Article from SPUR magazine written by Naoko Utsunomiya.
Translated by me (some parts are omitted):
~Yuzuru Hanyu, Opening A New Door~
At the end of summer, Hanyu was back to days of focusing on training. He also took part in a competition and he won it. It was not a big competition but most importantly, he succeeded in doing the quad loop (t/n. recognised as 1st one in competition history). It was at Autumn Classic held in Montreal, Canada.
The scores were not that good and the content was still lacking. But that is no big deal. Hanyu had a serious injury last season and he could not practise as he wished. His new skate shoes were also causing him to have back pain.
As such, just competing is already something extraordinary. He has, once again, climbed up another level.
After the silver medal at World Championships in April, he was in a lot of pain. Physically and mentally, there were many things he had to endure.
Regarding that period of time, Coach Brain Orser said this. “His feelings were very unstable. What he wanted to do, he could not do smoothly, and he became nervous. We worked to keep him in a good mental state. To avoid all kinds of unrest. That is our job.”
Jeffrey Buttle, choreographer of SP ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, said this. “Because the injury was serious, it was a high hurdle. There were some specific elements that he could not do. So he started to practise other elements. That was the bright spark in a bad situation. He needs to have the 'I can do it’ confidence. I think now is the period to grow that kind of mentality.”
Autumn Classic. There was no need to do it perfectly in any area, for that competition.
Hanyu of media day did not look like he was enduring something.
He looked like a champion. In other words, not any different from usual. No matter what kind of injury he has, he strives to “be himself”. That is definitely something that he is very strong at.
At the practice in Toronto, Hanyu jumped the quad loop many times. ISU judge Nobuhiko Yoshioka saw that and spoke of his surprise.
“I heard that his shoes were not fitting well, and he would not make it in time, and his condition was also very bad. As such, I did not have that much expectations…..”
However, what really happened was something else.
“From an incredibly beautiful eagle, he did a jump that made us think 'Ehh now that was a quad, right???’ The landing also flowed very beautifully and I thought, (he made it look like) a loop can be jumped as a quad this easily. It was really wonderful. I was so impressed.”
Yoshioka was not worried at all about the results at Autumn Classic. And he said these reasons why Hanyu will be alright.
“The quad loop at AC, from the point of Hanyu’s ability, it was not good. Although there was no under-rotation and it was properly landed, his quad loop is not like that.
His free skate was still not quite ready and I think that was due to his injury. He may not have had enough time to skate fully through the programme. The feeling of being a bit tired and having not enough stamina, the problem will be solved as the season progresses.”
[……]
We just need to watch him. We just need to wait.
When creating 'Let’s Go Crazy’ together with Buttle, Hanyu said many times, “Wow, this is the coolest!”
As the season progresses, that day will come……
I can understand if they are just saying his name without cue cards but it's not :noshake:
practices almost starting right? Aaaah the wait is killing me...
eace:
