At Finlandia Trophy 2023, Chloé caught up with Rinka Watanabe. The 21-year old won the silver medal at the first international event of her season.
Finlandia Trophy is your first international competition of the season, and you have just completed your free program. You also competed at Tokyo Regionals some weeks ago. How do you feel right now?
Well, this was not my perfect performance. At Tokyo Regionals, I could not perform well. It is also some of the first times that I am performing this free program by Shae-Lynn Bourne. It is so difficult, and I cannot feel if I succeeded at connecting the jumps with the performance. It is an amazing program, I knew it, but it is really hard with the jumps. I could not perform at Tokyo Regionals, but I could perform my story today. I think I feel better and good.
After your victory at Skate Canada 2022, your second Grand Prix event was the 2022 NHK Trophy, where you placed 5th. You ended up 4th at Grand Prix Final, 12th at Nationals, and 10th at the World Championships. There was always something at stake for you at these competitions. It is also difficult to perform in front of your home audience. How do you deal with that kind of pressure?
I really like performing my skating anywhere. In Japan, there are so many fans always supporting me. At Finlandia Trophy, there were so many kids watching, I love it, it was so fun. Today felt so much fun with all the kids watching.
Looking back at last season, it was a very busy and demanding season for you. You won the Lombardia Trophy ahead of reigning World Champion Kaori Sakamoto and World silver medalist Wakaba Higuchi, suddenly got assigned two Grand Prix events, advanced to the Grand Prix Final and even made the World Championships Team. Did you ever except this kind of success?
Last year was really busy. Every competition I attended, it was always my first time there. It did not make any difference to me, I was not thinking too much because I am new”, I just thought, “Do it”. This year, I am bearing last year’s accomplishments. Everyone is thinking, “Oh, she can go to the Grand Prix Final again”. So I feel it is difficult and also I am thinking too much, but the goal now is to not think too much and just do my best. Of course I want to go to the Grand Prix Final and to the World Championships, that is my goal too, but if I think too much, my muscles and my body will tighten and I will not be able to move and perform. More than that, I just want to do my best. But I also love performing in Japan with so many fans watching me. It does not matter where or how I perform because I love to show my skating.
The atmosphere at the Grand Prix Final, the 4CC Championships and the World Championships was something you had never experienced before. How was it so compete on the highest stages of the world?
I was so nervous. I do not know how to explain it, but I felt like I was not alive because of all the nervousness A week before the World Championships, I was so nervous that cried. I needed the 4CC Championships because I did not know how to “do” the World Championships, so it really helped me.
Talking a little bit about your training, you skate at MF Academy. You train with other successful skaters, such as Yuna Aoki, Mariia Egawa, Ami Nakai, Yo Takagi, Rio Nakata, Saho Otake, Karin Miyazaki and many more. Can you tell us about yout training environment?
Everyone is always jumping. Everyone is young there and jumping, jumping, jumping. At first I was like, “Oh, okay. Not only the senior skaters and the novice skaters, but everyone. Everyone is trying the triple Axel and also other difficult jumps, I feel younger and it helps me.
Regarding Ami Nakai, you both had a brilliant season, got to go to the Grand Prix Final together, and went to the World Championships. What is your relationship with her like?
She is like my little sister. She comes up to me every day saying, “Rinka, I miss you”. She is so cute. She is also trying the triple Axel and is consistent.
During the off-season, you went on vacation with your family in Okinawa, and skated in different ice shows over the summer. You played the role of Chopper in One Piece On Ice and skated alongisde skaters such as Shoma Uno, Marin Honda, Kazuki Tomono, Koshiro Shimada and Keiji Tanaka. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
This is the first time where I was not jumping and was playing a character I needed to connect with. That is pretty interesting and sometimes pretty hard, because it is the first time anime is ever done at an ice show. Connecting with characters is hard. During your own programs, it is easy to connect but when it comes to the anime, the character already exists so it is more difficult. But it is helpful for our own skating.
Regarding this season, you have been assigned to Skate Canada and Cup of China, are you excited?
I am finally coming back to Vancouver! Vancouver is like my second city. And so many friends will come to watch, so I am really excited.
Your short program is based on the story of “Avatar” and is choreographed by Kenji Miyamoto, and your free skate is “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”, choreographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne. Your short program is a more light yet vibrant kind of music, while your free skate is a more dark and mysterious type of music. What is the inspirations behind your programs this season?
For the short program, I wanted to do a program that senior skaters would not think of doing. I wanted to portray everything that was nature- related like the ocean, the trees, the forest… I did not watch the movie, but when I heard the music for the first time, I thought, “Oh, this is the music I want to skate to.” That is why I picked it.
For the free program, Shae-Lynn Bourne herself picked the music for me. At the beginning of the program, there is a noise. I told her that I really wanted to skate to this music for my free program. She asked me why, and I said that I could just feel it, and that it reminded me of my past junior seasons. There is another music connecting the first music, it is like a transition. That program is about telling my own skating story, from my junior days up to last season.
And lastly, there are many people who are supporting you, both in Japan and overseas. Is there something you would like to say to them?
Everyone helps me. That is why I can produce my skating. If we, as skaters, do not have skating fans, we cannot do our job. We need the support. Everyone supporting me and the other skaters as well, it is thanks to them that we can do figure skating. I am so grateful for all the fans. Please keep supporting this season too. I just want to say, “Thank you so much. Please watch my performances this season too.”
