General Yuzuru Chat

[SitTwizzle]

7 minutes ago, MssSwan said:

I'm personally inclined to pick the first option as what might actually happens, I don't think Yuma will pick NHK he knows that it's risky since we would have three possible scenarios:

1- NHK choose Yuma over Yuzu (which I think maybe the most unlikely option) 

2- NHK pick Yuzu over Yuma 

3- NHK pick both of them (in this case Yuma would have a direct confrontation with Yuzu which is something I think he doesn't want)

Having two options that does not portrait a good scenario for him I don't think Yuma will pick NHK and we also have the fact the he's a younger skater and is not as consolidated as Nathan and Yuzu so trying to pick competitions that both of them are already used to pick wouldn't end up good for him, Yuma picking CoC and Rostelecom would be the best  

I think you have a point.

Plus, China and Russia are great figure skating loving countries, and it would be very good for young Yuma Kagiyama to introduce himself in these countries, and start to be appreciated by their public.

[Melodie]

1 minute ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I personally think CoC is going to be the hot ticket this year, especially if it's being held in the same arena as for the Olys, because people will want that warm up event. Yuma and Nathan might both pick it, unless that's against the rules - I can't remember right now. In any case, Nathan would be silly not to, if it's being held in Beijing. 

 

however, if it's in some other random place, Nathan might not bother. 

 

 

***

 

On another note, did anyone else take note of what Yuzu said about his skating (beyond 4A)? He said "I'm still improving". In fact, he said it twice. He was at pains to make sure that point got across. He's not r******g anytime soon, not until he's good and ready. And I can't help but feel that he was trying to send a message to JSF and the ISU, which is that they'd be fools to write him off just yet. 

I don't think CoC will be held in Beijing? Asian Open is the test event, not CoC

 

As for Yuzu, totally agree with you  

[MssSwan]

3 minutes ago, Melodie said:

Number 3 won't happen. First 3 at Worlds can't meet at any GP. 

Depends Daisuke and Yuzu both ended up at 2012 NHK and both got podium at the worlds that year, so depends it might happens 

[rockstaryuzu]

1 minute ago, Melodie said:

Asian Open is the test event, not CoC

What are the odds Yuzu would go there? If I recall, it's not that big an event. 

[rockstaryuzu]

anyway, one thing is certain: even if these events take place, none of them are likely to have full audiences allowed, which means any tickets going will be in very short supply so trying to get them is going to be a bloodbath. 

[SitTwizzle]

40 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

What are the odds Yuzu would go there? If I recall, it's not that big an event. 

In 2018 and 2019 it was a Challenger Series (cancelled in 2020 of course). So the same World Standing points for the winner as ACI.

And, yes, if ever there are tickets, even if available only for the residents of the town where it is held (which I would understand), it is likely to be a bloodbath to get one.

 

EDIT : As to his choice of an early season event, I agree it is likely to depend more on his geography at the moment, and his wishes for the season/World ranking : doing GP or not, for instance. I tend to think he's not decided yet, and there is the training/physiotherapy question he spoke about, there is the Canada/Japan border question too as already stated, and there's the objective/perceived contamination risk at each of these events, and at this moment I tend to find it quite unpredictable.

[Melodie]

22 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

What are the odds Yuzu would go there? If I recall, it's not that big an event. 

Usually it is not, but since the Asian Open is the test event, IMO it will become a big one  

 

As for Yuzu, a big puzzle, ey? The Asian Open is in mid-Sept so it coincides with the GP series. He might do both, or one of them, or none at all. Wherever the 4A points him to go, I guess 

[lynnidolz]

I know that everyone is anticipating the quad axel..but i also miss his quad lutz and really want to see his trying quad flip because i think his lutz and flip are beautiful also.Any chance he will bring atleast quad lutz back?

[shanshani]

25 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

I personally think CoC is going to be the hot ticket this year, especially if it's being held in the same arena as for the Olys, because people will want that warm up event. Yuma and Nathan might both pick it, unless that's against the rules - I can't remember right now. In any case, Nathan would be silly not to, if it's being held in Beijing. 

 

however, if it's in some other random place, Nathan might not bother. 

 

 

***

 

On another note, did anyone else take note of what Yuzu said about his skating (beyond 4A)? He said "I'm still improving". In fact, he said it twice. He was at pains to make sure that point got across. He's not r******g anytime soon, not until he's good and ready. And I can't help but feel that he was trying to send a message to JSF and the ISU, which is that they'd be fools to write him off just yet. 

