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*machine translation, inaccuracies exist* 2026.07.19 Source: https://deepedgeplus.kyodonews.jp/feature/patrick-chan2/ (paid) Reflecting on his rivalry with Yuzuru Hanyu, says he loves Japan and hopes to pass on his experience to younger figure skaters. Patrick Chan, who won the men's figure skating world championships three times in a row from 2011 to 2013, gave an interview to Kyodo News in Vancouver in June. Chan has roots in Hong Kong, and an exhibition showcasing the achievements of Chinese-Canadian athletes held in Vancouver in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup included a display reviewing his accomplishments. Chan made his Olympic debut at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he finished in 5th place. At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where he was a gold medal contender, he was beaten by Yuzuru Hanyu and won the silver medal. "It took me several years to accept the disappointing result, but now I am truly happy with the silver medal," he recalled. This is the second of two parts.

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist* 2026.07.12 Source: https://deepedgeplus.kyodonews.jp/feature/patrick-chan1/ (paid) A journey of self-discovery throughout his career: Western stereotypes about Asians became his driving force. Patrick Chan, who won the men's figure skating world championships three times in a row from 2011 to 2013, gave an interview to Kyodo News in Vancouver in June. Chan has roots in Hong Kong, and an exhibition showcasing the achievements of Chinese-Canadian athletes, held in Vancouver in conjunction with the FIFA World Cup, included a display reviewing his accomplishments. Chan made his Olympic debut at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he finished in 5th place. At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, where he was a gold medal contender, he was beaten by Yuzuru Hanyu and won the silver medal. "I am truly honored to be a part of this exhibition, and I am very grateful to be able to celebrate everyone's great achievements together," he said. This is the first of two parts.

Hiya, just popping in to share these books that touch on Yuzu's move to Toronto. You can read more here from Shirota's book, who helped make the arrangements: Also, more about his days with Brian from the "Team Brian" series. Unfortunately I don't have the first book which should touch more on the move. And one more book from a journalist who had covered Yuzu a long time before. In Chapter 5, it seems that Nanami was the one who first brought up the idea of training overseas. Yuzu had gone abroad before to study choreography with Russian coaches in 2011. Whether Nanami was thinking of something temporary like that, or if she meant a permanent move, that I don't know.

I didn't know the scandal of Davis/White's victory and just Googled it. How come Canada was the victim again, like in 2002? I really miss the era (pre-2016, or at least before 2018) when scores actually made sense, or at least weren’t wildly inconsistent. I also miss when commentators would genuinely appreciate the complexity of the transitions, be amazed by the size of the jumps, and how well the skaters maintained their flow before and after jumps. If commentators can recognize these nuances, there’s no reason judges couldn’t. I have one last question. Sorry that you are almost like my ChatGPT. In the video above, Brian describes how Yuzu first approached him—a mysterious phone call inviting him to a hotel room to meet someone he had never expected beforehand --- Yuzuru Hanyu. I'm really curious: who arranged this initial meeting for Yuzu? Based on the video, it seems Yuzu chose Brian Orser because of Javi. Javi had moved to Toronto a year before Yuzu, but how did Yuzu know Javi would thrive there based on just 5 competitions after the move? It's interesting that he didn't opt to train with Patrick, and after all, Javi wasn't the only skater attempting a 4S at that time. Having studied abroad myself at 22, I remember how anxious and uncertain that transition was. I was lucky to have a professor who encouraged and guided me through the process of researching and applying to schools. Without that support, I doubt I could have navigated everything on my own. It looks like he studied other skaters and coaches around the world and made the decision by himself. Amazing! Moreover, how did he communicate his decision to leave his former coach—the coach who had helped him achieve a World Bronze medal? It must have been incredibly difficult at just 17. Changing coaches is rarely easy. When Evgenia switched to Toronto, Eteri publicly criticized both her and Brian for months. When Boyang tried to move to TCC, his coach's son even called him a "traitor." The transition faced long delays, and the pandemic pushed it back further, so Boyang didn’t really make the move to Canada until 2022—after his prime had already passed. The whole process seems so complicated and emotionally charged, especially for such young athletes. I have a lot of admiration for those who manage these transitions so bravely.

