Quad Axel

[el henry]

Personally, I think Nathan Chen has nothing to do with Yuzu trying the 4A and unless Nathan Chen tries a 4A (and he certainly could), he is not relevant to this thread.

Yuzu is obviously the ultimate competitor, but his ultimate competition is himself. He reminds me very much of an elite runner. An elite runner would obviously love to win the race. Elite runners also love to set records And personal bests. They are competing with themselves.

At this point, Yuzu has nothing to prove. He has achieved GOAT status. And yet he wants to challenge himself. I find that commendable. And I think I can say this as someone fairly neutral, as I am an American, so go Nathan, and my favorite skater trains with Yuzu, so go Yuzu

And I would be thrilled if my favorite skater consistently landed quads of any kind.

 

[Alextrusova]

I think for Yuzu, just landing the 4A in a competition (preferably at Worlds) is the most important thing. More important than being WC again. Although probably winning 4CC is also a thing for him. He wants to win Worlds as well, but losing to Chen (or Shoma) is less important than achieving the goal of getting that 4A clean. He's terribly competitive so of course he wants to win as well, but I think that after winning everything, being the first guy to win two Olympic titles in a row after so many years for example, he has personal goals that don't have much to do with ordinary wins (and no, this is not meant to be negative, he is the GOAT after all) but do have to do a lot with what he wants to achieve for himself. I want him healthy (the most important thing), perhaps even winning a third Olympics. but I would first of all want him to achieve his own goals. Like the 4A. Oh yes!

How would you know what his goals are?

 

[Ophelia]

How would you know what his goals are?

He's talked about landing the 4A since the second he won his 2nd OGM...

 

[Casual]

He's talked about landing the 4A since the second he won his 2nd OGM...

Yes, he sure did.

I feel though that his skating really changed since last year's trauma in Russia. It doesn't look as free and effortless, and he seems to be running out of stamina. Maybe training 4A should take a back seat to taking care of this health and making sure there're no more injuries!

 

[champagnerain]

I feel though that his skating really changed since last year's trauma in Russia. It doesn't look as free and effortless, and he seems to be running out of stamina. Maybe training 4A should take a back seat to taking care of this health and making sure there're no more injuries!

There's no such thing as "making sure there's no more injuries" in high-level competitive sports. Sure, athletes can do their best to avoid injury, but even if Hanyu stopped jumping all quads today, that still wouldn't ensure he'd never get injured again. Skaters who jump only triples still have injuries. Ice dancers who don't do jumps at all have injuries. Heck, I got a serious injury while skating over 15 years ago (which still bothers me to this day), and I couldn't even do single jumps at that point.

Obviously, attempting the 4A is dangerous, and Hanyu knows that. He's aware of the possibility of injury - it's almost become a parody of itself at this point how every interview he does includes both Hanyu and the interviewer repeatedly expressing their happiness that he's healthy/not injured currently. Ultimately, it's his body and his choice what level of risk he's willing to take on in order to achieve his goals. The 4A is clearly important to him, and although I'm sure none of us want to see him get injured again, I don't think he would be happy continuing to skate competitively with only "safe" technical content aimed solely at avoiding injury or even conserving his stamina. (Heck, he seems to have decided it was a good idea to add a 3A+3A+SEQ to his layout as the final jumping pass after having a crazy mid-program thought that maybe he should do it to make up points after he popped his 4T at his second GP assignment. Not that he's achieved it yet, obviously.)

As a longtime fan of Hanyu, I'd of course be happy to see him continue to skate in any form/venue he likes, whether it be competitively or not. But I don't think I'd find it very enjoyable to watch Hanyu skate competitively if he were to give up on that drive to constantly push the boundaries - not unless he really did feel satisfied that he's achieved all he's set out to do, which clearly is not the case yet.

 

[Casual]

Heck, I got a serious injury while skating over 15 years ago (which still bothers me to this day), and I couldn't even do single jumps at that point.

What happened, did you fall?

For Hanyu, all I meant is maybe he needs to heal and get perfectly conditioned first, then proceed with 4A. No use to push it and get reinjured.

