How good is Hanyu? | Golden Skate

How good is Hanyu?

Mao88

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Hanyu's performance today in the Short Program at Skate America just took my breath away. His score of 95.07 was also an ISU world record for the Short Program. He was incredible. The movement, the flow, the speed across the ice, the jumps, the spins, the transitions, the musical interpretation, the artistry, the grace, the elegance, etc, etc - he has it all, and what he has in abundance is just sheer natural talent. So, how good is he? It was a great decision to appoint Brian Orser as his coach back in April, and in my opinion, he has (with Orser's help) overtaken Chan and Dai to become the best male singles skater in the world, and the favourite for the Olympic title. My only doubt is that asthma gives him a stamina problem, especially in the long program, and it sometimes limits his training to 2 hours a day, but it is to be hoped that that problem can be overcome over the next 18 months.
 
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Joined
Mar 11, 2011
He's extremely GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD and yes, this strong performance at SA gave him the ticket to becoming the definite contender in Sochi Olympics! But I would reserve my opinion that "he's taken over Chan and Dai to become the best male singles skater in the world," since we've yet to see either Dai or Patrick's A game brought into competition in this season. I do think, however, that he's got much better chance at OGM than Dai does; he's much younger, jumps are much stable and in better quality, and there's two whole season to develop artistically to catch up with Dai's awesome presentation skills.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Hanyu is Amazing, He will achieve legendary status in his career like Plushenko and will be the one of the favorites to win in Sochi
he is really special, after Zhenya no one ever captured me in men's FS until his arrival.

ik, a bit uber but Yuzuru is already the Prince of Figure Skating !
not even Chan can be in his league, Yuzuru is simply way up there
 

plushyfan

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Country
Hungary
Hanyu is Amazing, He will achieve legendary status in his career like Plushenko and will be the one of the favorites to win in Sochi
he is really special, after Zhenya no one ever captured me in men's FS until his arrival.

ik, a bit uber but Yuzuru is already the Prince of Figure Skating !
not even Chan can be in his league, Yuzuru is simply way up there
:thumbsup:
 

emdee

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Hanyu is a spectacular skater. Orser has brought out the best in him. I dont think that Dai has a chance if Hanyu skates the way he did. He has it all. He had become a very well rounded skater as well.
 

Buttercup

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
Hanyu is a spectacular skater. Orser has brought out the best in him. I dont think that Dai has a chance if Hanyu skates the way he did. He has it all. He had become a very well rounded skater as well.
No, Nanami Abe brought out the best in Hanyu. Orser is merely adding some extra polish and probably some necessary politikking.

The rest I'll just copy-paste from my first comment in the SA men's SP thread:
Hanyu, in addition to being crazy talented and with a huge repertoire of skills, is very young - meaning that he was trained exclusively for IJS skating and can make any adjustment that will get higher points. The second half jumps, doing a solo quad with actual steps into it (too often skaters skip the steps part when they make the 4T the "jump out of steps"), the spins, the transitions - he checks off every box. And while I was not a huge fan of this coaching change, it certainly signaled to the judges that his federation is very, very serious about his prospects. As they should be. He is a Plushenko-level talent without being encumbered by Mishin's taste or years spent under 6.0. When I saw Hanyu at 2009 JW, I thought he'd be going places, I just didn't think he'd do it so fast (I can dig up the three and a half year old post where I said he'd more likely contend in 2018). Keep proving me both right and wrong, Yuzuru ;)

I hate the music though, and am not fond of the program. It makes him look like a Dai wannabe rather than a skater with his own (developing?) style, and he's not the performer Dai is. To that end, I think he was overscored in some of the components. But this was a 90+ skate, no doubt about it.
And then I said that I hope people will mainly credit Abe for the work she did with Hanyu, rather than focusing on Orser's (smaller) role in his success.
 
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ImaginaryPogue

Record Breaker
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
No, Nanami Abe brought out the best in Hanyu. Orser is merely adding some extra polish and probably some necessary politikking.

I will say that the polish Orser brought is probably a good chunk of the PCS improvement he had, though. He's a less clunky skater now
 

Buttercup

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 25, 2008
No, Nanami Abe brought out the best in Hanyu. Orser is merely adding some extra polish and probably some necessary politikking.
I will say that the polish Orser brought is probably a good chunk of the PCS improvement he had, though. He's a less clunky skater now
I'm not seeing that big a difference. Hanyu's improved PCS looks to me to be mainly the result of 1. a very good performance at a relatively sloppily-skated event and 2. improved reputation and politikking - which, as I noted, is indeed necessary at that level.
 