A Chinese fan created an entire website detailing Yuzu's career. Something like Wiki but more interactive and with cool graphics. Available in Japanese, English and Chinese too. What an effort! It's so nice to have a database like this. https://yuzuru1207.com/

*Machine translation, inaccuracies exist* Source: https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/04/26/articles/K20120426003120830.html Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260720014221/https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/04/26/articles/K20120426003120830.html Hanyu to train under Kim Yuna's former coach in Toronto. Yuzuru Hanyu (17, Tohoku High School), who won the bronze medal in the men's event at the World Figure Skating Championships, will now be coached by Canadian Brian Orser (50), the former coach of Vancouver Olympic gold medalist Kim Yuna (South Korea). On the 25th, figure skating director Hidehito Ito said, "He wants to go abroad more, take on a wider range of challenges, and improve his level." Hanyu's coach-student relationship with Nanami Abe has already been dissolved. Going forward, he will receive instruction in Toronto, Canada, where Orser is based.

[2026.07.19] ***Machine translation, inaccuracies exist*** Source: https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2026/07/20/annexz/20260720b00079000008000c.html Yuzuru Hanyu, 4 Years as a Professional (2) "It's only natural that I'm better than an amateur." The athletic pride he continues to hold (Published July 20, 2026) Four years have passed since Yuzuru Hanyu (31), the two-time Olympic champion in men's figure skating, turned professional on July 19. In an online interview with Sponichi, he looked back on these past four years while outlining his vision for what comes next. Even while taking a maintenance period over the past year, he successfully completed both the reconstruction charity ice show notte stellata and REALIVE, a performance that condensed the path he has traveled. He has already announced the production of the fourth ICE STORY and has begun his fifth year as a professional, continuing to deepen his work. In this second installment, he speaks about his own philosophy of what it means to be a professional, and about his philosophy as a producer.

The +5/-5 system is much more open to manipulation than the +3/-3 system, so older results are more reliable. This doesn't mean they can't be manipulated—Sotnikova's and Davis/White's victories in Sochi are proof of that—but there's a big difference between the two systems. I'll give you an example with a 4T. From the 2010-11 to the 2014-15 season: BV 10.30, points earned with GOE +3 13.30, with GOE -3 7.30 From the 2015-16 to the 2017-18 season: BV 10.30, points earned with GOE +3 13.30, with GOE -3 6.30 (the negative GOE for quadruples was increased from -3.00 to -4.00) From the 2018-19 season: BV 9.50, points earned with GOE +5 13.75, with GOE 5 4.75 This means that the fixed part, the one the judges cannot control (unless the tachnical panel starts making rotation calls based on how much they like the skater), gives fewer points, and the part decided by the judges has grown dramatically in both positive evaluations than in the negative ones. We can make a comparison of this kind for all the jumps. The new system is more manipulable. As for the Gailhaguet episode, I've never found any newspaper articles confirming it. I believe it really happened, but we have no proof.

To Martina: Thanks for the explanation. Score manipulation or the incompetence of judges not only affects a few titles or the color of a few medals, invalidates Nathan's world records or streak of wins, but also affects the credibility of Yuzu's titles or records. The last thing upsets me the most. If the score cannot properly reflect the level of a performance, then the competition means nothing. It ruins skaters' efforts and makes the rivalry nonsense. I heard from some Chinese fans that the French Fed chair met the JSF chair at the airport after GPF 2019, and asked why JSF didn't speak up for their skater about the scoring. Is it true? I couldn't find the origin of this. I really hope someone could have spoken up for Yuzu like Katarina Witt spoke up for Yuna publicly in Sochi 2014 that there should have been a bigger difference between the PCSs of Yuna and Adelina. When Adelina's FS scores were announced, the commentators were all surprised, including Kurt Browning. Johnny Weir said it is very very generous. Of course, Russia cannot control the US media. Has any commentator or media questioned Nathan's PCS?

