Yuzuru Hanyu: 2017-2018

[DorYiu]

https://twitter.com/BluecosmosH/status/989637761702412289 right away, Yuzu was offered this costume-themed Bicycle.

I have to say that a very fashionable bike, the colour combination is superb, I bet some fan who could ride a bike would wanted one. :luv17:

 

[Farnaz]

I have to say that a very fashionable bike, the colour combination is superb, I bet some fan who could ride a bike would wanted one. :luv17:

I don't like it, looks childish to me. What about this? https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/news/2018/january/2019_suzuki_gsx1400r_hayabusa
Goes well with Chopin costume

 

[hanyuyuzuru1207]

He once said he wanted to try 4A in ice shows after his retirement, so he might try quint in ice shows someday [emoji3]

About Beijing Olympics, I feel people ask him the same question like a greeting for the coming years and I hope he will not take it very seriously (and the same goes to us, haha).

If he lands quint he would want to land it in competitions. His personality haaha [emoji23][emoji23]

 

[DorYiu]

I don't like it, looks childish to me. What about this? https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/news/2018/january/2019_suzuki_gsx1400r_hayabusa
Goes well with Chopin costume

Oh really? I quite like it, maybe is the purple, often used in kids bike.
The motorbike looks cool, if the blue is a bit softer, it will be prefect.

 

[Interspectator]

https://twitter.com/Fantasy_on_Ice/status/989791998180605953 Here's the news we've been waiting for! Yuzu is in Fantasy on Ice in Makuhari and Kanazawa

 

[hanyuyuzuru1207]

Faoi!!!!!!![emoji813][emoji813][emoji813][emoji813][emoji813][emoji813][emoji813] Yay Yuzu is in 2!!!!!

 

[Interspectator]

I'm desperately hoping for a new EX. Please, please, please??

 

[yude]

Here are the artists for Makuhari and Kanazawa of FaOI, pretty good singers and a violinist. I'm not sure if Yuzuru will collaborate with them though (I hope so!). May. J sings "Let it go" in Japanese so perhaps someone will skate in it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3WPDQ-OvJo)

http://www.fantasy-on-ice.com/artists.html

 

[hanyuyuzuru1207]

New program at Faoi please!!!

 

[xibsuarz]

@yude I am gonna be in kobe in june 17 is there a way I can go to the p and g talk show? Or if he is going to FAOI how can foreign fans buy tickets?

I am going to butt in since last year I managed to get tickets for FaOI Kobe if you don’t have any friends in Japan to help you there are agencies that will get into the lottery for you, and the one I used doesn’t charge you anything if you don't get lucky in the lottery. It’s called Japan Concert Tickets too bad Yuzu won’t be there but if you still want to go getting tickets might probably be easier now

 

[Interspectator]

https://twitter.com/ailes_de_Yuzu/status/989823723711619072 A short video of the Ice Rink Sendai Photography Exhibition that opened today. Photos are by Noto Suano.

https://twitter.com/BluecosmosH/status/989828412154900480 according to this, all the online sales of parade T-shirts have sold out, the remaining 1800 are now being sold online at Lawson, but once those are sold, all of them will have sold out! :thumbsup:

 

[Henni147]

How much harder is a 5T compared to 4A though? I’m just judging based on how a lot of skaters can do quads but still struggle on or choose to leave out the 3A ( like Trusova? I understand that she doesn’t do the 3A right?) so the 5T with the toe pick to assist the take off might be relatively ‘easier’ step to go up??

I think, it depends a lot on the skater and his technique. Yuzu probably has the most solid jumping axis in the men's field, which helps him to control the forward take-off in the air better than everyone else. At the same time this rock solid axis causes him problems with the Lutz jump, which requires a moving axis in the air (you can see how awkwardly Yuzu twists his left ankle at the Lutz take-off to fix his rotation axis).
Nathan has a moving axis, which supports his 4Lz very well but makes his 3A instable. That's why I don't think, we'll see any 4A from Nathan in the near future.
Trusova is pracising the triple Axel already, but struggles with the forward take-off just like the other Russian ladies. Don't know exactly why tbh.

Back to Yuzu: I think a 5T would be harder for him than the 4A because of the right-foot take-off. You have to consider that a quintuple jump puts about 10-11 times of your body weight on your foot and we're talking about Yuzu's injured right foot. Even a clean quint would be really painful (not to mention a fall). I think he would do better with a 5S which has a left-foot take-off, but in the end it's up to him what he wants to do.

#Sidenote: Yuzu's 4S with spread eagle in and out looks so smooth and effortless like a triple, especially the one he did in his Chopin SP at ACI '17 and in PyeongChang. I think his Salchow has the potential for a quintuple. But he needs a better success rate and more stability on his quad first.

