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From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.

Tag: Madoka Natsumi

  • Team 16: Japan

    Japan

    2009-2010 Nations Cup Ranking: 18th (353 pts)

    2010-2011 Nations Cup Ranking: 16th (549 pts)

    Men: 15th (156 pts)

    Women: 12th (393 pts)

    2011/2012 World Cup Team

    Men

    N/A

    Women

    Masako Ishida

    What You May Have Missed Last Season

    The Japanese lacked much individual success to cheer about, but they put together two surprisingly effective 4-by relay teams.

    Japanese skier Masako Ishida (L), missed the World Cup Finals in Sweden due to the earthquake and tsunami in her home country.

    The Japanese women combined for a pretty competitive relay team in La Clusaz, France. The two women who have pushed Japan into World Cup notice over the last couple of seasons (Masako Ishida and Madoka Natsumi) led off, and built a lead for two younger teammates who managed to hold on for fifth spot, ahead of Poland, two Russian and two French teams.

    The men picked an even better spot to make their stand, as the extremely inexperienced group pulled off a 6th place finish during the 4×10 k relay at World Championships in Oslo.

    The Japanese skiers were led out by the completely unknown Kouhei Shimizu, who has just two career World Cup starts, but somehow hung tough with the lead pack, inspiring the rest of the team (Keishin Yoshida, Masya Kimura, Nobu Naruse) onto what was easily the best Japanese performance of the year. Check out this cool split graph of the relay race to see just how impressive the Japanese were.

    Oh, and just in case you think that FasterSkier is under-selling the achievement of the young Japanese men, they have a grand total of 62 career World Cup starts combined. For comparison, the Russian team that they edged out for 6th has over 170 trips to a World Cup start line between them.

    After the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan last season, Kikkan Randall and several other World Cup skiers banded together to show support for their World Cup competitors, who missed the World Cup Finals due to the disaster.

    What You Need To Know for This Season

    Madoka Natsumi (l) of Japan and Dasha Gaiazova in the thick fog of Oslo during the relay.

    The Japanese are going for a significantly reduced A-Team this season – only Masako Ishida has been given the highest status, which is rather surprising.

    The biggest surprise is that according to the Ski Association of Japan website, Ishida’s long-time team mate Madoka Natsumi is no longer on the squad at all. The 31 year-old who earned a World Cup bronze medal in Trondheim, Norway, in 2009 has been a mainstay for years, and was a consistent top 30 skier.

    Additionally, only two men have been granted B-Team status, as just aging sprint specialist Yuichi Onda and young-gun Keishin Yoshida have been named to the team. Yoshida skis for the Cold Weather Winter Training Unit, which sounds pretty awesome.

    While not on the World Cup front, the Japanese also showed up at SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, Idaho this past spring, where Yuma Yoshida surprised many to finish third in the 50 k Classic at U.S. National Distance Championships.

    Who You Should Watch

    Keishin Yoshida is rapidly becoming the real deal. The 24 year old bagged two wooden medals at the Under-23 World Championships in 2010, both in distance races. Last year was his first on the World Cup, where he brought home 20 World Cup points, including an impressive stretch of three top 30 results before abandoning the Tour de Ski.

    Oh, and you can critique his classic technique here – but it’s pretty good.

     

  • Team 18: Japan

    Team 18: Japan

    Japan

    Nations Cup Ranking: 18th (353 pts)

    Men: 16th (163 pts)

    Women: 19th (190 pts)

    2010/2011 A Team (Best estimate)

    Men

    Yuichi Onda

    Nobu Naruse

    Women

    Masako Ishida

    Madoka Natsumi

    What you may have missed last season:

    Two years ago, during the 2008-2009 World Cup season, the Japanese ski team made history. Masako Ishida became the first Japanese national to win a World Cup medal by finishing third in an exciting battle in the 30k in Trondheim, the same day Alex Harvey made Canadian history by also placing third. However, in 2009-2010 on the World Cup, Ishida was shaky at best finishing in the top 10 just once. However, she fared better at the Olympics, saving her magic for another attempt at the podium when it mattered most – but ultimately coming up short and finishing 5th in the 30 k. If you want to know how your favorite Canadian male will do at at a big race, watch Ishida – there seems to be a slight correlation.

    Ishida (L) battling for her podium spot with Kowalczyk and Steira

    The best of the men’s team was Yuichi Onda, a strong classic sprinter. Despite being sub-par for the majority of the season, he peaked for the Olympics and cracked the heats to finish in the top 20 in the classic sprint. He then rode that peak to the classic city sprint Drammen, and on the same day Andy Newell finished on the podium, the 30 year old journeyman cracked the top 5.

    What You Should Know For This Season

    There is no reason to think Japanese success is just a flash in the pan. Much like the Canadians and Americans have done in the past few years, the Japanese have been building their squad around a few incredibly talented athletes (Ishida and Onda), and are now working to bring up the level of the others to where they can field a consistently strong team.

    Also, despite being 33 years old, retired, and never having had a standout World  Cup season or race, Masaaki Kozu has intensity written all over his face in his FIS profile picture, so the FasterSkier staff is unwilling to write him off completely.

    Watch out…

    Who You Should Watch

    The on man to keep your eye on has to be Nobu Naruse. This past season the 25 year old he was always on the bubble, finishing from 25th to 40th spot a whopping 10 times. Che will be able to throw down consistent fast skate sprints, and at least get some experience.