Yuzuru Hanyu: 2014-15 Season

[daphenaxa]

Probably not. *wry smile*

A certain number of shows can keep a skater sharp as they keep them audience ready. I would think too long just skating behind close doors could contribute to being 'in your head' and not beneficial. Also, these shows with all the other skaters must be fun. Obviously, a balance is needed to avoid injury and have rest, but I don't think a professional like Yuzu needs to be 'mothered' by fans. Let him know what is best for him. And if it isn't best for him, he'll learn.

Yes I remember an interview with Brian Joubert after his meltdown at 2010 Olympics. He said that before he never did any shows because he was too focused on competition and wanted to only train to be the best. But it didn't benefit him in the end.
By just wanting to win and wanting to be the best at any cost, he lost the sense of why he was doing it, that is the love of skating. Doing shows helped him a lot to come back to love skating again and it also helped him on a personal level because he got to know other skaters in a different atmosphere and make some friends. He also got to see how popular he was and how fans loved him in spite of his placement in competitions.
Of course it is a different situation with Yuzuru, but I think doing shows is good for skaters in general.

 

[ficelle]

Probably not. *wry smile*

A certain number of shows can keep a skater sharp as they keep them audience ready. I would think too long just skating behind close doors could contribute to being 'in your head' and not beneficial. Also, these shows with all the other skaters must be fun. Obviously, a balance is needed to avoid injury and have rest, but I don't think a professional like Yuzu needs to be 'mothered' by fans. Let him know what is best for him. And if it isn't best for him, he'll learn.

:thumbsup: I agree

Still, 19 shows seem pretty reasonable. And aside from the number, I think the point is also the time it takes. This year, Yuzuru will be in Japan for shows from the end of may to mi-july. But before that, he will have one month and a half of training in Toronto, and after, from mi-july to the beginning of the next season he will go for training again for a least two months.
In my opinion, his training schedule won't suffer too much from this summer break...

 

[Eloyse]

I want him to be truly happy about what he does. If he likes to do, say, 50 or 60 shows, then I'll support him. But the current situation is, it seems he wanted to do 16 shows at first, then JSF negotiated with him, and then he compromised and agreed to add 2 more, and then 1 more. And I hope he can take a whole month off to have a proper vacation. He's training now, will do shows, and then will go back to training immediately after the shows, so no real summer vacation:disapp: he was really exhausted at the end of last season. His skating quality deteriorated a lot during wc and even worse in wtt. I saw it, because he skated between ten and Javier, it was even more obvious that he used up his energy (I was reluctant to say this, but his skating was so laboured that I think he deserved to have lower pcs. But it's off topic). This is why I wish for him to properly recuperate and restore energy during the summer.

19 shows is still okay. I hope there's no more.

 

[cruzceleste]

I want him to be truly happy about what he does. If he likes to do, say, 50 or 60 shows, then I'll support him. But the current situation is, it seems he wanted to do 16 shows at first, then JSF negotiated with him, and then he compromised and agreed to add 2 more, and then 1 more. And I hope he can take a whole month off to have a proper vacation.

Your insight on what went on for Yuzuru and JSF to pick up more shows is amazing. Can you tell me how do you know this happened?

He has always done FoI and and DoI. This small shows are one night event only in small arenas and areas ( invitation for the organizer as fars as I can tell) , and is working the same as all years wheree he pick ups a couple of shows.

So no need for conspiracy theories, I'm sure that Yuzuru can put his foot down if he needs to, and the way things have worked this year I think JSF will alow him to do no shows if he didn't wanted to do them.

 

[matmuh]

I want him to be truly happy about what he does. If he likes to do, say, 50 or 60 shows, then I'll support him. But the current situation is, it seems he wanted to do 16 shows at first, then JSF negotiated with him, and then he compromised and agreed to add 2 more, and then 1 more. And I hope he can take a whole month off to have a proper vacation. He's training now, will do shows, and then will go back to training immediately after the shows, so no real summer vacation:disapp: he was really exhausted at the end of last season. His skating quality deteriorated a lot during wc and even worse in wtt. I saw it, because he skated between ten and Javier, it was even more obvious that he used up his energy (I was reluctant to say this, but his skating was so laboured that I think he deserved to have lower pcs. But it's off topic). This is why I wish for him to properly recuperate and restore energy during the summer.

