Competition Commentary & Translations (Spreadsheet)

[sweetwater]

4CC 2017 SP

Japanese commentary

video

 

Announcer: Takahiro Nishioka

Working for Fuji TV and has been doing play-by-play announcement for figure skating competitions since 2005.

 

Commentator 1: Takeshi Honda

Former single skater. Two-time Olympian and World bronze medalist. First 4CC champion and six-time national champion. He is also the first Japanese skater who landed a quadruple jump in a competition. He is now coaching in Osaka. He had been training in the Ice Rink Sendai in early 90’s with Shizuka Arakawa.

 

Commentator 2: Daisuke Takahashi

Former single skater. Olympic bronze medalist and World Champion. Two-time 4CC champion and five-time national champion. Since 2016, he has been involved in Fuji coverage of figure skating competitions as “navigator”.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Nishioka: Loud acclamations. For the next year, what kind of trace will Yuzuru Hanyu leave until he reaches a huge goal of winning two consecutive Olympic titles? His challenge never stops fascinating us.

 

Nishioka: Yuzuru Hanyu, short program.

 

Nishioka: Going into his first jump to the vocal by Prince!

 

Honda: 4Lo. He nailed it!

 

[Real time TES counter: 4Lo

BV: 12.00  GOE: 2.00

TES of current skater: 14.00

TES of current leader: 59.58]

 

Nishioka: The second quad!

 

Honda: 2Sal…-3T combination.

 

[Real time TES counter: 2S+3T

BV: 5.60  GOE: 0.47

TES of current skater: 20.07

TES of current leader: 59.58]

 

[Real time TES counter: Flying Camel Spin (red = to be reviewed)

BV: 3.20  GOE: 0.83

TES of current skater: 24.21

TES of current leader: 59.58]

 

Honda: 3A.

 

[Real time TES counter: 3A

BV: 9.35  GOE: 2.71

TES of current skater: 36.23

TES of current leader: 59.58]

 

Honda: Change-foot Sit Spin.

 

[Real time TES counter: Change-foot Sit Spin

BV: 3.00  GOE: 1.25

TES of current skater: 40.48

TES of current leader: 59.58]

 

[Real time TES counter: Step Sequence (red = to be reviewed)

BV: 3.30  GOE: 1.50

TES of current skater: 45.28

TES of current leader: 59.58]

 

Honda: Combination Spin.

 

[Real time TES counter: Change-foot Combination Spin

BV: 3.50  GOE: 1.00

TES of current skater: 49.78

TES of current leader: 59.58]

 

Nishioka: There was a slightly frustrated look on Hanyu’s face. He opened his program with a gorgeous 4Lo, but the second jump became a 2Sal-3T combination. However, he is receiving huge cheers from the crowd in the venue, and his program conveyed his attractiveness to us. What’s your impression of it, Mr. Takahashi?

 

Takahashi: Well, uh, after he landed 4Lo, the audience seemed to be drawn into his performance, and they kept on clapping all through the program. It’s a shame that he popped the Salchow…

 

Nishioka: Yes...

 

Takahashi: …but the way he commands the crowd reminds me what Yuzuru Hanyu is capable of.

 

Nishioka: Indeed. Mr. Honda, I think the opening 4Lo gave us the impression that it changed the atmosphere.

 

Honda: I agree. The 4Lo was nailed really beautifully.

 

Nishioka: Yes.

 

Honda: However, I got a feeling that when he was going into the next jump, 4Sal, he was slower than usual.

 

Nishioka: Uh-huh.

 

Honda: Like he was trying to slow down a little bit. (Seeing a replay of 4Lo) This 4Lo was clean. It would get positive GOE with no problem.

 

Nishioka: It was his best 4Lo done in his SP during this comp… during this season, but after that…

 

Honda: This is 2Sal-3T, so he’ll get 5.60 BV and probably positive GOE. This jump will not be kicked out. (He means that this jump will not be invalidated.)

 

Nishioka: I see.

 

Honda: This is the 3A after that. It really had good flow and height, and was landed with ease. It was also well timed to the music. An excellent jump.

 

Nishioka: And the reaction from the audience in the rest of the program… To become one with the audience has been Hanyu’s biggest aim in this short program for this season. The loud hand clapping never ceased in this Gangneung Ice Arena.

 

Hanyu: Thank you very much!