 

[Imov]

https://twitter.com/Fantasy_on_Ice/status/989791998180605953 Here's the news we've been waiting for! Yuzu is in Fantasy on Ice in Makuhari and Kanazawa

Me and my bad timing. My trip is on the june 17th

@yude Would japan concert tickets help with nhk or worlds saitama too?

https://twitter.com/axelsandwich/status/989783007157456896
I can relate to yuzu cannot swim and ride a bike lol.

 

[Interspectator]

https://twitter.com/msmf40239/status/989851814081150976?s=21 How Yaginuma sempai got Yuzu’s attention during the parade. A funny tv clip.

 

[khtmyzr]

Thank you!

At the same time this rock solid axis causes him problems with the Lutz jump, which requires a moving axis in the air (you can see how awkwardly Yuzu twists his left ankle at the Lutz take-off to fix his rotation axis).

Can you explain more about how Lutz requires a moving axis? I'd like to think I've been doing my research but most of the jump explanations I read/watch focus on the edge, take off and landing... the only thing I know about axis is that a shift in axis during jumps makes the landing harder or may lead to a fall. How does a moving axis work? and does it work similarly for a Flip (since I presume the only difference between the two is the take-off edge)? Is that also why Yuzu's "not very good" at the Flips (according to Brian)?
And also, I can't tell how his left ankle is twisted awkwardly... it doesn't seem different from, say, Boyang's or Nathan's to my untrained eyes. Do you mind giving pointers for that (like which part to take notice and etc.)?

Nathan has a moving axis, which supports his 4Lz very well but makes his 3A instable.

In that case, would this mean Boyang is the best among the three in terms of axis control (not sure how to call it)? Because I understand that both his 4Lz and 3A are good, how does it work for him?

Back to Yuzu and the 5T: I think it will be harder for him than the 4A because of the right-foot take-off. You have to consider that a quintuple jump puts about 10-11 times of your body weight on your foot and we're talking about Yuzu's injured right foot. Even a clean quint would be really painful (not to mention a fall). I think he would do better with a 5S which has a left-foot take-off, but in the end it's up to him what he wants to do.

If, hypothetically, his ankle is healed and he is able to land the 4A this season already, would you say the chance is closer to possible or impossible for a quint (toe or sal) to appear the season after(if he continues)? between the "level up" (for a lack of better term) from 4Lz to 4A and from 4A to 4T/4S which one would theoretically take more time?

#Sidenote: Yuzu's 4S with spread eagle in and out looks so smooth and effortless like a triple, especially the one he did in his Chopin SP at ACI '17 and in PyeongChang. I think his Salchow has the potential for a quintuple. But he needs a better success rate and more stability on his quad first.

His 4S indeed looks very smooth! But I honestly thought his 4T is the more stable one... I'm a new fan but from backlogging I notice that he used to struggle with the 4S for one whole season so that led to my impression of 4T being the better jump.

I'm sorry for asking so much, it might be a pain for you to answer all these questions. I don't mind if you simply just direct me to some other sources to read I want to know more about the technicalities. It's quite fun to learn these things. And again, thank you!

 

[khtmyzr]

https://twitter.com/msmf40239/status/989851814081150976?s=21 How Yaginuma sempai got Yuzu’s attention during the parade. A funny tv clip.

His eyesight is so good hahaha

I went and look up who Yaginuma-senpai is and woahhh she is 45?!??!! :shocked: she's the short haired one right? I thought she'd be in her 30s!

 

[Henni147]

Can you explain more about how Lutz requires a moving axis? [...] and does it work similarly for a Flip (since I presume the only difference between the two is the take-off edge)?
[...] In that case, would this mean Boyang is the best among the three in terms of axis control (not sure how to call it)? Because I understand that both his 4Lz and 3A are good, how does it work for him?

I tried to demonstrate Yuzu's axis problem with the Lutz here:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Henni147/status/989866483479203840

As you can see in the pictures, Nathan has a very clean left outside edge and he leans his full body to the left as well (naturally along the edge).
Yuzu enforces a left outside edge by twisting his ankle and leaning his body in the opposite direction - the same axis position as in the landing (a right back outside edge with natural leaning to the right). He's also twisting his hips and rising his left shoulder to create momemtum. That can't work, we remember his fall at NHK...
Another problem with Yuzu's Lutz take-off is that he's not using his right toe pick but the full blade to assist the take-off. That's technically wrong and should be counted as an (awkward) 4Lo by the technical panel. Nathan is only using his toe pick. Boyang dito.

The funny thing is: in his record freeskate in Barcelona Yuzu used the same correct take-off technique as Nathan and Boyang. This strange ankle twist comes and goes in Yuzu's Lutz attempts for whatever reason. I don't know why.

