[2018.06.14] Quadruple Axel 2018: Miracle Olympic Season Summary

[yuzurujenn]

Info: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/フィギュアスケート男子ファンブック-Quadruple-Axel-2018-奇跡の五輪シーズン総集編/dp/4635924785

 

"Quadruple Axel" — Men's Figure Skating Magazine Relaunched!

Formerly known as "Quadruple", the premier men's singles figure skating magazine has been reborn as "Quadruple Axel"!

Following the historic one-two finish by Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno at the PyeongChang Olympics, the world of figure skating is experiencing an unprecedented wave of excitement.
This special edition casts a wide spotlight on male skaters—from senior champions to rising junior stars, and even professional skaters continuing their journeys after retirement.

Through exclusive interviews, intimate reports, and in-depth conversations, we offer a closer look at the personalities and passions behind the performances.

 

CONTENTS

【Latest Feature Report】

Yuzuru Hanyu – “The Evolving Champion, Chasing His Dream”

 

【Exclusive Interviews】

Shoma Uno – “Why I Keep Attacking”

Keiji Tanaka – “Lessons from an Olympic Season”

Takahito Mura – “Fresh and Bright, Moving Forward”

Kazuki Tomono – “A Stunning World Debut”

Hiroaki Sato – “Excellence in Both Mind and Body”

Jun Suzuki – “Staying True to Myself”

Mitsuki Sumoto – “Challenging the Junior Summit”

Seina Miyake – “A Prologue to Progress”

Tatsuya Tsuboi – “Reaching for the Next Level”

Shun Sato – “A Fresh Wind in Junior Skating”

 

【Special Dialogues】

Ryuju Hino × Sota Yamamoto – “Unshakable Trust and Friendship”

Yu Nakamura × Taichi Honda – “Vows in Their Hearts, Their Own Challenges”

 

【Graduation Interview】

Hikaru Kawahara – “A New Journey Begins”

 

【Grand Roundtable】

Daisuke Takahashi × Nobunari Oda × Takahiko Kozuka – “The Vancouver Generation — A Bond Forever”

 

【Special Guest Essay】

Tatsuki Machida – “Figure Skating as a Comprehensive Art Form”

 

【Reporter’s Perspective – Olympic Report】

“Yuzuru Hanyu: Memories of a Fierce Battle”

 

【Special Feature】

Noriko Shirota, Head Coach, ANA Skating Team
“The Road to Yuzuru Hanyu’s Back-to-Back Olympic Gold”

 

【In-Depth Commentary】

Minoru Sano – “On Japan’s Gold and Silver in PyeongChang Men’s Singles”

 

【Photo Report】

Yuzuru Hanyu’s Victory Parade – “A Triumphant Return”

 

【Event Report】

Takahito Mura × Takahiko Kozuka – “ECCO Talk Show”

 

【Photo Gallery】

Continues with Wings

Fantasy on Ice 2018

Stars on Ice 2018

Prince Ice World 2018

[yuzurujenn]

* Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

Source: Quadruple Axel 2018: Miracle Olympic Season Summaryn, pg 20-25

 

[Special Feature]

Noriko Shirota, Head Coach, ANA Skating Team
“The Road to Yuzuru Hanyu’s Back-to-Back Olympic Gold”

 

Noriko Shirota, head coach of the ANA Skating Team, approached the PyeongChang Olympics with strong determination. Now that Yuzuru Hanyu has achieved the historic feat of winning back-to-back Olympic titles, she looks back on those turbulent days.

 

Spoiler

At the Gangneung Ice Arena in South Korea, where the PyeongChang Olympics were held, I watched Yuzuru Hanyu’s performance quietly from seats behind the front of the rink, near the judges’ area. On February 16, 2018, the short program, and on the 17th, the free skate. Over these two days of outstanding performances, Hanyu achieved the historic feat of becoming the first male figure skater in 66 years to win back-to-back Olympic titles.

 

I sometimes compare figure skating, a judged sport, to “painting on a canvas.” Today, men’s singles has evolved into an artistic discipline in which a single skater expresses everything on the ice—not only quadruple jumps, but also spins, steps, and even the most delicate details down to the fingertips. That program (work of art) is what figure skating is all about. A fall on a jump lowers the overall quality, but if a skater focuses only on jumps while neglecting other elements, the entire performance feels incomplete.

