Rino Matsuike: “I think I’ve been growing bit by bit, like making it to the podium in the GP series or reaching the final group at Nationals. But looking at the top competitors, I still feel I’m lacking.”
Rino Matsuike about Japanese Nationals.
original source: sportiva.shueisha.co.jp dd 24d December by Komiya Yoshiyuki
In the interview posted on Web Sportiva, Rino Matsuike (20) spoke about Japanese Nationals where she finished 5th. Here’s a translation.
“Last year and the year before, I had so many failures at Nationals, and I ended them not understanding what went wrong. This year, to feel this frustrated over one mistake in the last part of the free skate makes me think maybe I have grown,” Matsuike reflected on the event.
“This time at the Japanese Nationals, I was nervous, but unlike last year, my body didn’t fail to respond. I think I’ve become more accustomed to the competitions and I’ve been able to perform with a stronger mindset,” she told.
Two years ago, Rino spoke in a disheartened manner after the Nationals, saying, “Last year (2021) it was an injury, this year (2022) it’s been poor health… It’s incredibly frustrating to be unable to skate because of issues unrelated to skating itself. For instance, if my jumps were off, I could fix them with practice, but I wasn’t even able to do that.”
She admits that anxiety lingered into the current season’s start. “Even entering this season, I felt physically so drained that I thought I couldn’t perform a mistake-free free skate. I couldn’t do it in practice either, so I was anxious.”
However, as she continued to compete, her confidence in her performances grew. This season, participating in the Grand Prix series, she placed second at Skate Canada and at the Finlandia Trophy. She also earned a spot in the Grand Prix Final.
“This season, through what I have experienced, I feel connected to the next step and was able to grow. I reviewed the issues that arose and managed to reflect them in my performances,” Matsuike said.
“I think I was able to skate freely and gratefully because I managed a mistake-free performance in the short program!” As for her performance in the free skate choreographed to “Lux Aeterna,” where she portrayed ‘eternal light,’ Rino said “I am frustrated that I couldn’t perform flawlessly in the free program. I had also failed the salchow at the competition in Finland, and I made the same mistake in practice… Perhaps that added to my anxiety. I had the mindset ‘if I land this,’ but I couldn’t maintain my composure just in that moment. Maybe I was overly cautious thinking I might fail, or perhaps I overthought it and missed the timing. Although I’ve overcome one barrier, not being able to deliver a perfect performance at the very end exposes my current weakness.”
“I was filled with frustration, but I got a comment from coach Yamada Michiko saying ‘It wasn’t perfect, but Mako (Yamashita) and Kaoruko (Wada) and everyone performed well. Thank you.’ I was happy to make it into the final group; it’s something I hadn’t been able to do often, so I hope to use this experience for the next time,” she said.
“I think I’ve been growing bit by bit, like making it to the podium in the GP series or reaching the final group at Nationals. But looking at the top competitors, I still feel I’m lacking. This isn’t good enough; I need to continue growing next year too!”
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