Ginask8s

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 27, 2008
He is wonderful. What Brian Orser knows how to do(IMHO) is manage a skaters fame and protect them from a lot of the negative things that can occur around them. He did it with Yuna who was also a superstar and had health issues.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
I had the privilege to watch Yuzuru's performance at SA today live, and I assure you that it was absolutely wonderful, and in another league from the rest. And Kozuka & Machida were also phenomenal. Mensov was awfully good also, and Armin wasn't terrible, neither was Abbott terrible. So to say it was a badly skated event, is just absolutely wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

There were those that skated badly: Verner, Brezina, & Razzano. But 4/10 good programs, 3/10 pretty good programs and 3/10 bad programs at an event is really good for the mens

If you asked me, I'd say Yuzuru was scored just right, Taka could have been scored a bit higher than he was, Abbott was overscored, and Menshov was underscored.
 

OS

Sedated by Modonium
Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
OGM good.... as I have always said :D

No, Nanami Abe brought out the best in Hanyu. Orser is merely adding some extra polish and probably some necessary politikking.

The rest I'll just copy-paste from my first comment in the SA men's SP thread:

And then I said that I hope people will mainly credit Abe for the work she did with Hanyu, rather than focusing on Orser's (smaller) role in his success.

I agree about Abe, and have always said Hanyu was undermarked all last season in PCS, which resulted in some weird PCS mark below Artur and Javier. I have always thought he should be in the ranks of Daisuke/Jeremy/Patrick and sometimes exceed them during his FS performances. This season was merely Judges addressing this issue properly, and looking at the actual performance, I'd say it seems a tad higher than how I'd mark. Seems the impression of him under marked last season have resulted them over mark it a bit this competition? I have no doubt Orser is fully capable to sustain Hanyu's momentum like he did with Yuna, he is very lucky to work with 2 of the best ready made talents currently in figure skating and provide them with the polish and the environment they need. Apart from politicking, I think good management of his condition helps.

The biggest weakness of the COP environment is the appearance of exact scoring, when in actual it suffers from all sort of latency problem that can distort from what is really achieved that day. When an A Class skater under performed from what he is expected to, it can create all sort of weird scoring. When they over achieved, the momentum building accelerate more, so if they suddenly falters, the mistakes hardly register because of everything else previously. The worst part of the COP is when judges have no idea of what they can expect, then they tend to mark conservatively which put that skater in a huge disadvantage to everyone else. However, once a skater reached the judge's good books and manage to hit their elements, doesn't matter how pap program is, the skater will do well (Just look at most of Alena's programs!). I am still not fan of this SP even though Hanyu skated it beautifully. (It feels like watching my little brother play '70s giglo, the clothes might match, but it feels just off.)

It is great he perform as well as he did this early in the season, the WC just got more exciting, he is now a legitimate contender to Patrick's crown to the judge's mind surely.
 
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Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
As I noted I my other post, Orser told me that he has worked with Hanyu on more runthroughs and skating more hours a day. That and the extra polish in the choreography is what Orser brings to the table.

I found Orser very friendly and humble. He made a big point of acknowloging how hard Yuzuru worked. How respectful and willing he was to learn. The Japanese fans mobbed him at the hotel bar last night taking photos -- I think he was amused at it all.
 

emma

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Mrs. P - so amazing that you are there and enjoying the skating live AND "just" having a causal conversation with Orser!! Thanks for your reports and enjoy!!!
 

Mrs. P

Uno, Dos, twizzle!
Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Mrs. P - so amazing that you are there and enjoying the skating live AND "just" having a causal conversation with Orser!! Thanks for your reports and enjoy!!!

I credit the Japanese fans... they came and I just waited and said, "Yuzuru had a good night, eh?" and it went from there. We also had a nice conversation about wine. Likes Washington white wine -- yay for the home team; doesn't care for Brittish Columbia ice wine. Then we talked about liquor laws in Canada. LOL...
 

daphna

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 6, 2004
Hanyu is the best talent to come on the scene since Plushenko. and I think Hanyu is even better than Plush - his artistry is phenomenal. Yuzuru has it all already at 17. He could be the big favorite to win Sochi next year. I'd love to see Plushenko, Hanyu, and Dai battling it out for world and olympic golds. these 3 are in a class of their own. forgive me for ignoring Chan - I just can't stand his skating and his "win" at worlds last year.
 

jan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 21, 2004
Perhaps you should have stopped after complimenting Hanyu and expressing your wishes for Sochi next year. Your last two statements were not necessary.

Hanyu is the best talent to come on the scene since Plushenko. and I think Hanyu is even better than Plush - his artistry is phenomenal. Yuzuru has it all already at 17. He could be the big favorite to win Sochi next year. I'd love to see Plushenko, Hanyu, and Dai battling it out for world and olympic golds. these 3 are in a class of their own. forgive me for ignoring Chan - I just can't stand his skating and his "win" at worlds last year.
 

gmyers

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Hanyu may establish new levels of skating never before seen in men's singles. Breaking the record in the sp may be just the start of a possible revolution that really does establish new boundaries.
 

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
I wouldnt have thought it possible before this season but we could definitely see a Japanese 1-2 in either order at Worlds. Which would be great for sport, exactly what the dieing mens division needs especialy after the embarassment of last years Worlds and GP final judging.
 
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