 

Nishioka: In Kiss and Cry he is waiting for his score to be announced. Compared to when 4S-3T is nailed, his score (he means TES here) will be lower by around 10 points, I suppose.

 

Honda: I agree.

 

Nishioka: Though in PCS, in five components, how much could he cover the loss?

 

Honda: He usually scores around 9.5 points, (for each component) and I think he’ll get such score this time too, so his PCS score will probably be about 45-46.

 

Nishioka: The current leader is Nathan Chen and he scored 103.12. Hanyu’s season best score is 106.53. Here comes Hanyu’s score. His TES is 50.11, and as expected, there is an array of 9s in his PCS. He got high marks. 97.04 in total. He is currently in 2nd place behind Nathan Chen. Was he a bit worried about his score? His expression makes me think that he might be relieved to see this score.

[Fay]

Transfrerring another translation from our previous home. 

 

Another translation - just because it took me so long to track this down, so I won't risk losing it once again. We spoke of young Romeo and... here it is! The wiser and older young Romeo of WC 2014 gala. His encore is cut off and I couldn't find it first - but @gladi was kind enough to track that down too! Thank you!!! . 

WC 2014
EX
Rus ESP

Part 1. 

So now it’s Yuzuru Hanyu’s turn. His free program, Romeo and Juliet. 

- A quad at the gala?! (the commentator mistook Yuzu’s 3Lz for a quad! In fact, both of them did)
- Well, if they come as easy as triples, why not jump them? 
- Again – 3A3T at the gala! 

- That was a stunning skate – he skated his free (competitive) program with the same spirit. 
- He seems to have got really angry about something! I think he was mad at himself. He seemed less exciteable all these years, but now it seems as if he got to be an adult or grew older… 
- Or he grew both older and turned into an adult... 
- Well, he might have become an adult without growing older, or he might have grown older without turning into an adult yet… But he was pretty tense while skating this. It’s as if he’d been trying to prove a point. Perhaps, to himself in the first place that he shouldn’t relax now and fight right till the end. Well-done, he was great, he’s a stunning skater in every respect. 

Part 2. 

- The audience want him back on the ice, of course. 
- Yes, he’s a super-talent. He’s 19. He won the Junior World Championship in 2010. He was… how old was he then?.. then he was 15. He won a Bronze medal at the world championship, but this year was his absolute best – he won grand Prix Final, the Olympic Games and World Championship. So a fragment of his SP, Parisian Walkways. Music by Gary Moore. 

- That was the ending worth a true champion! He looks tired, of course, he does! This has been an extremely difficult season. He thanks the audience and he thanks the ice. 
- And now he’s calling the other skaters onto the ice to join him! The finale!

[Fay]

Sochi Olympic Games 2014 Ex

The White Legend

Russia 1.

 

 

 

Male Commentator: One more Olympic Champion is getting ready to get out on the ice. The Japanese, Yuzuru Hanyu. I loved him in his short program very much. It was so vibrant and brilliant, he was great in it, but his free program didn’t quite impress me… well, I’m not a specialist in figure skating, I liked his short program more than his long one, I think he deserved his Olympic Gold medal.

 

Female Commentator: Well, anyway, two falls in his free program put a blemish on his winning the Olympic Gold medal, but at that moment he proved better than anyone there, that’s a fact. But he’s actually a very beautiful skater, you know what they say? A skater with a God-given talent. Yuzuru could be said to be one.

 

M: The Japanese composer Ikuko Kawai, the music is the White Legend. That has been a gorgeous performance. I don’t know whether you’ll agree with me or not, but if everything goes all right and he is injury-free, he’ll probably be able to skate until the next Olympic Games.

 

F: Certainly. I think it’s beyond any doubt because he’s young, he’s full of power, he’s very talented, he proves with every skate that he’s getting stronger and stronger, more and more professional. And I won’t be surprised if he’s even better at the next Olympic Games.

 

M: Great, just great!

 

F: He’s really got huge potential. He just broke into the sport so suddenly – no one had known him or heard about him, but just in a couple of years he’s become one of the contenders, and there you are, he’s become Olympic Champion!

 

M: Such lines, so graceful, this rarely gets said about men, but he’s…

 

 

 

.