19 shows is still okay. I hope there's no more.

i understand your concern but i think at worlds it wasnt because he wasnt exhausted, its the opposite, because he had 2 months off time, he didnt have enough stamina to go through the programs (i also think it was related to not trusting himself because of lack of training), and i also think his form was better at WTT, staying off ice another month isnt gonna help him, not like i am saying he should join all ice shows, but i think he had enough rest for 2 months

 

[won0066]

I decided to put together a blog post on some of Yuzu's early years. I have collected some cute images of young Yuzu, and hope you enjoy this post.

https://sportymags.wordpress.com/2015/05/09/yuzuru-hanyu-the-early-years/

 

[Meoima]

I decided to put together a blog post on some of Yuzu's early years. I have collected some cute images of young Yuzu, and hope you enjoy this post.
https://sportymags.wordpress.com/2015/05/09/yuzuru-hanyu-the-early-years/

Awwww too much cuteness! Thank you so much.

Anyways Won, I have something to ask. Do you think Yuzuru speed has been better at WTT than at WC? I think at WC he lacked speed in the LP because of not enough training and stamina. But it seems he had gotten better a bit at WTT.

 

[won0066]

Awwww too much cuteness! Thank you so much.

Anyways Won, I have something to ask. Do you think Yuzuru speed has been better at WTT than at WC? I think at WC he lacked speed in the LP because of not enough training and stamina. But it seems he had gotten better a bit at WTT.

Hi Meoima! Good question. Speed is definitely dependant on training and stamina, but it is also affected by overall if you are feeling physically tired or not. When i say tired, I'm not talking about that single day but in general, at that point in the season. Sometimes you don't realize you are physically tired until you stop. Some days you wake up and you just dont have your normal energy, that jump in your step, then the next day you do. No idea exactly why this happens, maybe better nights sleep one night than the other? But when competitive seasons are long, and Yuzu said this one felt like three years...that has an big affect. Battling serious injuries takes a toll, no matter who you are. I dont think Yuzu had time to rest properly so to answer your question yes, i think his speed at WC was a bit off compared to WTT. I think Yuzu just didnt have anything left in the gas tank, so to speak.

One other thing i think played into it....when he was unsuccessful with quad salchow and quad toe, missing those jumps is deflating, so he might have lost a bit of spring in His step and speed because he knew he needed those jumps. We all know how fast he does the math in his head.

The pressure of trying to repeat as world champion was pretty heavy too, even if the pressure was only put on by himself, it still would affect any skater...even a strong mentally focused one like Yuzu.

At WTT, really it was about having fun. No pressure at all since Japan was not a favorite to win. Yuzu set some goals for himself, and I think he was skating with less heavy burden so the result was a little lighter step, if you can understand what I'm trying to say. .

 

[Meoima]

Hi Meoima! Good question. Speed is definitely dependant on training and stamina, but it is also affected by overall if you are feeling physically tired or not. When i say tired, I'm not talking about that single day but in general, at that point in the season. Sometimes you don't realize you are physically tired until you stop. Some days you wake up and you just dont have your normal energy, that jump in your step, then the next day you do. No idea exactly why this happens, maybe better nights sleep one night than the other? But when competitive seasons are long, and Yuzu said this one felt like three years...that has an big affect. Battling serious injuries takes a toll, no matter who you are. I dont think Yuzu had time to rest properly so to answer your question yes, i think his speed at WC was a bit off compared to WTT. I think Yuzu just didnt have anything left in the gas tank, so to speak.

One other thing i think played into it....when he was unsuccessful with quad salchow and quad toe, missing those jumps is deflating, so he might have lost a bit of spring in His step and speed because he knew he needed those jumps. We all know how fast he does the math in his head.

The pressure of trying to repeat as world champion was pretty heavy too, even if the pressure was only put on by himself, it still would affect any skater...even a strong mentally focused one like Yuzu.

At WTT, really it was about having fun. No pressure at all since Japan was not a favorite to win. Yuzu set some goals for himself, and I think he was skating with less heavy burden so the result was a little lighter step, if you can understand what I'm trying to say. .

Thank you Won. I think the same. His speed was definitely better at WTT than at WC. i think not being fully prepared at WC was also a factor in his mind. So that's why for next season he starts training so early. I'm quite positive about next season.

 

[alia jackson]

The surgery in end Dec followed by the ankle injury really put a dampen in his preparation for Worlds this year. I hope there's rest time as well among the shows and training this off-season. Wish him to come back stronger next season

 

[Eloyse]

i understand your concern but i think at worlds it wasnt because he wasnt exhausted, its the opposite, because he had 2 months off time, he didnt have enough stamina to go through the programs (i also think it was related to not trusting himself because of lack of training), and i also think his form was better at WTT, staying off ice another month isnt gonna help him, not like i am saying he should join all ice shows, but i think he had enough rest for 2 months

Okay...what I felt is at wc, he was weak and calm during the official practices, powerful and reasonably fast in sp, very good in the warm up before lp because he landed some huge jumps, but then I don't know what got to him but in the real competition he skated slower than not only Ten and Javier but also a few skaters in the previous groups, and his jumps were not big. He even trembled when he landed some jumps. It was like his whole body radiated tiredness and I believe everyone in the stadium could feel it. He bounced back a lot at gala. But in the lp in wtt, once again I felt his skating was laboured. My feelings can be wrong, who knows. Maybe his tired face gave me that impression, maybe skating right after Han Yan, the fastest and smoothest in that competition, made him appear slow. Anyway I know we have discussed about these things a lot so I'll stop here

 

[Meoima]

Okay...what I felt is at wc, he was weak and calm during the official practices, powerful and reasonably fast in sp, very good in the warm up before lp because he landed some huge jumps, but then I don't know what got to him but in the real competition he skated slower than not only Ten and Javier but also a few skaters in the previous groups, and his jumps were not big. He even trembled when he landed some jumps. It was like his whole body radiated tiredness and I believe everyone in the stadium could feel it. He bounced back a lot at gala. But in the lp in wtt, once again I felt his skating was laboured. My feelings can be wrong, who knows. Maybe his tired face gave me that impression, maybe skating right after Han Yan, the fastest and smoothest in that competition, made him appear slow. Anyway I know we have discussed about these things a lot so I'll stop here

My friend was at GPF and she said Yuzuru was the fastest at GPF, be it SP or LP.

I think the reason he looked tired at WC was because he lacked too much training, and landing huge jumps in warm up might affect his stamina during the real competition. His stamina wasn't there definitely. That's why he has to rebuild it.

SP has always been his strength as his stamina is still enough for SP. But LP is a different story. Too many jumps and his body wasn't ready. He also said in interview that he had to slow down the speed during LP to save energy.

But because of that I think training is best for him now. He said he lacked speed into 3lz3T. That means he needs more time on the ice. Liza did 14 competitions in this years, of course she didn't have quads and so many 3As, but it's possible for him to be always in competition mood.

So, at GPF he was really fast, but he couldn't land the final lutz. I think at WC and WTT, when his stamina wasn't enough, he had to slow down to finish LP.

It's a better strategy at WTT to slow down and save his energy to land all the jumps than use all of his energy in speed. After all he aimed for a clean skate, not a fast skate. It all comes back to stamina issue. At least he didn't crawl on the ice.