Thank you to the fan artists for the plethora of dedications to celebrate 4th anniversary of Yuzu's statement of Determination

Generally, the most powerful federations are the Russian and the US. Another federation that's very active behind the scenes is the French one. Partly, it's a matter of political alignment: the Russian federation can count not only on the favorable votes of Russian judges, but also those of Belarusian, Georgian, and so on. And with so many judges voting a certain way, it's harder to see that the votes are odd. The US federation relies on the favorable votes of Mexican judges and, in many cases, those of Canadian and Japanese judges, depending on the skaters in question. The Italian and Israeli federations seem to operate differently depending on the competition, but they certainly seek strong allies. There may be actual agreements, but also more subtle influences. I've read judges state that when a judge is inexperienced, he tends to imitate what more experienced judges do, and from there, it's not far to being influenced. Then there's the matter of reputation. When a skater is touted as a great champion, judges tend to raise their scores. How come this didn't happen in the last part of Yuzu's career? Because the US federation, aided by the press, repeatedly emphasized that Yuzu was old, no longer in peak condition, that his routines had become repetitive... A couple of Yuzu mistakes, and the fact that he was no longer the strongest became common belief. And the Japanese federation sabotaged him in turn because its directors never liked him. After Sochi, they only had Yuzu, so they were more or less fair, but when Uno became strong, they saw an opportunity to surpass Yuzu and began sabotaging him, as we clearly saw at the National Championships. There's also another issue: if a skater has very difficult technical content, judges tend to raise his scores. Among the men, this means that those who perform 4Lz or 4F have higher GOEs and PCSs than they deserve, while the other quadruples are considered easy. Zagitova did all her jumps in the second half of her programs, Shcherbakova and Trusova had quadruples, and Kostornaya the 3A (Kihira also had 3A, but her federation never loved her, and anyway, the JSF means nothing compared to the Russian federation). Yes, we can consider ourselves lucky that Patrick wasn't Russian or American, although Yuzu might have won anyway. They hadn't yet realized Yuzu was so strong, so perhaps they wouldn't have used enough manipulation.

No, youre right. He broke the Zayak rule in that program. In the previous phrase I wrote "free skate", I forgot to repeat the detail in the other phrase. The Zayak rule works a little differently in SP and FS. It's rarer for the rule to be broken in SP, and the chances of changing a layout are lower, so at Skate Canada, Yuzu didn't realize the problem until he saw the score. With the new layout, the 4T in combination, he eliminated this risk, but I'm sure that if he hadn't changed the layout, he wouldn't have made that kind of mistake again. At Skate Canada, he should have left the 3Lz alone. He would have had a slightly negative GOE, but it would have been entered as a triple jump, and the toe loop would have been called as a 2T + COMBO. He would have gotten roughly 6 more points.

It's online! Go watch it!

Happy 4th Proversary!

We will all walk forward together as we enter the 5th year of pro skating

[NEWS]

Inspired by Prequel We are all hoping to see the next chapter soon

[2026.07.19] ***Machine translation, inaccuracies exist*** Source: https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2026/07/19/annexz/20260719b00079000019000c.html [Yuzuru Hanyu: 4th Anniversary as a Professional (1)] "So this is how it turned out": The view revealed by building up the present moment July 19, 2026 00:00 (Paid/Premium Article) On the 19th, Yuzuru Hanyu (31)—a two-time Olympic champion in men's figure skating—marked the fourth anniversary of his transition to the professional ranks. In an online interview with Sponichi, he looked back on these past four years and outlined his blueprint for the future. Over the last year, despite incorporating periods for physical maintenance, he successfully completed the disaster recovery-themed ice show "notte stellata" and "REALIVE," a production that encapsulated his career trajectory. With the production of ICE STORY 4th already announced, he has embarked on a fifth year of further artistic deepening.