It occurs to me that China's quarantine rules are very strict, so I wonder if that's going to be a problem. If the competition is allowed to happen with international competitors, and the quarantine rules aren't lifted by then, then whoever does CoC can't do SkAm or SCI because they would have to start quarantining for CoC two weeks earlier. But then, I can't imagine that the competition would even be open to international competitors under those conditions--this is strict, you-are-staying-two-weeks-in-a-hotel-without-contact-with-anyone-except-the-people-testing-you-for-covid quarantining we're talking about. I don't even think they're letting in people on any other visa but a long term employment visa right now. That would really mess up the Grand Prix structure, so they might even have to hold it somewhere else. I really don't think the ISU will go for the same setup as last year, given how hard they pushed to make world's happen this year and how it's Olympic season. So we could be in for some weirdness.

 

I suppose it's possible that China might make an exception because of Olys and only make athletes do soft quarantining so that they can still train and prepare for the competition. Or maybe people with the vaccine won't have to quarantine any more at that point (but how are all the athletes going to get ahold of vaccines?) I really don't think they'll wind up lifting the quarantine rules entirely though, because China is vaccinating pretty slowly. 

[Yuzurella]

 

Ah, Max... he's truly the president of Planet Hanyu.

 

It's great how he always supports and admires Yuzu and speaks up for him.

[micaelis]

OK, where can or should Yuzu go next season?.  The first thing we must all remember is will he even DO the Grand Prix.  He sat out this last one.  Which ones will he do if he does?  All of the Grand Prix countries will want him because if spectators are being allowed the ones he is in will be guaranteed sellouts.  Remember also that if he is competing next season he will be the men's skating big topic.  Yuzu versus Nathan will take second billing because it's been a century since the Olympics men has had a chance for a threepeat and that will be the narrative in Beijing.  Will Yuzu get his third gold?  The American media, especially NBC, will try to keep the focus on Nathan/Yuzu but beyond the American borders Nathan will be small potatoes.  The one thing that will be involved between him and Yuzu will be the question of whether he can 'steal' the gold from Yuzu.  Nathan will have to deal with the fact that he is likely to be the 'villain' of the piece.  Again, except for the US a Nathan victory will be largely a negative story elsewhere.  Nathan will be skating in an atmosphere more negative for him than anything he has encountered thus far.  It will have a psychological effect and what that effect is we won't know until we see the results of his skating.

 

Incidentally I do think it very possible Yuzu might not do the GP series although what the repercussions for Japan might be should he abstain I don't know about.  Why stay out?  Not simply because of what that Covid situation might be then but also it minimizes his potential for injury.  He might just want to do Japanese nationals and maybe 4CC before heading to Beijing.

 

One other thought: It's going to be difficult for the ISU judges to overscore Nathan and underscore Yuzu since they do not want to be depicted as the reason Yuzu didn't triumph.  We have to remember that Yuzu is the most popular skater out there and most likely the most popular skater ever.  It's not just his fans in Japan.  It's like one commentator said that for Yuzu every competition is a home event.  I know the commentators always talk about the Japanese following Yuzu around the world, but there are legions of non-Japanese doing the same thing.  As a result Yuzu's pursuit of a third gold will be one in which the ISU will not want to be seen as 'raining on his parade'.  The judges next season will be under a microscope.  

[shanshani]

1 hour ago, rockstaryuzu said:

What are the odds Yuzu would go there? If I recall, it's not that big an event. 

Shoma's done it in the past so it's not as though they never see big name skaters. Actually, Japanese skaters show up pretty frequently, for obvious reasons. Being the Olympic test event this year though, I imagine there will be a lot more interest. That might be a reason for Yuzu not to go though--if he's ambivalent about Olys he probably wouldn't want to go to the test event and increase expectations on him to go to Beijing in 2022.

 

I googled again and found that AO is the week before the GP series starts, so it doesn't clash as much with the GP as I originally thought. It's still not great timing, but doable for anyone not doing Skate America. Since it is being held in Beijing though, then similar concerns apply for it as CoC--though China may be especially willing to bend the rules for an Olympic test event.

 

As for whether Yuzu does the Grand Prix at all, I imagine it'll depend on the pandemic and the state of his 4A. If it's not ready by the GP season he might not go--I imagine he will definitely want it to be ready far before then though, and given how close he says he is, it should be? If it is ready, he'll probably appreciate the extra chances the GP gives him to land it. But of course he'll still be careful about not catching covid, so he might also skip if he judges the risk to be too high.

