- Joined
- Feb 25, 2014
The SP only has three jump passes, so there is no room for error. A bad SP really hurts a skater's chance to medal. That's why in general he takes less risk in the SP than in the LP. He didn't include the 4S in the SP last seaosn because his 4S was not a consistent jump. He insisted on including the 4S in the LP for the past 3 seasons because he knew he must master the 4S if he wants to have at least 3 quads in the LP and 2 quads in the SP by the next Olympics. That's also the reason why his past LP performances often appeared to be worse than his SP performances, because he included his inconsistent jumps in the LP, but not in the SP. His struggle with 3lz-3t last season was really not part of his plan. I doubt his intention was to challenge the 3lz-3t. But since his 4S was not consistent to be included in the SP, he was stuck with 3lz-3t last season. His ultimate goal is 2 quads in the SP. So he won't need 3Lz for his SP in the future and there is no reason to get stuck on the 3lz-3t if the 3lz-3t doesn't work in the SP any more. He really doesn't insistent on jumps he doesn't need. His 4S has become consistent this season, so he is willing to add 4S to his SP. His new SP layout in fact is less risky than his old layout because he got rid of both of 4t in the 2nd half and the 3lz-3t. If he doesn't have any inconsistent jumps in his program layouts, it is very likely for him to go clean or close to clean. (He still gives subpar performances in the GPs, especially the first GP. That seems to be his pattern. This year is an exception. His 2nd GP is a significant improvement from the first. I think his defeat at Skate Canada motivated him more.) It took Hanyu 3 seasons to get his 4t consistent and another 3 seasons to get his 4S consistent. If he didn't have as many health issues last season, perhaps his 4S would've been more consistent last season. I just hope he can get his 4Lo consistent in less time (3 seasons is too long). I think it is very possible since he is physically and mentally much more mature now.
I think many people underestimated Hanyu's talent. He is a prodigy and once in a life time talent. I thought this is so obvious even a few years ago, when he was just a teenager. (IMO, we probably won't see another talent like him for many, many years. I'm actually suprised there are people who don't see Hanyu as an extremely rare talent. ) His progress really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. I would be more shocked if he progressed at a slower rate. In fact, he is behind his own schedule due to the health issues he had last season.
Apparently the 4Lo has something like an 80% success rate in practice as of late. Not the same as competition but still...
Don't jinx it, he might start landing them at 100% in competitions soon 