The flip jump has a nearly vertical take-off edge, so the flip requires a slight axis movement as well (not as much as the Lutz though). Yuzu could fix this problem quite well, since his current 3F looks very solid to me. His success rate on the flip over the last three years is remarkable.
Yuzu's 4T is decent as well, but sometimes he tends to slight underrotation in his landings, especially in the 4T+3T combo. His 4S might be less successful, but when it works, it's the best quad in the men's field.

Boyang has a brilliant jump technique and great control over his axis. Technically I would say, he's currently the best jumper in the world. In the overall quality including entrances/exits, soft landings and other features Yuzu is still unbeaten imo.

#Sidenote: I'm not a competitive skater and I wouldn't call myself an expert either. These are just my perceptions after watching countless jump slomos and animations from different angles

 

[khtmyzr]

I tried to demonstrate Yuzu's axis problem with the Lutz here:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Henni147/status/989866483479203840

As you can see in the pictures, Nathan has a very clean left outside edge and he leans his full body to the left as well (naturally along the edge).
Yuzu enforces a left outside edge by twisting his ankle and leaning his body in the opposite direction - the same axis position as in the landing (a right back outside edge with natural leaning to the right).

Thank you for the picture and explanation, I think I can kind of see it now. To me it seems like if we were to look from the front, Nathan and Boyang's right foot would be somewhat straight behind their left while Yuzu's right foot is further to the right... like his leg is further to the side(?) thus making him lean more towards the right. Am I correct?

Another problem with Yuzu's Lutz take-off is that he's not using his right toe pick but the full blade to assist the take-off. That's technically wrong and should be counted as an (awkward) 4Lo by the technical panel. Nathan is only using his toe pick. Boyang dito.

This actually surprised me. Someone made a gif of his 4Lz here (from this post, Yuzu's the left one)I do see that Yuzu's blade does come down a bit in comparison to the other two guys that we previously mentioned (Nathan and Boyang), but I thought that is still not considered as a full blade assist. Correct me if I'm wrong but I totally thought a full blade assist would have to be something like Shoma's 4F that they talked about at around 12 min mark in this video

Yuzu's 4T is decent as well, but sometimes he tends to slight underrotation in his landings, especially in the 4T+3T combo.

I think there has been instances where I questioned his 4T UR before as well, but is it safe to assume that the URs are at most 1/4 so it was still within the rules?

Boyang has a brilliant jump technique and great control over his axis. Technically I would say, he's currently the best jumper in the world. In the overall quality including entrances/exits, soft landings and other features Yuzu is still unbeaten imo.

Ahh this makes me wish the rumor/news about Boyang moving to TCC to be true. They can definitely learn from each other and both improve!

#Sidenote: I'm not a competitive skater and I wouldn't call myself an expert either. These are just my perceptions after watching countless jump slomos and animations from different angles

Haha that's fine. I'm sure you'd know more than me who has only entered the figure skating world for a bit over two months I find these talks interesting and think that it does really show what a unique sport fs is! There is no clear line like other sports ie. basketball where you clearly see a basket is made or miss. I like that we can look at the same thing but may notice/see different things and can discuss over it constructively

 

[Henni147]

To me it seems like if we were to look from the front, Nathan and Boyang's right foot would be somewhat straight behind their left while Yuzu's right foot is further to the right... like his leg is further to the side(?) thus making him lean more towards the right. Am I correct?

Aye, Yuzu's right foot should be behind his left but due to his right lean he would fall over before the take-off.

In that picture that I linked above Yuzu's blade doesn't fully touch the ice but he's not only using the toe pick. The blade rolls off. It doesn't happen everytime but it happened with the 4Lz at COR and in his free in PyeongChang, too. The problem is even worse with Shoma's flip and Aliev's, Trusova's and Shcherbakova's Lutz (and many others). I call it 'loopisation'

Yuzu's underrotation with the 4T is nothing serious. 1/4 rotation, but that's fine and it never got a call by the technical panel as far as I remember.

Thank you very much for the animated gifs!!

 

[khtmyzr]

It doesn't happen everytime but it happened with the 4Lz at COR and in his free in PyeongChang, too. Same problem with Shoma's flip and Aliev's, Trusova's and Shcherbakova's Lutz (and many others). I call it 'loopisation'

For the other skaters that you've mentioned, is the 'loopisation' an occasional thing like Yuzu (where he can have days that he does it right or days like NHK) or does it happen habitually?
Oh and I just remember, I think I've seen or heard someone comment about the NHK 4Lz that Yuzu's knee was kind of stiff and wasn't bending enough for the take off?



By the way, if anyone else has any additional information, explanation or good sources to throw at me about this particular topic (that I've been flooding this fan fest with long posts), you are very much welcomed! I'm ready to learn more!