Junior World Championship 2009
FS
Russian Eurosport
… A most curious ritual of going onto the ice, this respectful handshake. The Japanese are special about every single thing. Let’s see whether he’s going to be special in his skating too. Yadzuru Nanyu… Hanyu, I apologise! Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody… Ok, go! (Yuzu falls off a tilted 3A) Ouch, it’s such a shame! That was another attempt at 3A. (Yuzu lands his 3F3T combo) Great, just great! 3F3T, with grace and ease! He rotates fast, this smallish and thin boy, who, in spite of looking quite delicate, must be quite strong. (Yuzu jumps 3Lz) There he goes, he landed it. (Yuzu does his sit spin) Keep it, keep it centred, there’s a good boy! He was off-centre at first, there you can see those loops… wow, this young man’s flexibility is great. He isn’t even a young man, he’s just a boy, he turned 14 just over two months ago, on December 7th. He’s one of the youngest participants of this Junior World Championship. Wow, how easily he changes his edge in the spin, just look at that, how easily he changes positions in his spins, that’s just staggering, oh, a Bielmann, a tribute to Evgeny Plushenko, who had a fantastic flexibility when he was of the same age - at this age Plushenko was a star already, and one of his signature elements was the Bielmann spin, which very few men can do. (Yuzu meanwhile lands 3Lz2T) Great, just fantastic! (Yuzu does his Ina Bauer) And that’s a tribute to Shizuka Arakawa! Can you remember the way she nearly skated along all of the skating rink (in that position) in Salt Lake City and won the Olympic gold? (Yuzu falls at the end of his 2A3T combo) Urgh, what a shame! But his skating looked a bit reckless, he lacked a bit of concentration, because his 2A was a success and the exit was good, he just needed to be more careful about his second jump, perhaps, make it safer.
(Yuzu finishes his program) Brilliant, just brilliant! You remember Nobunari Oda, this Japanese boy’s compatriot, emerging a few years ago? Nobunari Oda debuted with a wonderful short program to the Marriage of Figaro back then? He literally sang back then, he was so carried away by his music, and his skate was great throughout. This was another quite inspired skate by a Japanese skater. Yuzuru Hanyu’s skate was so fast, light, delicate and graceful, and technically precise at that - it’s nearly unfathomable. The most wonderful thing is this: while one watches junior championships, one counts elements, jumps, rotations, positions, and you look carefully because you have to make out the skater’s technical potential. In this case, I can honestly confess that I forgot all those jumps and spins, because everything was executed so wonderfully… so charmingly. Rachmaninov’s music suits this athlete to a t. It was a bit of a disappointment to have that fall on the second jump of the combination – and the combinations aren’t too bad for a 14-year old skater, all having a triple jump in them. I think it would be interesting to see the rivalry between Yuzuru Hanyu and our Artur Gachinsky, because they skate in a somewhat similar style and Artur Gachinsky has had 3A under his belt for a few years – that’s what Yuzuru Hanyu tried to do at the start of his program, but he didn’t quite make it, Artus is Mishin’s student, is technically proficient and can jump 3A. This year, Artur Gachinsky was 8thin the Junior Grand Prix. Unfortunately, he isn’t competing here… So let’s see, he (Yuzuru) gets 103.59, and he gets 2 point of deductions. Nevertheless, it was his best result, his new personal record, 161.77 and he’s currently third. But for now, I think he’s the main revelation of the Junior Championship so far. I think we should remember (this name) - Yuzuru Hanyu.
