the skaters who keeps growing every season, so it's always a joy to see her skate. She finished on 5th, with 65.17  points. I don't have a favourite Japanese skater at the moment, but Rika Hongo  comes pretty close. I have to be honest, I was so mesmerised about her performance, I forgot to take notes. Carmina Burana  was an amazing choice for her, the costume was breathtaking and the elements were extraordinary. Loved every second of it. Unfortunately, it didn'...