Fred's, (Used to be Barb's), Board

Although the Canadian and US national championships don't take place until January. National championships in other countries have either already been held or are taking place.

For example, the highly competitive Japanese Nationals are currently underway with so many skaters trying to qualify to move forward to 4CC and/or Worlds. Unfortunately, the weather and travel delays have caused the top pair, Miura and Kihara (who train in Canada) to withdraw - although they finally made it to Japan their luggage, including Riku's skates, did not make it in time for them to practice.

After the Women SP there were some surprising results

Five skaters (out of 29) did not qualify for the FS, including Marin (aka Makoto) Honda.

With the withdrawal of the top pair, there was only one pair competing in the SP, a pair who had competed in the Junior GP this season,
Haruna Murakami & Sumitada Moriguchi.
Score: 54.21 (TES: 28.86 PCS: 25.35)


Results of the Men SP - the top 24 qualify for the FS


According to the play-by-play done by Jackie Wong (rockerskating), many of the men, including Shoma, had challenging skates

After the Pairs FS

Final results after the FD at Japanese nationals:

The Women FS results


The final results after the Women FS


In an incredibly talented field, it was a "redemption" skate for Kaori after her troubles at the GPF. I think she was happy

The Men FS results


Men's final results after the FS


First national senior medals for the 2nd and 3rd place men, I believe.

Team JPN for Worlds


Women - Mai Mihara, Kaori Sakamoto, Rinka Watanabe
Men - Kazuki Tomono, Shoma Uno, Sota Yamamoto
Ice Dance - Kana Muramoto/Daisuke Takahashi
Pairs - Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara