The “new strategy” that led Shinba Higuchi to her first GP Series victory with a stunning comeback.
The “Girl Genius” makes a comeback!
The Grand Prix (GP) series, which marks the start of the figure skating season in earnest, began its first round, Skate America, on October 18. This season is the pre-season for the ’26 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo. A hot competition on the ice is expected in anticipation of the big competition in about one year and three months.
In Skate America, the pair of Rirai Miura (22) and Ryuichi Kihara (32), winners of the 2011 World Championships, won their first international championship in a year and seven months, while 19-year-old Yoshio Miura (Oriental Bio, Meiji Univ.) took third place in the men’s single competition, standing on the podium.
Among the Japanese skaters, 23-year-old Shinba Higuchi (Wakaba, Noevir) shined brightly. She has been competing in the GP Series since the 2004 season, and this was her ninth year and 14th race, and her first win. It was a brilliant comeback for the former “girl prodigy,” who once took a break after contributing to the team silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Beijing, contemplating retirement.
I never thought I would be able to win this competition for the first time today,” she said. I was really surprised. I guess it’s a reward for all the practice I’ve put in.
As she said after the match, her full “shinba smile” was reflected on the silver screen.
She was able to complete this season’s short program (SP), which featured music from the science fiction movie “Dune: Planet of the Sand,” and made a brilliant comeback in the FS, where she finished 4th, 2.31 points behind Isabeau Levito (USA), who finished 2nd in last season’s World Championships.
I’m so happy. So surprised.”
At the press conference after the awards ceremony, Higuchi expressed her joy in English, and then analyzed the factors behind her first win.
I have been practicing to skate with confidence, even if I made a mistake in the middle of the program, so that I could skate with a comfortable margin from the beginning to the end, both in the short program and the free skate. That is one of the first things that I was able to do in today’s competition. The rest, I think, is about 70% luck.