[Fay]

Sochi Olympic Games 2014 Ex

The White Legend

Sporthit

 

 

 

The men’s skating’s Olympic Champion, Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan! Very young, quite inexperienced, well, it just happened so that he’s nearly starting his life with winning the Olympic Gold medal.

 

Yuzuru Hanyu! Another Japanese hero who was lucky to win in this top technical completion in spite of his falls. He did everything to the full and strove for the highest result. And he can do such jumps even during galas.

[Fay]

Yuzuru HANYU SP

Junior Grand Prix Final 2009

 

 

 

Yuzuru Hanyu, from Japan. Coached by Nanami Abe. Mission Impossible by Hans Zimmer. He won two JGP events this year. In Croatia and in Torun.

 

Yuzuru Hanyu’s out of breath. He’s the last competitor in this group. For some reason, this Japanese skater often lost his balance in his spins. And he lost his speed too. As we have already said, Yuzuru won two competitions. He received around 66 points for his SP. In his short program he does 3F – he gets an edge call for it, so he gets 3.30 points instead of 6.00 points. 3.30 or around 3.50. Sometimes a bit more if he’s successful with this jump. In Croatia he got 70 points for his SP. But 70 points won’t be enough for him to lead now. But he can be third or fourth. He’s in the third place so far! He’s one point behind Ross Miner. The Chinese skater, Song Nan is first, who’s got 71 points, the fourth is Grant Hochstein, he’s behind Yuzuru by 3 points. Gachinsky is behind Hochstein by 4 points and he’s fifth.

[Fay]

Sochi Olympic FP

 

Romeo and Juliet

Rossiya 1. (Russia 1)

 

 

 

So, Yuzuru Hanyu, and then Patrick Chan. So… er… Brian Orser has changed his jacket? That’s interesting! He had a red jacket on just 15 minutes ago. So now the man leading the competition. He’ll skate to Nino Rota’s music. The current Japanese champion. The bronze medallist of the last World Championship (wrong there), the silver medallist of the Four Continents Championship 2013, this season’s Grand Prix Final winner, 19-year-old Yuzuru Hanyu. He’ll turn 20 only in December. He had a phenomenal short program.

 

(at Yuzu’s 4T): He pulled himself together!

(3F) – Ooooh! Hanyu’s just handing Patrick Chan the Olympic Gold Medal! Or even hanging it on his neck – himself giving it away to his main rival!

 

(after Yuzu finished his program): I didn’t say it before his skate, but notwithstanding his accomplishments, experts say Hanyu has two limitations: first, he doesn’t always last physically for the whole program, but second, he lacks mental strength and stability. I didn’t want to say it before the skate as I didn’t want to jinx him, but obviously, he’s got some mental growing to do yet (he’s not strong enough mentally yet). Some people think that it’s easier to compete in your first Olympics rather than if you’ve already had a few under your belt, but it’s not the same for everyone. Yuzuru didn’t cope with it, largely, with the burden of that mental responsibility, since… well, yes, I enumerated his trophies up to now, but he hasn’t had any really big wins. Yes, he’s won the Grand Prix Final (the Final of the Champion series, as he calls it), but it’s a separate competition, it’s more commercial. Yuzuru hasn’t had experience of winning at major competitions. Well, he got very high GOE for his 4T, nearly 12.5 points for it, for 3A3T combination 16.3 points. But there were things you can’t really forget… His personal best is 293 points. That’s not yet over, dear viewers, this performance of the Japanese skater is far from being decisive. The score isn't going to be decisive either – next person to skate is going to be Patrick Chan. Brian Orser look unhappy, to put it mildly. Well, of course, he’s first, he’s ahead of Denis Ten, he comes first in the free program. The component score is good, but not his maximum. He had 2 point deductions for his falls, so Patrick Chan has his chance. He was quite far behind – by nearly 4 points,

[sweetwater]

4CC 2017 FS

Japanese commentary

video

 

Announcer: Takahiro Nishioka

Commentator 1: Takeshi Honda

Commentator 2: Daisuke Takahashi

*see this post for their profile.

 

Note: Mr. Nishioka is very passionate about telling the audience how Yuzu is fighting in his situation—about Yuzu’s YOLO second half, he is probably the most excited one among these three. However, his passion and effort to be catchy to make this program (Fuji coverage of 4CC FS as whole) exciting made some of his comments very hard to translate word for word, so I paraphrased some of them, though I tried to do my best to convey what is being said here. Sorry in advance.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

Nishioka: Here comes Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan, taking pride in having created a new era. In this competition his rivals have had great performances which could have ignited Hanyu’s fighting spirit. What kind of performance will this Olympic champion and the game changer show us today?