Maybe I'm imagining things, but I really feel like he's changed after his injury last year in Russia. I re-watch his skates on DVR - the ones before vs. the ones after are like, no comparison. Very different FEEL of how he skates. It's like he's still traumatized. Not in pain, no, but in a different mood. Cautious, colder, weary. Less art, more business. I'd like to see his freer artistic mood return, and I'm not that interested in him upping his tech content.

 

[champagnerain]

Boyang Jin has entered the chat.

Unless this is a hilarious typo, Boyang Jin is apparently listing a 4A+1Eu+3S in his planned program content for 4CC.

:eeking: :confused2:

If he actually attempts it, this should be...interesting to watch...

 

[el henry]

Boyang Jin has entered the chat.

Unless this is a hilarious typo, Boyang Jin is apparently listing a 4A+1Eu+3S in his planned program content for 4CC.

:eeking: :confused2:

If he actually attempts it, this should be...interesting to watch...

Jackie Wong is of the hilarious typo opinion. Literally.

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/1224508712162861056

 

[Winnie_20]

this is a hilarious typo

...

I think it would be funny if it were NOT a typo, (all this focus on other skaters, and he gets to jump it first) but it’s probably nothing more than that.

 

[champagnerain]

I think it would be funny if it were NOT a typo, (all this focus on other skaters, and he gets to jump it first) but it’s probably nothing more than that.

I thought it might be a typo when Dmitriev Jr. listed it on his PPC, and then...

I am ready for any and all surprises from chaos skaters.

 

[YuBluByMe]

Jin’s been cracking me up all season. It being a typo is too easy. I’ll be watching 4CC with an extra bag of popcorn. Maybe two extra bags.

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

Lol maybe Boyang Jin is trying to get in the head of the rest of his competition by suggesting he might do a 4A to throw them off?!? I must say that could be a exceedingly foolish strategy though, as it could end up throwing his own 3A off.

So probably just a typo.

 

[Arbitrary]

The big problem with 4Ax those days is that every attempt may be your last one. This clear fact already ruined Dmitriev's career and even Hanyu is not totally safe.

The question for Jin is why first declare a combo? If he fails with the quaxel the whole combo will not go well. From the other side the "trou-euiler" combo is generally safer than the pure 4-3 combo.

 

[Tahuu]

Dangit, due to the camera angle I can only see Boyang's axel setup, not the jump. https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1rmxPAZapPmKN

(Joke aside this twitter user may stream more official practices. So bookmark it)

 

[lzxnl]

Let's look at this carefully.
4Lz
4S
4A(!)+Eu+3S
4T-2T
4T
3A
3Lz-3T

1. It's a 4A combo
2. It's his THIRD jump
3. He has five quads in total? We saw what happened to Yuzuru when he tried five quads.
4. Boyang's 4Lz, 4S both haven't been great this season. This could seriously flop.
5. Funnily enough if he lands a 4A, he'll be able to jump a 4T-3T instead of a 2T.
6. This is a joke, right?

 

[DSQ]

I dearly hope it’s true.

 

[Yuzuruu]

It's obviously a typo. He's been doing this combo with 3A for the entire season, I seriously doubt he would go for the most difficult jump that exists and immediately add a combo to it.
The drama on twitter though I can already imagine all fans literally holding their breath the moment he sets up for that axel

 

[CanadianSkaterGuy]

The big problem with 4Ax those days is that every attempt may be your last one. This clear fact already ruined Dmitriev's career and even Hanyu is not totally safe.

The question for Jin is why first declare a combo? If he fails with the quaxel the whole combo will not go well. From the other side the "trou-euiler" combo is generally safer than the pure 4-3 combo.

Do we know if that definitively ruined Artur's career? I don't believe he retired due to injury? Still kudos to him for having the first - and so far only - 4A attempt so far, and his 3Z+3F combo amazingness.

 

[halulupu]

Maybe he just wants to put pressure on hanyu.

 

[Edwin]

battle of the quadzels, LOL