General Yuzuru Chat

[CaroSkate]

4分鐘前, rockstaryuzu說:

Has our boy become a little obsessed, maybe? I hope he doesn't forget that Nathan's not the only guy out there chasing him. I, for one, think Stephane will take Shoma to the next level where he'll be a truly serious rival for Yuzu. 

 

No wonder Zu was saying after SCI that he wondered if he should change his approach to skating. Come on, Yuzu, studying your rivals is fine but do it with an objective eye. 

I don't think he is only watching Nathan. Yuzu knows so many skaters' routines and even knows about the Russian novice girls. Nathan is only one of his study targets.

[liv]

6 minutes ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Has our boy become a little obsessed, maybe? I hope he doesn't forget that Nathan's not the only guy out there chasing him. I, for one, think Stephane will take Shoma to the next level where he'll be a truly serious rival for Yuzu. 

 

No wonder Zu was saying after SCI that he wondered if he should change his approach to skating. Come on, Yuzu, studying your rivals is fine but do it with an objective eye. 

 

I would never tell anyone how much I was studying my competitors... I wouldn't want anyone to think they had some sort of mental advantage over me.... and that's what this looks like to me, at first glance. I'd be like *ha, he's obsessing over me!! I can mess with him even more*

[rockstaryuzu]

5 minutes ago, liv said:

 

I would never tell anyone how much I was studying my competitors... I wouldn't want anyone to think they had some sort of mental advantage over me.... and that's what this looks like to me, at first glance. I'd be like *ha, he's obsessing over me!! I can mess with him even more*

If I were Zu, I would just casually and silently show up at Nathan's rink during his training sessions and stare, saying nothing, until it got under Nathan's skin. Yes, he'd know I was studying him...but in the most unnerving way possible...

 

Good thing Yuzu's not like me. 

[Terrapin]

11 minutes ago, liv said:

 

I would never tell anyone how much I was studying my competitors... I wouldn't want anyone to think they had some sort of mental advantage over me.... and that's what this looks like to me, at first glance. I'd be like *ha, he's obsessing over me!! I can mess with him even more*

True but Yuzu has always been genuine and open about that : I remember when he would talk about Patrick in similar terms and comparing him to the sun ☀️ ^^ I think he needs to express these thoughts and obsessions out loud : it helps him put some kind of reality on it. And he’s definitely not afraid of Nathan knowing : on the contrary I think he wants him to know he’s watching him closely and analyzing everything. That’s how he learns anyway : he’s very visual. 

[Terrapin]

Just found this : 

 

article in Russian

Translation on twitter

 

Can people speaking Russian here confirm the translation ? Thanks 

 

 

[Neenah]

1 hour ago, rockstaryuzu said:

Has our boy become a little obsessed, maybe? I hope he doesn't forget that Nathan's not the only guy out there chasing him. I, for one, think Stephane will take Shoma to the next level where he'll be a truly serious rival for Yuzu. 

 

No wonder Zu was saying after SCI that he wondered if he should change his approach to skating. Come on, Yuzu, studying your rivals is fine but do it with an objective eye. 

Nathan has the one thing that Yuzu wants, consistency of landing his quads. He is also watching the Russian girls who are also known for their consistency with delivering difficult layouts, so it is obvious that this is the question he is trying to answer.

I mean, he did actually identify what makes Nathan consistent and considered putting less transitions in his programs after ACI but decided that it was not his way after all.

[river]

 

Youtube suggested this video to me today. The world's tiniest Hanyu fan is a nice counterbalance to all of the nonsense going on in the skating world right now.

[micaelis]

1 hour ago, Neenah said:

I mean, he did actually identify what makes Nathan consistent and considered putting less transitions in his programs after ACI but decided that it was not his way after all.

That's one thing I find most admirable about Yuzu, his integrity when it comes to his skating.  Granted, he wants to win but more importantly he wants to win by doing a Yuzuru-Hanyu skate, not by doing something borrowed from his near competitors.  It's either Yuzu's way or no-way.

[Henni147]

2 hours ago, Neenah said:

Nathan has the one thing that Yuzu wants, consistency of landing his quads. He is also watching the Russian girls who are also known for their consistency with delivering difficult layouts, so it is obvious that this is the question he is trying to answer.

I mean, he did actually identify what makes Nathan consistent and considered putting less transitions in his programs after ACI but decided that it was not his way after all.