 

Nishioka: Representing Japan, Yuzuru Hanyu. His free program music is composed by Joe Hisaishi.

 

Nishioka: Opening 4Lo.

 

Honda: 4Lo, landed beautifully.

 

[Real time TES counter: 4Lo

BV: 12.00  GOE: 2.00

TES of current skater: 14.00

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Honda: 4S.

Nishioka: He nailed the second jump!

 

[Real time TES counter: 4S

BV: 10.50  GOE: 1.50

TES of current skater: 26.00

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Honda: Flying Change-foot Combination Spin.

 

[Real time TES counter: Flying Change-foot Combination Spin

BV: 3.50  GOE: 0.93

TES of current skater: 30.36

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

[Real time TES counter: Step Sequence

BV: 3.90  GOE: 1.63

TES of current skater: 35.89

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Honda: 3F.

 

[Real time TES counter: 3F

BV: 5.30  GOE: 1.60

TES of current skater: 42.79

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Nishioka: Here comes the jump which is crucial to his win.

 

Honda: 2S…

 

[Real time TES counter: 2S-1Lo (red = to be reviewed)

BV: 1.98  GOE: 0.07

TES of current skater: 44.83

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Nichioka: Final quad.

 

Honda: 4T.  He nailed it.

Nishioka: He did it!

 

[Real time TES counter: 4T

BV: 11.33  GOE: 1.67

TES of current skater: 57.83

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Honda: 3A-3T.

 

[Real time TES counter: 3A-3T

BV: 14.08  GOE: 2.43

TES of current skater: 74.38

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Honda: 4T-2T.

Nishioka: Wow, he attempted it here! What a challenge… and he nailed it!

 

[Real time TES counter: 4T-2T

BV: 12.76  GOE: 1.20

TES of current skater: 88.34

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

[Real time TES counter: Flying Change-foot Sit Spin (red = to be reviewed)

BV: 3.00  GOE: 1.00

TES of current skater: 92.31

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

(*TES of Chsq seems to be skipped in this video)

 

Honda:3A.

Nishioka: 3A as the last jump!

 

[Real time TES counter: 3A

BV: 9.35  GOE: 0.00

TES of current skater: 105.53

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

[Real time TES counter: Change-foot Combination Spin

BV: 3.50  GOE: 1.00

TES of current skater: 112.70

TES of current leader: 98.69]

 

Nishioka: Aggressive! He fought quite aggressively until the end! The last quad he attempted there showed us the Olympic champion’s enormous mental strength! He was supposed to do a 3A combination, but he changed the plan on the spot!  As we know, he is an athlete who can pull off things which really surprise us. Yet again he went beyond our expectations. Well, Mr. Honda…

 

Honda: Yes.

 

Nishioka: I feel that I’ve seen something incredible… Now he seems to be counting over the jumps he executed.

 

Honda: You know, after he popped the Salchow in the second half, he jumped slightly.

 

Nishioka: Yes.

 

Honda: That should be taken as 2S-1Lo combination.

 

Nishioka: Uh-huh.

 

Honda: So he was also counting how many combinations he executed.

 

Nishioka: I see. Well, at any rate, Mr. Takahashi…

 

Takahashi: Yes.

 

Nishioka: …it was incredible.

 

(During replay)

 

Takahashi: Yes, indeed. I felt that the program flew by so quickly. I was drawn into his performance that much. It’s a pity that he missed the Salchow, but the rest of the performance was so great that it made me forget the mistake.

 

Nishioka: …And the way he recovered the mistake…you know, moving a 3A to the last and attempt another 4T is not so… what do you two think about it?

 

Takahashi: Well… could we say that we could only see quads and 3A in this program?

 

Nishioka: Oh, yes.

 

Takahashi: …Could we, really…?

(*They seem to have forgotten about 2S-1Lo and 3F.)

 

Honda: Well, he switched the last 3A combination to 4T combination and placed the solo 3A as the closing jump because he considered it as his favorite jump which he could nail at any point in the program. However, very few skaters can do such thing.