 

On the white canvas of the ice, jumps, steps, and spins are placed in balance, and by adding variation in pace throughout the program, a richly colored and beautiful “painting” is created, one that can leave both the audience and the judges deeply impressed when viewed as a single work.

 

In his short program set to Chopin’s “Ballade No. 1,” Hanyu created a beautiful image, as if light were breaking through darkness. In his free skate, “SEIMEI,” set to music from the film Onmyoji, he created a dramatic work that blended intensity with Japanese aesthetics.

 

The moment the gold medal was decided, the excitement in the arena reached its peak.

 

Looking back, when he won the Sochi Olympics four years earlier at the age of 19, I even suggested, “Wouldn’t it be okay to retire here?” and advised him to step away from competition. He moved to Toronto, Canada, together with his mother, and trained under the world-renowned coach Brian Orser. I thought that after such intense training and finally achieving the long-awaited Olympic gold for Japanese men, Hanyu himself must have felt a sense of fulfillment.

 

For an athlete, especially an Olympic gold medalist, I believed that knowing when to retire was also important. However, he didn't agree. “I'll aim for another gold medal,” he declared. Those words surprised me.

 

The following four years were a period of further evolution. He broke the world-record scores in both the short program and the free skate three times each, and also mastered the quadruple loop and quadruple Lutz. He came to be known as the “absolute king” of figure skating.

 

As for Hanyu's second Olympic Games... When I thought about it, there was no outcome more fitting for him than winning the gold medal.

 

However, the Olympic season that followed was full of twists and turns. For the fans as well, it must have been an emotional roller coaster, filled with both joy and disappointment.

 

In his first competition of the season, the Autumn Classic, he broke the world-record score in the short program. Then, at the Rostelecom Cup, the opening event of the Grand Prix Series, he successfully landed a quadruple Lutz for the first time. However, during official practice the day before the NHK Trophy, his second Grand Prix event, he injured his right ankle, forcing him to return to competition at the Olympics without any proper lead-up.

 

The three months leading up to the Olympics were truly difficult. After withdrawing from the All-Japan Championships in December, which also served as the Olympic qualifying event, he was pushed to the brink.

 

From early January, it became necessary for him to resume full-scale skating practice or he would not be ready in time. About one week after training resumed in early January 2018, I also headed to his training base, the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club, to check on Hanyu’s condition.

 

 

Only about one month remained until the Olympics. It had been about two months since I last saw him skate, since the official practice at the NHK Trophy where he was injured.

 

As I headed to Toronto, I carried a resolve I could not tell anyone about. If his recovery was not progressing well, and I felt there was no prospect of him winning a gold medal at the Olympics, I was prepared to tell him, “Let’s not compete at the Olympics.”

 

The Olympics are a battleground for the gold medal. Since my time as head of the Japan Skating Federation’s strengthening program, I have consistently held this belief without wavering. Only gold medalists can have their names etched in history. Considering the four years Hanyu fought for a second consecutive Olympic title, it absolutely had to be gold. As his affiliated team’s coach and supervisor, I continued to support him, and I could not allow him to lose. It was also my role to step in and stop him if necessary.

 

With both anticipation and anxiety mixed together, the moment I saw Hanyu skate again after a long time, my worst-case scenario vanished. He was skating carefully, stroke by stroke, with jumps still mainly single and double rotations. His only triple was a toe loop. However, his jump axis was unwavering. I found myself getting excited, thinking, “He can compete at the Olympics! He can win!”

 

He possesses another strength that allows me to say this with such confidence: a firm, unwavering will to win, something rarely seen among Japanese athletes. Even when faced with a situation where injury could have easily led to discouragement, Hanyu’s fiercely competitive spirit and his strong desire to win became the driving force that spurred him on.

 

For athletes, the Olympics are truly a special stage. Even in the Sochi Olympics four years earlier, Patrick Chan, who had been world champion for three consecutive years leading up to the Games, could not reach the top. That is how difficult it is to control one’s emotions and deliver a performance as usual.

