All-Japan Championships 2023 and Year End Wrap-Up » Scoreography Podcast
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- Опубліковано 5 сер 2024
- We take a look at the All-Japan Championships 2023 competition, including hotly contested podiums in the Mens and Womens divisions. We also discuss news from the Italian and Spanish Nationals events, and quickly look back at the 2023 year in figure skating.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:13 All-Japan Championships
2:14 Men’s Competition
3:46 Shoma Uno
7:49 Yuma Kagiyama
10:39 Sota Yamamoto
14:38 Kao and Sota Comp Assignments
15:59 Kao Muira
17:48 Shun Sato
20:22 Kazuki Tamono
22:18 Women’s Competition
22:39 Kaori Sakamoto
25:17 Mone Chiba
26:56 Mao Shimada
29:01 Rena Uezono
30:02 Mai Mihara
31:55 Other Women’s Competitors
35:17 Ice Dance Competition
42:03 Pairs Competition
44:28 Italian Nationals
48:06 Spanish Nationals - Olivia Smart & Tim Dieck
53:14 Gold In Our Hearts
54:12 2023 in Review
1:01:34 Wrap-Up
We’re back and talking about the All-Japan Championships 2023, where some of the best figure skating of the season-to-date took place. With deep Men’s and Women’s fields-led by reigning World Champions, Shoma Uno and Kaori Sakamoto-this national competition was stronger than most International events. And the Men’s event especially lived up to all of the hype!
Men’s Competition
The top six skaters in this field are all amazing, but there can only be one champion - and Shoma Uno had just enough to pull off his another nationals victory. Shoma’s win here ties him with skating legend, Yuzuru Hanyu, with both now having six titles.
In the silver spot, Yuma Kagiyama continued his comeback and delivered an especially gorgeous free skate to edge out the incredibly “on” Sota Yamamoto. Sota took the bronze, but may have had the best competition of his career with two stellar skates.
Women’s Competition
In another deep field that included some of the top women in the world, the decisive victory of Kaori Sakamoto was even more impressive. Queen Kaori continued to dominate the season with two solid performances - giving her national title number four.
Mone Chiba, who had a rough Grand Prix series, showed up big here and took silver with two effervescent skates. In third, the brilliant juniors skater Mao Shimada showed she is in fact human with a few errors. Still, Mao is the definition of “one to watch” in the future - she’s a powerhouse who has everything.
Ice Dance Competition
While the teams competing here are not a super competitive internationally, the top three all put on entertaining performances, and the younger skaters particularly looked quite promising.
With their fifth All Japan title, Misato Komatsubara & Tim Koleto looked comfortable and confident - especially in their beautifully emotional free dance.
In second, the relatively new partnership of Azusa Tanaka & Shingo Nishiyama presented two lovely performances-most noteworthy being their fun and campy Rhythm Dance being to music from the Super Mario Brothers game!
In third, another promising young team of Utana Yoshida & Masaya Morita had some fairly big mistakes, but look to be a threat in Japan as they evolve together.
Pairs Competition
With reigning World Champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara out with injury, there was only one other senior pairs team that qualified to skate here - Yuna Nagaoka & Sumitada Moriguchi. To earn the national title, they skated both their short and long programs and did a great job under the unusual circumstances.
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What a treat! Wasn't expecting an All-Japan episode! Thank you! I thought Shoma was amazing. His experience and calm really shone through. It will be a long time before another skater like him comes along. I'll be so sad if he retires after this season.
Love Sota's beautiful posture and reliable jumps. I don't know why I find him dull. The way he drops his arms as he goes into his jumps, sometimes even clenching his fists, shows me that he is not into his music. The fist pump? I remember listening to a long-time, experienced judge say on a podcast that a fist pump during a program indicates to him a skater is not into his or her music, and he considered it distracting and inappropriate. Perhaps with Sota he should be allowed to do a fist pump after overcoming all of his difficult injuries as he did! :-)
Really am looking forward to seeing how ice dance and pairs continue to develop in Japan.
Sota is a markedly different kind of skater to the rest of the Japanese field, which makes him stand out-for better or worse. Most skaters have some kind of idiosyncrasy to their jump technique, some of which can be aesthetically unappealing. I don't think that's an indication of dis/connection to the music, but more a reflection of their training, the way their body naturally moves, and their own anxiousness during performance.
I can't find myself agreeing with that judge's perspective (though I'm certainly not qualified to contest their professional opinion). Perhaps it's an apples-to-oranges experience, but I was a performing musician for a number of years, and I couldn't always predict how I'd physically react when a performance was going well and I was deeply invested in the song.
It's certainly a mark of experience and discipline to be fully in control of your instrument (in this case, the skater's own body), but I tend to enjoy those moments of raw, unfiltered enthusiasm when a skate is strong and the crowd is lit. -Adron
Shoma Uno's definitely my boy too! Let's hope he 'll keep on competing, it would not be the same without him.
Thank you so much for your commitment to us and for your kindness!
I like very much listening to your podcast because you are never sarcastic or aggressive and because I can feel your enthusiasm toward ice skating. And last but not least because both of you speak very clearly and calmly: I'm Italian and so it's easier to understand every word. 😊😘
This is all so kind of you, thank you! We live in fear of a Shoma retirement, but we'll celebrate every performance he gives us in the meantime!
I've been a lifelong fan of ice skating but have never seen a competition or exhibition in person. Not even a practice session. 😅 It is definitely on my bucket list. One day I might get lucky. I once saw a ten minute ice show as a kid, at Sea World, and I still remember it. And totally agree with you about difficulty of watching competitions. Like where can we watch past US Nationals? Not just seniors but juniors too.