 

Nishioka: Yes.

 

Honda: Besides, he changed how to enter those jumps on the spot. I think it showed his strength pretty impressively.

 

Nishioka: …I see. He’ll probably look for his perfect layout going into the second half of this season. In such phase, this challenge must have been very fruitful for him. More than anything, it conveys his new strength to us fans when everyone else is chasing him, raising the bar. This challenge could have been an answer to those younger skaters coming after him.

 

(The camera showing Kiss and Cry)

 

Nishioka: His season best is 197.58 scored in NHK Trophy. This season he hasn’t scored over 200 yet. Mr. Honda, I think this time the look on his face was different from usual. He didn’t change his expression after he finished his performance.

 

Honda: He was very focused during the morning practice too.

 

Nichioka: Yes.

 

Honda: He was intensively reviewing the Salchow which he failed in the short program, and he was also doing a lot of imagery training focusing on details.

 

Nichioka: Uh-huh. Now he is explaining how he came to the decision to his coach Brian Orser. Perhaps Mr. Orser was surprised at his decision too. Here comes Hanyu’s score. First of all, will it be over 200?  His free program score is… over 200!  It’s 206.67.  Hanyu has scored over 200 for the first time in this season!  Over 300 in total! This is the fourth time that he broke the 300-point barrier!  After all, he is the key player of this game-changing era. He showed us an amazing performance and an amazing score!

[Fay]

NHK 2012 FS

Notre Dame de Paris

 

RUS ESP

 

 

…Now we've been admiring Takahashi, now we’ll have Hanyu. And then I thought – they also have Takahito Kozuka…

 

Nobunari Oda…

 

Nobunari Oda isn’t getting to the GPF.

 

I mean, the Worlds and the rest…

 

Oh yes! There’s also Tatsuki Machida who is also a contender for the GPF for the first time in his career. We’ll see. So, Yuzuru(i) Hanyu.

 

(the audio’s horrible after that – one of the commentators is miles away from the mike).

 

(Yuzu jumps his 4T) So far he’s clean.

 

He gets a ten for it!

 

(after 4S) Done, that’ll count (as a quad)

 

Yes, they will, so BV 10.5, he’ll get less of course.

 

He lost the spin! He lost the spin! But he has done this one very well!

 

I liked it here.

 

OK, he didn’t cope with one, he did the next one, so he lost one spin and one jump.

 

He was great..

 

Was he? But I somehow believed Takahashi more than him. If one has to think according to Stanislavsky’s method, then Daisuke (was more impressive)

 

Experience vs youth! There’s another year till the Olympic Games, Andrey.

 

Yes, he’s just 17, and so far he’s like modelling clay. You can mould him into any shape very easily, but it’s difficult to tell what the final shape will be like.

 

It’s crucial that that modelling clay got into the hands of a master, then he’ll be moulded into something very good…

 

In spring 2012 he moved to Canada…

 

… it’s essential that the modelling clay shouldn’t be old. Then the master can mould him into something very good.

 

Here’s Takahashi, an experienced skater who’s assessing…

 

Yeah, comparing him to Hanyu, he’s an old man!

 

Yeah, a grey-haired samurai! “Does anyone compare me to him?” No, I think they’re friends in one team.

 

Oh, come off it!

 

Well, the way it is with our team…

 

Yeah, everyone is friends with everyone in our team! Yeah right!

 

Well, Orser… two different styles – Fernandez and now Hanyu.

 

Well, I don’t know, do you see a distinctive style here? I don’t. All I see is good quality raw material  for a distinctive style. There are certain distinctive gestures, some things he already developed, but he’s still very fresh in perception… here he barely kept his balance on his 4S, he saved it partially… well, we’ll see! I think that Daisuke Takahashi’s component score will be higher, but we can compare it now. Hanyu’s component score at Skate America was 79.56, and Daisuke Takahashi’s at the Cup of China 82.66, so he’s ahead by 3 points. And this fall… - you see, he’ll have two points of deduction! He’ll have a deduction for falling on his jump and a deduction for falling here, on the spin – he did fall here – here, he stopped there. Did he have a change of foot here? So he lost his edge on that spin.

 

You know, Takahashi looks more Japanese…

 

165.71. Well, he won! He had a headstart after his short program, so he won! 261.03

 

Yes, you should have listened to your elders – I did say he’d win!