 

In this Olympics, regarded as the most technically advanced in history with top skaters performing multiple types of quadruple jumps, most of the athletes chasing Hanyu were making their Olympic debuts. I also believed it would be difficult for young skaters to skate both the short program and free skate without mistakes.

 

A prime example of this was 17-year-old Nathan Chen, who entered the Olympic season undefeated in five competitions. However, he suffered a series of falls in the short program of the team event held before the individual event. Unable to recover his form, he got off to a disappointing start in the individual competition as well, finishing 17th in the short program and dropping out of medal contention.

 

In fact, Chen had been working on improving the trajectory of his jumps for the Olympic season. In the previous season, his jumps lacked width and were merely high, vertical jumps, but he was aiming to evolve toward the kind of beautiful, arched jumps that adhere closely to fundamentals, like Hanyu’s. However, improving jumps takes time. Even with confidence, there is still the possibility of mistakes at the Olympics. I felt it would be difficult for Chen, still in the process of improvement, to deliver a perfect performance. To win at the Olympics, one must possess both world-class technique and strong mental resilience.

 

When I met Hanyu in PyeongChang, South Korea on February 11, his expression conveyed exactly the fighting spirit I had expected, radiating from both his face and his inner self.

 

A two-day competition. I believed the short program would be key to his second consecutive Olympic title, since it was certain that if he skated without mistakes, he would start in first place.

 

The basis for this was the Autumn Classic, his first competition of the season in September the previous year. The planned jump layout for the Olympic short program originally included a quadruple loop, triple Axel, and a combination of a quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop. However, he injured his right knee shortly before the competition. The loop is a jump that takes off and lands on the right foot, placing significant strain on the right knee. For that reason, he chose not to take the risk and replaced the quadruple loop with a quadruple Salchow.

 

Despite lowering the technical difficulty, he delivered a clean performance and scored 112.72 points, breaking the world record at the time. This was a significant achievement.

 

In judged sports, scoring history is extremely important. I did not predict an injury, but it became clear that even in the event of an accident, a short program with a simplified layout of quadruple toe loop and Salchow could still yield a score close to 112.72 points.

 

His right ankle had not fully healed by the time of the Olympics. Nevertheless, he did not rush and stuck to the same layout as at the Autumn Classic. There had been some mistakes on the opening quadruple Salchow during the official practice session at the venue, which caused some concern, but the sensation of the jump was firmly ingrained in his body. He skated as the first competitor in the final group and landed his opening quadruple Salchow cleanly. While I knew I must not let my guard down until the very end, I also felt a faint sense of relief.

 

He landed a perfect triple Axel, and then captivated the audience further with a beautifully flowing final quadruple toe loop-triple toe loop combination.

 

Hanyu has absolute confidence in his quadruple toe loop. The ideal arched jump with height and distance that Chen aimed for is a model for all skaters. In critical moments, the quadruple toe loop would save him… This performance made that feel certain. With a performance that placed him in first position with a lead of more than four points over second place, the arena was filled with an atmosphere that seemed to anticipate a second consecutive Olympic title.

 

The free skate was the following day, on the 17th. In major international competitions such as the World Championships or Four Continents Championships, there is usually a one-day gap after the short program before the next performance, but at the PyeongChang Olympics the schedule had the two programs on consecutive days. This, too, was a fortunate factor that gave Hanyu a boost.

 

Certainly, for Hanyu, who had been away from competition for some time, there may have been physical challenges. However, if his injury had not healed, I felt it would be more advantageous for him to take the lead and go into the free skate with high confidence and momentum.

 

 

In the free skate jump layout as well, he was forced to avoid not only the quadruple Lutz but also the quadruple loop. He relied on the same two quadruple jumps as in his short program: the toe loop and the Salchow. Rather than taking risks, Hanyu chose a strategy of winning by delivering a clean, artistic performance, completing the program as a single “painting” without mistakes.

 

The fact that he skated to the same music in both the short and free programs as he had two seasons earlier also worked in his favor. Because they were familiar programs, he was able to fully express his artistry even after being forced to take a break from competition due to injury. If he had skated a new program in the Olympic season, he would have had to pay attention to many things, including jumps and expression, which might have caused him anxiety.