We've seen a few full comps from past National competitions bubble up on UA-cam, but not through official channels. US Figure Skating's YT channel isn't much help there, and seems like they post a lot less fun stuff than they use to.
I was a very casual viewer until Wendy took me to my first competition (the 2006 US Nationals Men's free skate, which included Johnny Weir and Evan Lysacek). That experience completely changed my perception of the sport, and I've been a huge fan ever since. But it's SO difficult to see if you don't live near a skating club or city that regularly hosts events. (We drove 5 hours to see Stars on Ice!) -Adron
You would love the competitions! The practices are fun too when you see the skaters interacting with their coaches and fellow competitors. I highly recommend it!
I want to thank you both again for airing this blog. It has quickly become my favorite way to revisit a competition. I’m so pleased with how you give full recognition to all the skaters and always comment with kindness and support for those who may not have had the best skates, without undue attacks or sarcasm. What a pleasure to listen to you.
My favorite is Shoma Uno; listening to him recently, I feel he is ready to move away from the jumping competitions and turn to skating that highlights his unique and elegant skating skills. He hoped that he could skate forJapan without focusing on the technical, but the Grand Prix, I think, disabused him of that notion. Japan is simply too competitive, with too many top-rated men, for him to find a comfortable artistic spot like that of Jason Brown’s in the US. But ISU announced a new option last month: Solo Ice Dance. What do you think of that for Shoma and others like Kevin Aymos, Deniss, maybe even Kazuki Tomono? Maybe retire at the end of this season, do ice shows and (I hope!) One Piece On Ice again, and start practicing for solo ice dance. Perhaps even bring Diasuke Takahashi back so he can skate near his life-long idol!
Golden in My Heart has to be Rino Matsui (spelling?). Even though the pressure at JNats got to her, her presence at Skate Canada was so, well, otherworldly, that I am still dying to see her skate again and again.
Solo dance is a real thing!? (Sorry I’ll do my research)
We're really excited at the prospect of Solo Ice Dance becoming a recognized and viable discipline! Everybody you mentioned would be a joy to see in it. We think it will require some high profile names migrating into it for solo dance to gain fast traction with fans and the media. Luring in some popular retired but still active skaters (looking at Satoko Miyahara and Karen Chen here...) would help a lot, too.
While we'd welcome Diasuke back with open arms, it sounds like his knees aren't up to competitive training anymore-and we'd be sad to see him without the lovely Kana Muramoto now.
Rino Matsuike is a great choice! She was divine early in the season, can't wait to see more from her!
It's only _just_ been recognized by the ISU, but it's been a non-elite competitive division for some time. A good example to search is the skater Brooke Tufts, who appears in several On Ice Perspectives videos.
I wanted Mao to skate perfect and just take it, tho I want Kaori to stay on top forever also. I really appreciate the way you talk about Mai Mihara, I totally feel the same.
It's such a dilemma having so many favorites, we want them ALL to win! Glad to hear you share our appreciation of Mai, she's truly special and we haven't seen enough of her this season.
I'm glad I found your podcast this year. Happy New Year! I am an American living in Thailand, and am able to access the Skating ISU channel on UA-cam, and probably am not geoblocked from other UA-cam videos like you guys are in America. The flip side of that is, it's almost impossible for me to watch U.S. Nationals! I can't even subscribe to Peacock from here. To watch on UA-cam, in the past I've had to wait for Japanese or Chinese fans to post videos of random individual programs, but I never get to see a whole flight of skaters. I agree with everything you said, about how the sport is getting more difficult for the average person to appreciate, or even know about! It's very concerning for the future of the sport, especially in America. Figure skating is actually beginning to take off in southeast Asia, and China is obviously investing heavily in their junior level and younger skaters. I would hate to see a future where American skaters are collectively second-tier to the rest of the world.
It's such a frustrating situation. Access is everything, whether you're a fan or someone who wants to compete, and that dwindling access is clearly damaging the sport.
Love your positive commentary and insights! And thank you for such a great recap of the All Japan Championships. I really wish it would be easy to watch from the US.
Thank you! Skating's international focus is pretty unique, and the sport has not kept up with its fandom's demand to see ALL of it. A complicated problem to fix, but we'd happily throw money at a dedicated service that made all of it accessible!
Thank you so much for sharing your love of skating in such a refreshing, uplifting way. Your non-prima-donna commentary and sincere focus on positivity is so refreshing. It truly feeds my own love of the sport for its unique combination of sheer beauty, creativity, and mind-blowing technical skill and athleticism. No other sport moves me to tears of appreciation for what the human body is capable of - or makes me clap in my living room! 😉🤣 Your podcast captures the fun, the awe, the serious, the hopeful, the facts, the speculative, in such a unique way and with such integrity. I am proud to be a subscriber. Thank you and thank you.❄️❄️
This comment means so much to us, thank you! (And I'm glad I'm not the only one clapping in my living room! - Adron)
Really enjoy your positive attitudes. Another great insightful episode
Much appreciated, thanks for listening!
Kazuki did a clean sp at Nebelhorn.
We'll have to go find that. Nebelhorn seems so long ago now... 😅
ua-cam.com/video/wTW0JwQ4N5E/v-deo.html@@scoreography
Here ya go..
優真くんヤッた〜
フリーも頑張ってね〜
フレー フレー
優真くん🔴💓💕😍