Hanyu heads optimistically into Oly season | Golden Skate

Hanyu heads optimistically into Oly season

gsk8

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Jun 21, 2003
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Japan’s super star Yuzuru Hanyu heads with confidence and optimism into the Olympic season following a year with some firsts. Hanyu has joined the “quad king club,” becoming the first skater to land a clean quad loop in competition last fall at the Autumn Classic in Canada. By the time the World Team Trophy came around, he went for five quads in his long program and landed four of them, including a new quad toe-half loop-triple Salchow combo towards the end of the routine.

The Olympic Champion feels now he has the arsenal he needs for his next big quest – defending his Olympic title – but has not thought about changing his jumps. He is still unsure if he will have five quads in his long program at the beginning of the season.

“It could be a potential challenge,” the two-time World Champion analyzed. “I want to have different options for difficult combinations. Maybe I need to do many different quads, but in general, I do not plan to change the content of my programs. I tried different jumps this season, and now I feel very confident. I am able to jump very well and to get a high grade of execution score. The experience I gained this season will probably have a positive effect for next season, hopefully.”

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Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Thanks for the article, Gsk8. Hanyu has every reason to be confident. It sounds like he has a clear vision of the path forward with a arsenal of what has worked before together with some new tricks up his sleeve. His rivals will be scrambling to try to match him.
 

Perfume

Match Penalty
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May 1, 2017
The comments about layout are so vague. I don't think he won't upgrade his layout. It seems he will.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
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Jul 26, 2003
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Thanks gsk8 for the lovely article by Tatjana Flade about Yuzuru Hanyu. I am glad to know that Yuzuru really enjoyed competing at WTT! It is one of my favorite competitions.
 
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Interspectator

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 25, 2012
As always, Yuzu is quite detailed in self analysis and can pinpoint his own strengths and weaknesses. Thanks for including so many of his comments in this article.
“After being absent for two months at the beginning of the season because of an injury on the toeloop, I was very scared,” Hanyu admitted. “At the end, I did two toeloops (in the program) and it made me very confident. I did (at the World Team Trophy) for the first time the combination quad toe-half loop-triple Salchow, and although it was not perfect, I was satisfied with it. I also did three quads in the second half of the program for the first time and maybe I am the first skater to that.”
It seems as if he's going to think about what kind of combos he's going to put into his programs, is his foot strong enough now to include 2 Toeloops? Will he put the quad-loop-sal combination in as a permanent fixture? Will the jumping of 3 quads in the second half be the answer, if he decides not to significantly change the kinds of jumps he wants to do this season? -Or will he go for broke and add the 4Lz afterall?
I hope everyone can make it to the season's start healthy. :cool2:
 
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Perfume

Match Penalty
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May 1, 2017
Hanyu seems to think too much. He should think less. It will make it easier for him. Just go for it and ignore the rest.
 

MaiKatze

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
Hanyu’s strong analytical mindset is one of the secrets of his success. :yes2:

This is a real advantage. He doesn't need to worry much about zayaking, as he has the math down. He did think quickly at 4CC, was it?
 

xeyra

Constant state
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Jan 10, 2017
This is a real advantage. He doesn't need to worry much about zayaking, as he has the math down. He did think quickly at 4CC, was it?

He learned his lesson circa Skate Canada 2015.
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
Hanyu doesn't have to squeeze every little tenth of a point out of base value by backloading, etc. He goes clean, he wins.

A lot can happen in a year. But Yuzuru is not standing still waiting for his rivals to catch up.
 

aynia

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 29, 2014
I hope he can reconcile with the short program. The right music and choreography can do wonders.

The music choices will stay secret for now. I'm not surprised. It wouldn't be fair to the fans to reveal them too soon. ;)
 

penguin

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 31, 2012
The comments about layout are so vague. I don't think he won't upgrade his layout. It seems he will.

I took it to mean that he wouldn't add new jumps (i.e., quad lutz) into his program, but I think it's likely he'll play around with the layout. He may try different combos, for instance.
 

drivingmissdaisy

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 17, 2010
The technical bar for the men is going to be so much higher at the next Olympics than in Sochi. It's hard to imagine these guys landing 5 quads under pressure when they struggled to land two at the previous Games. I do like the excitement, though, because it gives several men an opportunity to have a great moment if they can achieve that level of difficulty.
 
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