The 2014-15 season was certainly not a mundane one for Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu, who had a spectacular the year before when he claimed not only Olympic gold, but the World and Grand Prix Final title as well. When asked to describe this past season in one word, he said it would be “experience.” [More]
“To aim for Pyeongchang Olympics, there is no doubt that the bar of difficulty needs to be raised,” he noted. “Not only that, I think that our generation of skaters needs to lead the development of the sport.”
“It’s not just about the scores,” Hanyu quickly added. “I consider the score as a bonus when I skate well. I am not doing difficult things in order to get a high score, but to grow myself.”
“I need to land both the Salchow and the toe,” stated the skater, who earned a new personal best in his free skate at the 2014-15 Grand Prix Final. “If I fail to land the quad toe in the beginning, it impacts my layout in the second half, especially the triple-triple. As you can see, I am really bad at the double Axel (in case I need to change the layout), so the key is to nail the quad toe. By putting two types of quads in the program, I can expand my possibility of the program components.”