 

[Fay]

NHK 2012

Notre Dame de Paris

 

Sport

 

 

 

Now Yuzuru Hanyu. The two-times current record holder in the SP – 95.07 and 95.32, twice over this season he’s has scored higher than anyone else in this new system of scoring, but it’s interesting what he will achieve in his free program.

 

Yuzuru Hanyu couldn’t keep himself off from falling, maybe, he’s running short of physical strength. But before that, everything was nearly irreproachable.

 

(after Yuzu falls in his spin) Yes, Hanyu is running short of energy somehow!

 

In spite of everything and in spite of the ending being a bit marred, I think there’s no doubt about who wins the free skate today. Let us remember that the component score is quite high with Yuzuru and so let’s wait for the final score. To be ahead of his rivals he has to get quite high results, but they’re totally within his capacities. Yuzuru Hanyu has achieved what he intended to do, he seems to have won one of the Grand Prix events, and this could happen to him the second time after the Moscow event (the previous year). He’s got to score 156 points, Daisuke Takahashi got 164 for his FS. Yuzuru Hanyu can even lose around 8 points in the FS – that’s the gap between him and his rival after the SP. His personal FS best is 173.99 – that was at the 2012 Nice World Championship and then his total was 251 points. Now he needs more to win, but it’s likely to happen without any major problems and without much stressing. He doesn’t even have to get his 174 points, he’ll win with 156.02 points, even with those end-of-program falls and mistakes. Here, in this spin, this very young skater lost all his energy. On December 7th he will turn 18, and it’s on December 7th the senior Grand Prix Final will start. December 6th is the Junior day, and the 7th is the busiest day of the GPF in Sochi and on December 9th there’ll be only seniors.

He got 165.71 even with two deductions for his falls. He’s of course first, with quite a gap. 261.03 points – that’s his new personal best, and he exceeds his previous best by 10 points. Brian Orser is happy, Yuzuru himself is quite subdued, but that’s the good manners which makes him so in Japan. The skater isn’t very happy with his skate, he made some mistakes, but even with them, the total score was very high – 165 points.

[VieObsolète]

NHK Trophy 2015 FS Eurosport France.

 

 

 

(00:00) The olympic champion and world vice-champion Yuzuru Hanyu, who had to be content with a second place at Skate Canada after Patrick Chan and we don't see anything that can prive him from a victory here at Nagano, because after the short program, the japanese possesed 10 points more that Boyang Jin and he will try to confirm this first place on the music of Seimei written by Shigeru Umebayashi.
(5:17) And it's without a doubt a historical performance that we assisted to, an exceptional moment with this performance of Yuzuru Hanyu in the form of a message addressed to his opponents in Barcelona. He will be hard to beat if he renews with this perfection this program.
(5:36) Incredible, incredible, unbeatable, it's this simple. 118.76, it can evolve more, obviously, but the technical score and the artistic score that will go out and the FS skate and the total score of this competition will be just staggering. His physical condition is incredible. I'm losing my words. It's really like a dream. Everything passed, a millimetric technique and in front of his audience. Yes, yes, I don't know if it's very cold inside the ice rink, but he surely did give chills to the general public. He was magical today.
(6:23) There is a lot of work to be done to pick up everything that lands on this ice rink of Nagano.
(6:31) So now we already know that the world record will be beaten. World record of the free skate, which is for the moment, between the hands of Patrick Chan.
(6:48) Patrick Chan who achived it in 2013. 295 points which will, without a doubt, be widely surpassed.
(6:57) Yes, 295 points on the overral, 196.75 on the free. He will, for sure, explode these scores, on the free and the overral. We already said it, he beated it on the short yesterday. He will break the bar of the 300 points, a bar that seemed unreachable. It was already incredible to approach it.
(7:21) And this trophy, the NHK 2015, will stay in the annals like the one of this astounding performance of Yuzuru Hanyu.
(7:32) Yes.
(7:37) I don't know if he's capable of doing programs of this quality during practice, but here, it's just incredible, not a single hitch and more than that...
(7:46) With an incredible impression of ease.
(7:49) Yes, yes. And the choregraphy extremely interesting this year with Yuzuru Hanyu. He really progressed with his interpretation, his ability to temporize too. We saw it on this step sequence where he arrives to calm the game a little bit for a moment and accelerate during others, whereas before, it was a little bit going in every direction, a little bit thick sometimes with his choregraphies, but this year, he highlights his strong moments and calm himself during weak moments. Well, "weak moments" in inverted commas, the longer times.
(8:28) And this is the first year, like we said, when he opts for a pogram of 3 quads on the free. Obviouly, it will work for him.
(8:41) We can be impressed face to a Boyang Jin, but, obviously when we see after Yuzuru Hanyu, we mesure the progress that the young chinese has to still release.
(8:52) That's sure, it's something else. There is a dimension that's added, the artistic one.
(9:00) Yuzuru Hanyu on the top of his art, while he will celebrate in a few days his 21 birthday only. A skater from Sendai.
(9:11) When we know that a skater reaches his maturity, his best level, he attains when he's 23/24.
(9:27) 322.40. Incredible ! He effectively pulverizes the previous WR of Patrick Chan with 27 points with a new historial WR for the free skate and for the whole competition. This will allow him to impose himself even more impressive during this NHK trophy with not far than 60 points in advance compared to Boyang Jin.
(9:59) Yes, his free skate score is the score of some on the overral competition, I imagine.
(10:06) 216 points, yes, yes, it is the score of the eighth competitor Richard Dornbush, for example.
(10:11) Incredible. Incredible and finally deserved, because he was so magical, really, during this competition.