 

 

In his free program, he attempted a total of four quadruple jumps: two toe loops and two Salchows. The music was “SEIMEI,” which he had used to repeatedly break the all-time world-record score two seasons before the Olympics, and which he had decided after the 2016 World Championships to save and skate again on the Olympic stage. It is also a program through which Hanyu, as a Japanese skater, can strongly express a sense of Japanese aesthetics (“wa”).

 

In the actual performance, he landed the opening quadruple Salchow and quadruple toe loop cleanly and without hesitation. My certainty that the gold medal was his came when he successfully executed the quadruple Salchow–triple toe loop combination in the second half of the program. “It’s going to be all right now.” From there, Hanyu continued as if moving down a “victory road,” maintaining his stamina until the very end and completing the four-and-a-half-minute performance without fading.

 

The Olympics are, after all, a test of overall strength. Looking back at the score sheets, across all five program component scores of “skating skills,” “transitions,” “performance,” “choreography,” and “interpretation of music,” only the top three skaters achieved 9-point range in all five categories in both the short and free programs. Among them, Hanyu’s performance stood out in particular.

 

 

After winning his second consecutive Olympic gold medal, Hanyu declared at a press conference that he would attempt the quadruple Axel. His unwavering determination to take on this ultra-difficult jump, which no one has yet successfully landed, was so typical of him that it brought a smile to my face. What was different from after the Sochi Olympics was that he said he wanted to “enjoy skating.” From my point of view, once you commit to something, you can’t afford to rest. Therefore, if he is going to take on this challenge, he will likely set his sights on the new season as the starting point for his preparations. First, he needs to rest his body properly, and I hope fans will wait a little while until a strong Yuzuru Hanyu returns to the ice once again.

 

Finally, we must not forget that a great part of his achievement was made possible by the support of his family. He often gets injured and also suffers from bouts of illness, such as catching colds. He is by no means physically robust. Under such circumstances, his mother, who supported his life in Toronto, must have endured many hardships. While the gold medal is Hanyu’s own achievement, it would not be an exaggeration to say that half of it was made possible by his mother’s devotion. I would like to add this point.

 

 

PROFILE
From 1994 to 2006, she served as the Director of Figure Skating Strengthening for the Japan Skating Federation. She established nationwide training camps to discover promising young talent and devoted her efforts to developing skaters in the novice and junior categories. This served as a stepping stone to international competitions, expanding opportunities for athletes to compete on the world stage. At the 2006 Turin Olympics, she played a key role in Shizuka Arakawa’s gold medal victory. She also served for many years as an ISU referee and judge. In March 2016, she was appointed head coach of the ANA Skating Team.

[yuzurujenn]

* Machine translation. Inaccuracies exist*

 

Source: Quadruple Axel 2018: Miracle Olympic Season Summaryn, pg 48-51

 

[In-Depth Commentary]

Minoru Sano: “On Japan’s Gold and Silver in PyeongChang Men’s Singles”

 

At the PyeongChang Olympics, Yuzuru Hanyu won the gold medal and Shoma Uno won the silver medal. This historic achievement, the first of its kind in Japanese figure skating history, brought tears of joy to the eyes of men’s singles pioneer Minoru Sano, who said, “It was a dream come true.” Let’s relive this remarkable achievement by his successors through his passionate commentary!

 

Spoiler

---At the PyeongChang Olympics, the men’s singles event saw Japan achieve the remarkable feat of winning both the gold and silver medals. As a pioneer for Japanese men's figure skating, please share your thoughts.