 

(I was about to say that he would be careful about his health, but given his comments about what practicing 4A is doing to his body I'm not so sure that's an accurate statement )

[amylance1215]

22 minutes ago, shanshani said:

Shoma's done it in the past so it's not as though they never see big name skaters. Actually, Japanese skaters show up pretty frequently, for obvious reasons. Being the Olympic test event this year though, I imagine there will be a lot more interest. That might be a reason for Yuzu not to go though--if he's ambivalent about Olys he probably wouldn't want to go to the test event and increase expectations on him to go to Beijing in 2022.

 

I googled again and found that AO is the week before the GP series starts, so it doesn't clash as much with the GP as I originally thought. It's still not great timing, but doable for anyone not doing Skate America. Since it is being held in Beijing though, then similar concerns apply for it as CoC--though China may be especially willing to bend the rules for an Olympic test event.

 

As for whether Yuzu does the Grand Prix at all, I imagine it'll depend on the pandemic and the state of his 4A. If it's not ready by the GP season he might not go--I imagine he will definitely want it to be ready far before then though. If it is ready, he'll probably appreciate the extra chances the GP gives him to land it. But of course he'll still be careful about not catching covid, so he might also skip if he judges the risk to be too high.

 

(I was about to say that he would be careful about his health, but given his comments about what practicing 4A is doing to his body I'm not so sure that's an accurate statement )

Even if he can be quite wild (reckless) in his pursuit of 4A and perfection, he wouldn't risk covid since it also about others' health as well. And as we know Yuzu cares too much about others so if he thinks the risks are too great of him contracting it, he wouldn't go. 

On another note, black pudding Yuzu, yum (oops)

 

[MssSwan]

1 hour ago, micaelis said:

OK, where can or should Yuzu go next season?.  The first thing we must all remember is will he even DO the Grand Prix.  He sat out this last one.  Which ones will he do if he does?  All of the Grand Prix countries will want him because if spectators are being allowed the ones he is in will be guaranteed sellouts.  Remember also that if he is competing next season he will be the men's skating big topic.  Yuzu versus Nathan will take second billing because it's been a century since the Olympics men has had a chance for a threepeat and that will be the narrative in Beijing.  Will Yuzu get his third gold?  The American media, especially NBC, will try to keep the focus on Nathan/Yuzu but beyond the American borders Nathan will be small potatoes.  The one thing that will be involved between him and Yuzu will be the question of whether he can 'steal' the gold from Yuzu.  Nathan will have to deal with the fact that he is likely to be the 'villain' of the piece.  Again, except for the US a Nathan victory will be largely a negative story elsewhere.  Nathan will be skating in an atmosphere more negative for him than anything he has encountered thus far.  It will have a psychological effect and what that effect is we won't know until we see the results of his skating.

 

Incidentally I do think it very possible Yuzu might not do the GP series although what the repercussions for Japan might be should he abstain I don't know about.  Why stay out?  Not simply because of what that Covid situation might be then but also it minimizes his potential for injury.  He might just want to do Japanese nationals and maybe 4CC before heading to Beijing.

 

One other thought: It's going to be difficult for the ISU judges to overscore Nathan and underscore Yuzu since they do not want to be depicted as the reason Yuzu didn't triumph.  We have to remember that Yuzu is the most popular skater out there and most likely the most popular skater ever.  It's not just his fans in Japan.  It's like one commentator said that for Yuzu every competition is a home event.  I know the commentators always talk about the Japanese following Yuzu around the world, but there are legions of non-Japanese doing the same thing.  As a result Yuzu's pursuit of a third gold will be one in which the ISU will not want to be seen as 'raining on his parade'.  The judges next season will be under a microscope.  

Let's be real the USA as whole puts to much pressure on Nathan. Said that we can really look at the big picture and see what may happens in Beijin, first of all Nathan is gonna compete under a lot of pressure being able to constantly win against Yuzuru for this past few years is gonna make the expectations his fans and his country have for him go through the roof and not only that but as you already said ISU is probably not gonna help him much inflating his scores since the Olympics are a global well known event that even non figure skaters fans watch and they probably don't want their judges or the competition to be  marked as "biased" towards one of the athletes. When it comes to scores we can see that the Olympics deliver the most fair ones so it's very rare for an athlete to be overscored or underscored, so when it comes to scores I have a feeling that Nathan knows his scores are inflated so when this next games come he will be extra nervous knowing that he have to deliver a perfect SP and FS to be able to win.

[Paskud]

He can't skip GP Series. He will be out of last group in SP at Olympics this way.