Two national champions, Satoko Miyahara and Shoma Uno, will lead a team that includes Kaori Sakamoto, Keiji Tanaka, pairs Miu Suzaki and Ryuichi Kihara, along with two ice dancers, Kana Muramoto and Chris Reed.
Sakamoto is surging forward a Miyahara is going strong by showing her best at the Japan nationals. The place where she won her fourth title for Japan, while Mihara, on the other hand, did not show a prospective future in ice skating. She has, however, tried to keep pace with the others and appears to be improving, thus earning her a chance at the championships.
Rocker Skating analyst, Jackie Wong, is confident that Sakamoto will take the gold for Japan and predicts that Miyahara will take silver and Mihara, a bronze. However, something more important than winning medals is that the skaters must feel confident about their programs.
The women’s roster includes, American Mariah Bell, Kazakhstan’s Elizabet Tursynbaeva and South Korea’s Choi Da-bin.
The program is scheduled to begin on Wednesday afternoon, with the men’s short program slated to start 24 hours later on Thursday. The women’s freestyle skating is scheduled for Friday while the men start on Saturday.
Based on recent results, Japan’s best hope in the women’s free skating championship will be the bronze medal. With Russia’s Alina Zagitova, the new European champion, and two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva in the field as competition, this will be a definite challenge for Japan and the girls at the Olympics.
This leaves the battle for bronze to everybody else. Miyahara and Sakamoto being Japan’s best at the moment; Russia with Maria Sotskova and Italy with Carolina Kostner as each representative of their nation entering the field as challengers and competitors.
Also competing in the Championships will be North Korea’s pair team of Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik. The duo have been given a greenlight by the ISU to skate in Pyeongchang where they will receive a warm welcome.
Reference: Japan women look for Four Continents sweep