 

Sano: For Japanese figure skating, winning both gold and silver medals at the Olympics had always been a dream. At that time, the world’s top two ranked skaters were Yuzuru Hanyu and Shoma Uno, so the possibility was definitely there. I had been saying in commentary, “We want a one-two finish,” and I’m really glad it actually came true. Going into the competition, I was worried about how much Hanyu’s condition had recovered. There was absolutely no information right up until the last moment, so we really had no idea what his situation was. The most important question regarding Hanyu was whether he would include the quadruple loop in competition. When asked by reporters whether he would attempt the quad loop, Hanyu answered “yes,” but that was two days before the free skate. When I heard that, I thought, “This might be a bit risky.” I personally felt he probably wouldn’t attempt the quad loop under those conditions, and he only landed it once in official practice. Even that one attempt looked like he had barely managed it. But since he had answered “yes,” I thought, “If he actually tries it in the competition, it could be risky.” From what I saw in practice, he didn’t seem fully ready, so it felt like quite a gamble. There was no need to take that kind of risk.  Since his historic score of 330.43 points at the 2015 Grand Prix Final, the sport has seen many more types of quadruple jumps, yet his record still hasn’t been broken. No one has even come close. That means there is still no skater who can match Hanyu in overall quality. In my estimation, he could still win with just the quad salchow and quad toe loop. I think he had probably already decided not to attempt the quad loop. His answer of “yes” might have been part of a strategy.

 

—So, you mean putting pressure on other skaters by making them think, “He’s going to jump it”?

 

Sano: That’s right. By not revealing his condition, it would naturally create all kinds of speculation and make his rivals wonder, “What is going on?” Even what he would include in his program remained a mystery. He said that he decided on the morning of the free skate, but I think the plan was likely set much earlier. Or rather, the reality may have been that this was all he could realistically do. We didn’t know he was taking painkillers, and we assumed he had recovered and been training properly. In reality, it had only been a very short time since he was able to resume quadruple jump practice. In that sense, the strategic aspect was remarkable. When it came down to it, he delivered a completely perfect short program.

 

However, looking ahead to the free skate, every skater performed well, so the point difference was not something that allowed for complacency. So what needed to be done to win? What Hanyu said at the time was, “I know what the Olympics are like.” Among the skaters competing at the PyeongChang Olympics, Hanyu was the only one who had previously won an Olympic gold medal. I have always said that he possesses the absolute strength of a defending champion, and he himself also expressed that. In a way, it may sound arrogant, but it is true. Only Hanyu and his team had experienced winning before. Moreover, coach Brian Orser had experience from the Vancouver Olympics in ladies’ singles (Kim Yuna), then in Sochi with Hanyu, and now again here. In that sense, he had an outstanding staff by his side. Knowing how to win is a huge advantage. Perhaps Coach Orser said, "The quadruple Lutz isn't necessary," and maybe he even thought, "The quadruple loop isn't necessary either."

 

But when you think about it, Hanyu is not the kind of skater who is satisfied with the status quo. He has a strong desire to keep moving forward, which is why he ended up getting injured while practicing the quadruple lutz. He naturally wanted to challenge new elements and pursue higher scores even more aggressively. What makes Hanyu so remarkable is that, despite such a serious injury, he still managed to bring himself to that level of performance. In the free skate, Nathan Chen had the highest score, but in the overall total, he could not catch Hanyu. In the end, the champion is the one with the fewest mistakes overall, and that was Hanyu. In that sense, the men’s event essentially revolved around him. I sometimes wonder if he was born with a kind of destiny that makes everything revolve around him. It was the first time in 66 years that a man's singles skater had won consecutive titles. But when you say “66 years,” that’s longer than my own lifetime (laughs). I’m 62 years old. It’s truly an incredible story.

 

—Hanyu considers jumps to be part of expression, performing them within the flow of the program. Has he reached a level that other skaters find difficult to match?

 

Sano: I don't think anyone can catch up to him there. For example, in the short program, he uses a counter turn before the triple axel. However, in the free skate, the opening quadruple salchow and the following quadruple toe loop are not particularly complex entries. That said, the quality of the jumps themselves is outstanding. The fact that he receives a Grade of Execution of +3 even without doing especially complex setups is extraordinary. Hanyu’s jumps don’t rely on force in the landing position. He flows smoothly out of them. The rotation is also stable. I think that reflects his exceptional axis control.