 

If I remember correctly, Nathan hasn't done major technical upgrades since the 17/18 season except the 4T+1Eu+3F combo (pls correct me, if I'm wrong). His key is stabilizing what he already can do. Yuzu on the other hand gave birth to 4T+3A, 4T+1Eu+3F, a five-quad-freeskate with 4Lo AND 4Lz and now baby 4A is on the way, too. It takes a lot of time to raise and discipline so many new children. You cannot expect clean performances at first attempt. That would be really spooky.

 

However, I do believe that Yuzu can master this difficult situation and I'm sure, his best performance is yet to come. Yuzu is Yuzu. He's the strongest, when people write him off.

[monchan]

1 hour ago, Neenah said:

Nathan has the one thing that Yuzu wants, consistency of landing his quads. He is also watching the Russian girls who are also known for their consistency with delivering difficult layouts, so it is obvious that this is the question he is trying to answer.

I mean, he did actually identify what makes Nathan consistent and considered putting less transitions in his programs after ACI but decided that it was not his way after all.

Their ways are easy to figure out. Nathan's is to do little TR and Russian girls'  is to do LOTS of RT, that's it.

 

But one thing I have to emphasize first is, they are YOUNG. Name ONE skater that lands quads consistently at Yuzu's age, there's no one, ever. What Yuzu has to figure out, is not only some "tricks" to land the jumps, but more importantly, he also has to fight against his stamina (decreasing with age) and risk of injuries (increasing with age) to do smt no one has ever done. I don't think he can find answer on those young skaters, yet he still needs to watch everyone to figure out his own path.

[kiches]

Honestly I don't quite get the stamina comments I see lately, with the exception of Nationals where he was clearly dealing with his physical condition (his breathing was quite heavy even after the SP, this was unusual and had me quite worried for the free).

 

Yuzu looked stronger after his free at ACI and SCI than he's ever been that early in the season doing a 4 quad free. At the GPF he had a 5 quad free skate for the first time, and I believe him when he says he only practiced that layout once before the actual free skate and he did far better with it than I expected. He was visibly tired at the end because that skate took a lot out of him, but I think it had more to do with it being an unfamiliar layout that he pieced together within 2 days and he probably didn't practice when/how to breathe doing this particular layout. In the SP, with exception of the combo, everything was the highest quality we'd seen so far in the season. I think once he familiarizes himself with whatever he wants his final layouts to be he'll be fine. These skaters have to time the peaking/come down throughout the season and Yuzu has had a grueling set of 3 competitions in the span of 5 weeks where he chose to travel back to Canada in between (I believe he's stayed in Japan in the past, and usually nationals is one week later than it was this year). The way I see it, Yuzu was at peak condition at the GPF and was clearly coming down from that by the time Nationals approached. Luckily 4CC and Worlds he just has to focus on peaking for one competition at a time and he has more time to come down and peak again.

[rockstaryuzu]

1 hour ago, monchan said:

Their ways are easy to figure out. Nathan's is to do little TR and Russian girls'  is to do LOTS of RT, that's it.

 

But one thing I have to emphasize first is, they are YOUNG. Name ONE skater that lands quads consistently at Yuzu's age, there's no one, ever. What Yuzu has to figure out, is not only some "tricks" to land the jumps, but more importantly, he also has to fight against his stamina (decreasing with age) and risk of injuries (increasing with age) to do smt no one has ever done. I don't think he can find answer on those young skaters, yet he still needs to watch everyone to figure out his own path.

The difficulty is that increasing stamina is done mainly by increasing the amount of work you do, which directly increases the risk of injury. Maybe the answer to this question for Yuzu doesn't lie on the ice but in some other area. For example, stamina can be increased by doing basic cardio like running or biking, and lots of it. He mentioned in an interview that swimmers can perform multiple disciplines and races in one competition without loss of stamina. Well that's because swimmers overtrain - for every meter a swimmer races at competitions, they've swum hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers in training, and trained every single energy system the body has, many times over. If Yuzu wants that kind of stamina, he's probably going to have to try something completely new to what he's done before.

[glilikoi]

25 minutes ago, kiches said:

Honestly I don't quite get the stamina comments I see lately, with the exception of Nationals where he was clearly dealing with his physical condition (his breathing was quite heavy even after the SP, this was unusual and had me quite worried for the free).

