Hanyu a "bit" nervous in SP at GPF

[gsk8]

Excerpt: Hanyu has twice improved the highest score for the Men’s Short Program this year, and skating on his birthday, he was in the excellent position to give himself a memorable present in the SP at the GPF. Unfortunately, it was not to be. The 18-year-old had to fight for the landing of his opening quad toe loop, and later fell on an underrotated triple toe loop at the end of a triple Lutz.

“This was the first time I made a mistake in my short program (in the Grand Prix) because I was a bit nervous,” said the World Junior bronze medalist.

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[dorispulaski]

I love Hanyu's SP! It was one of the two top highlights for me at Skate America.

I hope he skates it with confidence at Japanese Nationals later this month. And I hope he gets over his illness in time to train properly.

[skatinginbc]

Of course, he would be nervous just to keep up with his two consecutive record-breaking performances. “I was trying to beat my own (points) record,” the skater admitted. Huh? Did I hear right? His goal was to beat his own record? That high of an expectation would make him even more nervous, I think. Beating the point record is not something he alone has the control. Skating one's best, on the other hand, is. If I were him, my goal would be "skating my best" and let the judges decide the points. I think it would be less stressful.

[starryxskies]

Skaters usually try to beat their own scores during season, to try to improve on their seasons best. So I think it's normal that he wants to beat his own score. It just so happens that his seasons best is also the current world record, which gives added pressure. But I do agree, he should put his focus on skating his best and let that run its course with the points.

It still kills me that he's so young. He already handles pressure pretty darn well considering he hasn't made his senior debut for that long. I'm really interested to see if he'll be able to handle the Olympic pressure. Most first timers tend to have a bit of a meltdown.

[pitterpatter]

I'm really really hoping he wins either Japanese Nationals or Worlds this year. Most (if not all) of us here acknowledge his talent and recognize him as a contender, but he hasn't actually won any major titles, especially when compared to Patrick and Dai. I think going into the Olympics as the Japanese or World champion would give him a bit more cred and add legitimacy to the hype, because right now he's still a question mark/untested for some people. Not sure if it's in his best interests to win both though, since it would set him up as the overall front-runner and lead to added pressure.

[FTnoona]

I'm really really hoping he wins either Japanese Nationals or Worlds this year. Most (if not all) of us here acknowledge his talent and recognize him as a contender, but he hasn't actually won any major titles, especially when compared to Patrick and Dai. I think going into the Olympics as the Japanese or World champion would give him a bit more cred and add legitimacy to the hype, because right now he's still a question mark/untested for some people. Not sure if it's in his best interests to win both though, since it would set him up as the overall front-runner and lead to added pressure.

It's only his 3rd season on the senior grand prix though. Should there be such a big rush for him to win major titles? I think he's got decent credentials under him, with the bronze at '12 worlds and the silver at '12 GPF. Agewise, he's got another olympics in him. Patrick has been on seniors since '06 and Dai since '02. Both won their world titles after Vancouver but had podium finishes prior and were still considered as contenders.

It will be interesting to see how well he can actually handle the pressure. We've seen him crack once already at SA.
I would love to see him skate his SP well at worlds. He seems to have a lot of fun with it.

[luckykid]

“This was the first time I made a mistake in my short program (in the Grand Prix) because I was a bit nervous,” said the World Junior bronze medalist.

Huh Hanyu is the 2010 world junior champion, 2012 world bronze medalist.