 

The judges watching nearby must have felt that his jumps were truly elegant, elevated to the level of art. You could say that the act of jumping itself is artistic. Jumps may be a technical element, but the movement itself is art. Otherwise, I don’t think he would have received so many +3 grades of execution. It’s remarkable how fully he has made the jumps his own. No one else can imitate it, and a score of 330 will not be easy to achieve in the future. When he achieved that 330-point score, his program component scores in both the short and free programs were also close to perfect. With rule changes coming in the new season, I think that 330-point mark may remain unbroken forever.

 

—Hanyu also has outstanding musical expression. In particular, in his short program, he captures the tone of the piano piece so well that his movements seem perfectly synchronized, as if the music itself were being performed through him.

 

Sano: That’s another remarkable thing about Hanyu. When you listen to “Ballade No. 1,” it’s such a difficult piece that you might wonder, “Can this really be used in figure skating?” The fact that he is able to perform at that level to that music is truly… It almost feels as if Ballade No. 1 itself was composed specifically for Hanyu. He expresses the mood of the music through his steps and uses every element to match the score, both in the intense and gentle sections. There are very few people who can pull that off.

 

I think Hanyu must have had a clear goal for the Olympics. If nothing had gone wrong, he likely wanted to surpass 330 points again, set a new world record, and win the competition. That’s why he returned to a program from two years earlier and prepared it specifically for the Olympics. The quadruple loop and the quadruple lutz were also part of that plan. This season, he set a new record for the short program at the Autumn Classic, right? He wanted to achieve that again and also set a new record for the free skate. That may have been his original objective for the Olympics. However, an accident made that difficult. Still, I think he had a very strong desire not only to win at the Olympics, but also to win in a particular way.

 

—When you say “accident,” what was your honest reaction when you saw his injury during official practice at the NHK Trophy?

 

Sano:  Every time I watch the footage, I can’t help but say, “Ouch! That must hurt!” It was the position of his right foot on the landing that really stood out to me. I felt it must have been quite a serious injury. The way he fell was such that it would not have been surprising if it had affected his competitive career. At the Olympics, he commented at the post-competition press conference that "if I hadn't taken painkillers, I wouldn't have been able to do triple jumps." Even in that condition, he still chose to compete. That’s sheer determination. That’s really all there is to it. People may have different opinions, but I think his ultimate goal throughout competing was to defend his Olympic title.

 

—It must have taken tremendous resolve.

 

Sano: I truly believe so.

 

—By the way, I heard you will also be appearing in an ice show produced by Hanyu!?

 

Sano: That’s right. I taught in Sendai for two years, and at the time, Hanyu’s older sister was in my class. So apparently, I was the one who gave him the initial opportunity to start figure skating. I remember that back then, Hanyu used to come to the rink and cry all the time. Later, during his novice years, he began to stand out as a noticeable talent. So I was able to watch his growth all the way through, seeing how much he improved, seeing him become able to land the triple axel, and so on. I really enjoyed following his progress. But I never imagined he would become this incredible.

 

—He has now even gone on to produce his own ice show.

 

Sano: That’s wonderful. When I started my ice show (“Viva! Ice World,” now known as “Prince Ice World”), figure skating was never broadcast in prime time. It was considered a minor sport. I started the ice show because I wanted to make it more mainstream and expand its base, even just a little. But now, competitions are broadcast in prime time, tickets are hard to get, and it has become a major national interest. I never thought this would happen within my lifetime. I imagined I would be working behind the scenes, and that such changes would only come after I was long forgotten. I never dreamed figure skating would become this popular so quickly. It’s a tremendous transformation.

 

—In that sense, Shoma Uno represents the next generation carrying on the sport’s popularity. He won the silver medal at his first Olympics.

 

Sano: This time, what I found very refreshing about Shoma Uno was his laid-back personality and his apparent indifference toward medals. I thought, “So there are athletes like that too.” I once asked education critic Naoki Ogi about this, and he said that Uno’s type is what is called “self-affirming,” which is actually a very positive trait. He has great interest in figure skating and strongly wants to become better, but he doesn’t seem particularly attached to the medals he earns as a result. I found that perspective quite new. In fact, Uno's improvement over the past three years has been remarkable. He's improved dramatically. In terms of the types of quadruple jumps, he was even ahead of Hanyu in some ways. That likely also motivated Hanyu. And Uno, from the position of the challenger, also gradually shifted to thinking, “Someday I want to win.”

