"Hanyu continues to cement his GOAT status." Jackie Wong's take on Yuzuru's Worlds 2017 FS:
It definitely elevates his status and allows him to continue to make the case for himself as the greatest. In an era when the difficulty level of men's skating is at an unbelievably high level, if he can sustain this through the next season and win his second Olympic gold, we can give him the GOAT medal. http://www.rockerskating.com/news/2017/4/2/opining-on-2017-worlds-part-2-hanyu-the-goat-returns
Of course some believe he already is (Simon Reed, Kurt Browning -- gentlemen who have seen a lot of figure skating -- have openly said so). For me, I'll be most happy if Yuzuru continues on making his case.
Yes, I agree that a second OGM with the kind of record that Yuzuru has deserves automatic GOAT status, but should it be necessary? He has as of today:
1. Won an OGM, with a WR in the short program
2. Broke the WRs 11 times (most of them he's own) and more importantly he did so with
extremely high quality skates, the scoring changes all the time (with bonuses, more quads that are sometimes only rotated, some questionable PCS-scoring depending on who you ask) but seeing the protocol for the Chopin sp at GPF15 you understand already that it is an out-of-this-world skate. He and Patrick are also the only ones to break the 100-barrier with one quad. It shouldn't be a surprise that it is the skaters with the greatest PCS-abilities, skating skills and so on who are the only ones to do this.*
3. Two gold World Medals (one with a WR), two silvers and one bronze, the last one he got in quite a competitive(or was it?) field at the age of 17, with a skate that touched so many people and is apparently still sometimes mentioned by commentators when someone else skates to the music
4. 4-time National champion in a field that was
really competitive in the beginning, still is now that Uno has improved
5. He has pushed the sport, refusing to stand still. He has also been humble enough and great enough to improve across the board, he has basically always had great skating skills but when he debuted his Chopin 1.0 he displayed remarkable ability.
6. OGM is one event at one time, and I think looking at Yuzuru's competitive record and how consistently he is in the top tells a story of how
great he is
http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs_cr_00010967.htm. Similiar to the case of Yuna, she's not a skater I've followed particularly closely but the fact that she never ended up off the podium is remarkable and evident of her great skill. Not saying that a great skater can't have an up-and-down record especially in the beginning, just that when one reaches their peak (or seems to) it can be evident of if one is perhaps the
greatest of all time (GOAT)
7. Also sometimes I think there is a difference between being the
greatest skater and
greatest athlete. The greatest skater will at the top of their ability with some consistency showcase the very best skating, while the greatest athlete will be the best at performing under pressure and peaking at the right time (of course also with great skill). Both include some luck. Of course many think that one needs to be both to be GOAT.
EDIT + 8. If he wins 4CC at some point, he will be the
only man to win all of the active big competitions
OGM is about luck to some extent, sometimes also at big championships the judges seem (to me at least) to equal the top competitors a bit. I have no data about this or anything though, it is just my opinion so don't take it too seriously
*2. Everyone doing multiple quads are really impressive especially right now, don't misunderstand me, but the sport will continue to evolve and now that quads are able to be analyzed and taught better we will se a lot more of them (IMO). Also I hope that the tech part of PCS-skills will evolve as well. Happy that Jason Brown got great score heard that it was a good skate PCS-wise? (I haven't seen it yet). My hopes is that the PCS-requirements won't be forgotten cause there is nothing greater than an all-round tech-difficult skate (again in my opinion). I don't blame any skater for focusing on quads, but the judges should be a bit harsher across the board.
