News

Tokyo Kicks Start New Competition Season


Image

Jingu Ice Messengers Junior team lifts the atmosphere up (Credits: Roy Ng - 2023)

After the summer break, synchro teams become busy again in preparation for competition season. Let us learn what is happening in Tokyo, Japan.

The first part of the 2023 Tokyo Summer Figure Skating Competition took place from 19 to 20 August 2023 in Nishitokyo, located in the western outskirt of Tokyo Metropolis. The synchro event took place on Saturday night.


Image
Jingu Ice Messengers Intermediate team has high spirit (Credits: Roy Ng - 2023)

ADV picture

Image
Intermediate team going through an intersection (Credits: Roy Ng - 2023)

A total of three Jingu Ice Messenger teams took part in the competition.

The Intermediate team, which has eight skaters, took the ice first. This time they debuted their Free Program skating to a variety of video game music. There were some apparent but minor errors, but the team held on to it till the end with no falls. Their line intersection went well, and they scored 37.75 points.


Image
Junior team eager to showcase their new Free Program (Credits: Roy Ng - 2023)


Image
With 16 skaters on ice, Junior team could demonstrate wheel clearly (Credits: Roy Ng - 2023)

The Senior team achieved excellent results in the last World Championship (they ranked 10th), but there was no time for them to reminisce about it as the new competition season has already begun.

So far, they have only 11 skaters, and this time, they competed in the Short Program only.  The travelling circle was called Level 4, and Move Elements were delightful to watch. The skaters demonstrated their solid foundation and delivered the program cleanly to earn 43.58 points.


Image
Senior Team and their elegant Move Elements (Credits: Roy Ng - 2023)


Image
Pivoting a block by Senior team (Credits: Roy Ng - 2023)

Understandably, at the season's beginning, all three teams could only perform the core of their programs with room for refinement as they would polish all aspects in the coming months.

Jingu teams demonstrated well in the past that they maintained steady improvement from one competition to another. Therefore we can eagerly look forward to more sophistication in the coming months. Stay tuned for updates as they progress toward Japan's national competition, which will be held in early February 2024.

Meanwhile, you can read the judges' scores here (scroll to the bottom of the page for the grey part).