Rinka Watanabe easily won the Challenge Cup in Tilburg, Netherlands, on Sunday, February 16, leading a medal sweep of the competition by Japanese women. Rion Sumiyoshi finished second, while Mako Yamashita came in third.
Watanabe's winning total score was 213.36 points, nearly 12 points ahead of Sumiyoshi, who had 201.60. Yamashita finished on 198.46.
Japan normally sends a large contingent of skaters to the Challenge Cup, but this year sent just four. Sena Miyake captured the men's crown on Saturday, February 15 to give the Hinomaru both singles titles.
Miyake was victorious with a tally of 208.37. Mexico's Donovan Carrillo took second at 205.54, while Israel's Mark Gorodnitsky came in third on 177.61 in the event which strangely only featured three skaters.
Highlights from the Challenge Cup
After landing her opening triple axel in the short program, Watanabe fell on the jump in her free skate to "Maria de Buenos Aires." The 22-year-old recovered to land four clean triples and post level fours on two of her spins and step sequence on the way to victory.
Sumiyoshi took second despite having multiple jump issues in her free skate to selections from "Adiemus: Song of Sanctuary." The 21-year-old fell on a quadruple toe loop, under-rotated a triple flip, and was judged a quarter rotation short on another triple flip. She did land four clean triples and notch level fours on two of her spins and step sequence.
Yamashita hit six triples and registered level fours on two of her spins and step sequence in her free skate to "Creep." The 22-year-old received negative grades of execution on two of her three combination jumps, however.
Miyake went down on his opening quad salchow and singled a second planned quad salchow in his free skate to songs from the "Titanic" soundtrack. The 22-year-old recovered to land six triples in the triumph.
Japan's Lineup for the Four Continents
Kao Miura and Mone Chiba will lead Japan this week (February 19-23) at the Four Continents Championships in Seoul. Miura is coming off an injury that impacted his performance at the Japan Championships in December 2024, while Chiba will be defending the title she won last year in Shanghai.
Tatsuya Tsuboi and Kazuki Tomono will join Miura in the men's field, while Wakaba Higuchi and Rino Matsuike will back up Chiba in the women's battle.
Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara, the 2023 pairs world champions, are slated to compete in South Korea, along with Yuna Nagaoka and Sumitada Moriguchi. Nagaoka and Moriguchi claimed the bronze medal at the recent Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China.
Ice dancers Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita, the gold medalists at the Asian Games, are set for the Four Continents, where the team of Azusa Tanaka and Shingo Nishiyama will also be in the lineup.
Arakawa's Thoughts on Skating in the Present Day
Shizuka Arakawa, the Olympic gold medalist in 2006, provided some interesting opinions on the current state of skating in a recent interview with Sports Hochi that was translated into English and posted on fs-gossips.com.
"I think that by awarding points and bonuses to technical points, the system has promoted skaters to pursue perfection in technical aspects," the now 43-year-old Arakawa was quoted as saying. "Where previously it was enough just to land the jumps, now how you jump and its elegance are also demanded. Jumps, spins, steps. It's an era where the completeness of each element is high."
Arakawa, the 2004 world champion, talked about how skating has changed since her era.
"Modern skaters are high quality in all their elements," Arakawa stated. "On the other hand, it might have become harder to express individuality. From an era where 'who's what' left an impression, now everyone is skilled. In this sense, it may have become difficult to leave something unique, to make a memorable impression. It's a challenging time to reach people's memories. That might be the issue of this era."
Barton Retiring from Skate Canada BC/Yukon Post
Ted Barton, the longtime voice of the Junior Grand Prix events on the ISU's YouTube channel, announced recently that he will be leaving his position as the executive director of Skate Canada's British Columbia and Yukon Section on May 16 after 42 years with the organization.
Barton, who will commentate on March's World Junior Figure Skating Championships for the ISU, replied to an email from Ice Time on Monday, February 17 about his future plans.
"I will be working on some Skate Canada projects and hopefully commentating for ISU, but that is always decided each year sometime in the late spring. So, we will see," Barton wrote.
Barton, who is already a member of the British Columbia and Burnaby City Halls of Fame, has had a profound impact on the sport in his long career. He created the live streaming of JGP events and also played a significant role in the creation of the International Judging System (IJS).
Known to skating fans around the globe for his positive commentary on young skaters, Barton is most deserving of a spot in the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame someday.
Barton will be feted at a retirement celebration in Burnaby, British Columbia, on May 2.
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Author: Jack Gallagher
The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.
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