 

[Aesthetics]

I don't know which worlds and which wtt did he or she watch. I was at both this year's worlds and wtt and Hanyu was the fastest and smoothest in the final groups of both competitions. At worlds Fernandez was really slow from the beginning--well, he was always slow every time I saw him. I'd say he needs to work on his skating skills A LOT. Han Yan was good at sp, but his lp was terrible, with so many mistakes and no smoothness at all. It looked like he forgot how to skate overnight... Denis Ten was really good. He had the best performance of the night at worlds lp.

 

[daphenaxa]

I don't know which worlds and which wtt did he or she watch. I was at both this year's worlds and wtt and Hanyu was the fastest and smoothest in the final groups of both competitions. At worlds Fernandez was really slow from the beginning--well, he was always slow every time I saw him. I'd say he needs to work on his skating skills A LOT. Han Yan was good at sp, but his lp was terrible, with so many mistakes and no smoothness at all. It looked like he forgot how to skate overnight... Denis Ten was really good. He had the best performance of the night at worlds lp.

ahah good to know!! I thought i was going crazy because I didn't think Yuzuru was slow and laboured! Worlds wasn't his best performance but he didn't appear THAT slow. Maybe just on the spins it was quite noticeable that he was slower than his best. And WTT he definitely wasn't slow and the overall quality of his skating was obviously improved compared to worlds.

 

[cheerknithanson]

Considering that I've been off my laptop from 12:30 this morning to like 5:30 pm today, I'm surprised that this little amount of posts have been posted in this thread.

 

[cruzceleste]

ahah good to know!! I thought i was going crazy because I didn't think Yuzuru was slow and laboured! Worlds wasn't his best performance but he didn't appear THAT slow. Maybe just on the spins it was quite noticeable that he was slower than his best. And WTT he definitely wasn't slow and the overall quality of his skating was obviously improved compared to worlds.

I think worlds have the worts camera angles, and that made most of the programs and skates don´t look as good.

 

[Eloyse]

My friend was at GPF and she said Yuzuru was the fastest at GPF, be it SP .

I agree. I also like his GPF performances best.

As for worlds, wow:shockedur perceptions are so different. I actually think his spins were exceptional.

 

[ahkeekee]

I think worlds have the worts camera angles, and that made most of the programs and skates don´t look as good.

Totally agree!! Especially for the ending spin for yuzu 's poto, the camera totally was everywhere!

 

[Meoima]

I agree. I also like his GPF performances best.
As for worlds, wow:shockedur perceptions are so different. I actually think his spins were exceptional.

I think one reason is that Yuzuru's music was slow and heavy. While Javi and Denis and Han Yan used music that was lighter and less dramatic. And choreography also pay an important part in the perception. Remember Yuzuru's LP is incompleted version. While other guys have fixed their LP details for months.

It's not easy to believe in people's perception, there's this comparison. A tech specialist at Skate Canada 2013 had calculated top skaters speed and Yuzuru and Patrick were around 25km/h = 7m/s (with Patrick was a bit faster). So Yuzuru was right behind just Patrick.

At Skate Canada 2013 Yuzuru had a quite terrible free skate, needless to say much terrible than WC at Shanghai. And Yuzuru has improved a lot since 2013. i think I agree with most people that his speed at Wc and WTT was about the fastest.

 

[bibi1899]

I don't know which worlds and which wtt did he or she watch. I was at both this year's worlds and wtt and Hanyu was the fastest and smoothest in the final groups of both competitions. At worlds Fernandez was really slow from the beginning--well, he was always slow every time I saw him. I'd say he needs to work on his skating skills A LOT. Han Yan was good at sp, but his lp was terrible, with so many mistakes and no smoothness at all. It looked like he forgot how to skate overnight... Denis Ten was really good. He had the best performance of the night at worlds lp.

I was at 2 competitions,too. I was also at GPF.

I agree Yuzu was faster and smother than other competitors. He also had very good ice coverage.Especially in SP, he just like playing piano in his Chopin music. In Lp of WC, he slowed down more in the 2nd half but still better than other skaters.

That's my feeling.