I know it's pointless to say, but I really wish Yuzu would just spill and say what was the health problem he was having around Nats, because that might balance out the toxic narrative currently brewing about his stamina - it wouldn't be an 'excuse' at all. But I know that's how he views it so he won't say anything 

 

Reading the interviews after Nats, there were at least 2 separate occasions where he was asked about a possible health issue and said 'I don't want to talk about it because it would sound like an excuse' which pretty much sounds like confirmation of a health issue in Hanyu-speak. At least this time, I do think that whatever issue he was having was short-term and not ankle-related (and also not something super serious because otherwise he would probably have WD'd and not asked for a 4CC assignment). Why must he be so stubborn and make us worry so much 

 

It just makes me think of this kind of do-S observation he made before the season.. 

 

 

For real though, I don't think the problem Yuzu is having this season is that his stamina has decreased at all. Comparatively speaking, stamina has always been the main issue for him beside injuries. I think he's actually been handling Origin really well this season, even though it's a very demanding program. It's obvious that trying to do a 5-quad layout when asthmatic is a really difficult task, but it wouldn't have been any easier when Yuzu was 17 or 20, so this recent narrative that it has to do with his age just seems completely off to me.

 

I've been rewatching some old documentaries recently because I finally have time, and it's clear that young Yuzu was much worse off in terms of stamina than current Yuzu.

A couple of things that caught my attention -first,  in a documentary about Yuzu's transition from juniors to seniors back in 2010, he's shown really struggling to keep going for the full duration of the FS. Abe-sensei assigned him 1-hour sessions of continuous skating as well as other stamina-building exercises, which he found really tough. So clearly he's been working hard to build and maintain stamina from a young age, it's not something he's just naturally 'losing' now that he's becoming older.

Second, in an interview after his Sochi win, Yuzu mentions that he can win with 'aggressive performances' containing several quads now because he's a teenager, implying he didn't expect to be able to do that later on. It's quite surprising to hear that now, because it's obvious Yuzu has only increased the jump content in his programs year on year. Sochi-era Yuzu would definitely struggle with a 5-quad program, and that in itself is proof that Yuzu hasn't become weaker over time, but quite the opposite. Avoiding injuries when older may be more difficult, but that's another issue and shouldn't be conflated with the stamina thing. 

[Sombreuil]

I don’t think it’s stamina per se - to me it looks like asthma.  I hesitate to put it out there because no two people with any chronic illness are the same and I hate it when HCPs treat patients like model T Fords , but it looks like the ‘cold air takes my breath away’ asthma that I’m familiar with and which sometimes occurs as ‘your dog/ cat ‘  or ‘your flowers/ lawn’ or any other potential allergen takes the persons breath from them - and then you’re looking at wipeout followed by a variable recovery period.

[glilikoi]

5 minutes ago, Sombreuil said:

I don’t think it’s stamina per se - to me it looks like asthma.  I hesitate to put it out there because no two people with any chronic illness are the same and I hate it when HCPs treat patients like model T Fords , but it looks like the ‘cold air takes my breath away’ asthma that I’m familiar with and which sometimes occurs as ‘your dog/ cat ‘  or ‘your flowers/ lawn’ or any other potential allergen takes the persons breath from them - and then you’re looking at wipeout followed by a variable recovery period.

Yeah, that's exactly what I think as well. It's just that most people (non-fanyus) aren't aware that he's asthmatic, so when he (or his team) doesn't say anything about it, people start saying his stamina is getting worse, when that's not the case. I do understand why he wouldn't say anything about it, even after the competition, because he thinks it would be an excuse. But I think it would help with the naysayers. Of course people might still say that the reason he's struggling with asthma is that he's too tired, but most people would probably just accept that it was a short-term issue and doesn't mean his stamina has deteriorated. 

 

To be honest though, I think the JP media has been a lot nicer than I thought. Several articles in Japan have pointed out his exhausting schedule, and Sano-sensei even defended him on TV. If the 'backlash' after his FS would have been worse, I would feel even more strongly that he (or Brian) should have mentioned possible health issues instead of just blaming everything on Yuzu's 'weakness' (which is not true). Now I think it's okay, but I still wish Yuzu didn't always feel so strongly that he needs to hide vulnerabilities.

But I understand that's just the kind of person he is, and there's nothing we can do about it, and that's why being a fanyu is suffering