i was not a fan of this ex program, but wow, this one was amazing
and I am just even more broken how it unfolded for him
TBH, I think he bombed at the WC because he skipped the 4CC. I feared this would happen when he decided to skip the 4CC, and he proved me right. It already happened last year. 3 months of no competition means he will compete at WC with a blank mental state. No one has the nerve of steel to handle the kind of pressure he was facing. (I believe it's the same reason Yuna Kim bombed her first two WC because she skipped 4CC too. I wonder if the coaching team gave them the same advice to skip 4CC.) The skating community in USA and Canada doesn't think very highly of 4CC. Their top skaters usually skip 4CC. But skating is not popular in the USA and Canada. None of their skaters needs to face the enormous expectation and pressure top Asian skaters face in their home countries, where they are treated as superstars. Competing at 4CC may result in them not competing at WC with top physical condition, but they would not compete with their weakest mental condition. They may not give a perfect performance, but they won't give their worst performance either.
If Yuzu skips 4CC again next year, I'm afraid he will bomb at the WC again. 4CC is not a competition top Asian skaters should skip unless it's the Olympic year.
I hope no for 4 quads FS. I hope he will focus on getting diffrent approach to jumps and even more muscles weight.
I hope he goes for 4 quads with 4Lo next season and 4 quads with 4Lz in the Olympic season. If he doesn't go for 4 quads next season, he won't have enough time to try 4 quads in the Olympics season. I fear he will lose the Olympics with only 3 quads. No defending champion can win the Olympics by playing it safe. (I hope this defeat will motivate him to do 4 quads. I will be disappointed if he only does 3 next season. I am not the type that wants him to try easier layout so he can be injury free, and thus end up losing the competition.)
In my opinion condition of the ice when he skated played quite a role in his performance. His jumps are going across and relies a lot on clean technique, but despite his takeoff was good on first quad salchow the landing was rough on this ice.
For quad toe it was visible he did not went to jump across but he jumped as hard as he could UP, but not across as always.
Other skaters in the same group used the same ice and skated clean. So if the ice condition did play a role, it only played a very minor role.
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ETA: To clarify, given Yuzu skipped 4CC, the LP performance he gave was the best he could under that kind of pressure. After the SP, the expectation and pressure grew even more. His body was sweating after the warm up and before he performed. His body was reacting to those pressure already. By the time he started his performance, his body and nerves were numb and he could hardly move. That's the natural reaction of his body under extreme pressure. There is nothing more he could do under that circumstance.
What I am upset about is that his skipping 4CC 2 years in a row, which results in losing WC 2 years in a row (and his fans and teams think it is a good decision to skip 4CC). If he did go to 4CC, he may not be in top physical or mental shape either. I don't think he will give flawless performances at WC after competing at 4CC, but he certainly would not give a meltdown performance. The worst LP he could have is similar to the performance he gave at Skate Canada, which is much better than his real performance at WC and can certainly score 200+ given the inflation today. Even if he loses the WC, he would not be seen as a weak competitor who can never deliver at the most important competitions and his WR performances would not be seen as just a fluke. Now he has to suffer the defeat, the loss of confidence, the loss of reputation and start all over again next season. I only pray he doesn't skip 4CC next year.
OMG I haven't laughed this hard all weekend