 

For Uno, the PyeongChang Olympics may have been an opportunity. He was the last to skate in the free program, and in his post-performance comments he said, “I had a pretty good idea of what kind of performance would place me where.” After falling on his opening quadruple loop, it was as if, not quite an out-of-body experience, he was observing himself from above and calmly thinking, “What am I doing?!” I think he thinks a little differently from other skaters, and he is a very interesting young man. The fact that he was able to recover so well after that fall is also remarkable. He is not the type of athlete I come across very often.

 

—He has an unpretentious personality, wouldn't you say?

 

Sano: When asked what he enjoyed about going to the Olympics, he apparently said he was glad he had plenty of time to play video games (laughs). Hanyu, on the other hand, lives a very ascetic lifestyle, so their personalities are quite contrasting. Hanyu also says strange things like, “Uno is like a puppy” (laughs). I think that’s what makes them such a good pair. For Uno, Hanyu has always been someone he has been chasing, and at these Olympics he came incredibly close. This season, Uno won silver medals at all the major international competitions: the Grand Prix Final, the Four Continents Championships, the Olympics, and the World Championships. Having collected so many silver medals, the only thing left for him now is gold.

 

—Uno’s way of thinking that “the Olympics are just one competition among many” also attracted a lot of attention, didn’t it?

 

Sano: That’s really interesting, isn’t it? The Olympics, which only come around once every four years, are something special. It’s surprising that he doesn’t necessarily feel that way, but I suppose that’s normal for Uno. When I think of Uno, I have a strong impression that he struggled quite a bit with the triple axel, but then he suddenly became able to land both the quadruple toe loop and the triple axel, and went on to win the World Junior Championships in 2015. After moving into the senior category, he improved even more rapidly. That said, he was already attracting a lot of attention in his novice days. He was highly rated at talent identification camps and was a skater who knew how to captivate an audience. However, there was also a long period when he struggled to land high-difficulty jumps. When you look at it that way, it really shows how different types of skaters exist, which is interesting in itself. I think Uno will carry the future of Japanese figure skating.

 

—He struggled for a long time to master the triple axel, but at a certain point he suddenly blossomed. In the end, it really comes down to the accumulation of training up to that point, doesn’t it?

 

Sano: I think that’s the only explanation. To use a whisky analogy, it’s like something that has been aging in a barrel for decades, finally reaching a rich, full-bodied flavor. I think the barrels for the triple axel, the quadruple toe loop, the flip, the loop, and the salchow were all aging together. So because he struggled so much with the triple axel, the moment he finally landed it, all those barrels began to open one after another. There aren’t many skaters like that. Most skaters land the triple axel at a much younger age. Even Hanyu landed his first triple axel in junior high school, didn’t he? In that sense, because Uno went through so much difficulty, he was able to move to the next stage very quickly.

 

—Thank you very much. And finally, could you please give a word of encouragement to the younger generation of Japanese male figure skaters?

 

Sano: Yes. We are now in a time when figure skating is attracting a great deal of attention. Inspired by Hanyu and Uno, the number of male skaters has increased significantly. In that sense, my biggest wish is not only that they train, but also that they are able to act responsibly as members of society, and that they approach the sport with awareness and a strong sense of responsibility. That is my greatest hope. And especially because they are under so much attention, that becomes even more important. In terms of competition, I feel that the idea of “enjoying competition” has become more established these days. That’s completely different from our era, but sport is originally supposed to be like that, so I think it’s a good thing. I want the general public to understand that “figure skating is such an interesting sport.” I think people already understand it to some extent, but I would like even more people to know. I believe that is also part of a figure skater’s mission.

 

 

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Born in 1955 in Yamanashi Prefecture. From 1972, he won the All Japan Figure Skating Championships in the men’s singles category five consecutive times and competed in the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics. In the 1977 World Championships, he became the first Japanese skater to win a bronze medal. After retiring from competition, he worked as a professional skater and contributed to the production and staging of ice shows. He is currently the head coach at the Meiji Jingu Gaien Ice Skating Rink and is also highly regarded for his clear and easy-to-understand commentary.