[Fay]

 

GPF 2012

SP 

Parisian Walkways

RUS ESP

 

 

 

 

 

He’s coached by Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson. And David Wilson and Jeffrey Buttle, well-known Canadian skater, are his choreographers. He’s always smiling, he’s always cheerful, always even-tempered. Let’s see whether he’s going to cope with his SP today and whether he’s going to be helped by his mood today. 

There’s the quad, he did it. 

He did a 3A! He fought for the exit, but the jump was very high. 

Oh, there… (after Yuzu falls down own his 3T). He fell down quite unexpectedly. A serpentine step sequence, aiming at the audience, as if it were an ex program, to embellish the program. 

Well, of course, he’s laughing and smiling - that was an inexplicable mistake. Excellent choreography, exciting free skating.

Takahito Kozuka was first in the first event at Skate America, Yuzuru Hanyu came second there, but he was first at NHK Trophy. Johnny Weir is his idol on the ice, he emulates him. In 2012 he moved to Canada and started training with Brian Orser as his coach. Brian Orser, 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games silver medallist. Yuzuru Hanyu trains in Toronto. David Wilson and Jeffrey Buttle were.his choreographers. Let's see - 3A, the exit was a bit leaned onto the inside edge, but he kept his balance and shifted onto the outside edge. The step sequence was done on deep edges, and he did it so lightly - just have a look at that element (Yuzuru does his trademark lunge), very exciting and very unusual, the audience loves it. This skater has a very easy and free way of skating. He’s a cheerful and emotional young man. Brian Orser is with his second student - Javier Fernandez was first.

Well, yeah, 87.17 - he has come short of his best by around 8 points. Yeah, he should come second - yeah, he IS second.

[Fay]

GPF 2012

FS

Notre Dame de Paris 

RUS ESP

 

(the beginning is about Javier Fernandez having landed three quads at this competition, so I’m skipping it).

 

This is Yuzuru Hanyu, who was third after the SP, and his Notre Dame de Paris. 

Just 2S instead of 4S. 

 

- Brian Orser is applauding to his other supertalented student. Before that he applauded to Javier Fernandez. Yuzuru Hanyu won’t go before him in his free program, but the total sum will allow him to finish before Javier. Honestly, Alexander, no matter how long I’ve watched Hanyu, he remains a mystery to me. I can’t quite understand that boy. this character, what he wants… well what he wants is quite clear, to easy to answer that question. But the way he wants to achieve this is not quite clear to me.

 

He’s just skating so far. He’s just skating and enjoying it, I think he just skates to the utmost of his abilities so far. He’s very promising. He’s quite an intelligent skater. If his coach shows him that he has to exist in his soul, yet keep his head clear, he knows that he can switch on both his mind and his heart. As for choreography… with such technique - he should add a bit more choreography, maybe, a plot line too. 

You also thought that it was emptying - lots of arms, but… 

It’s a bit juniorish. Well, Orser does it deliberately in order to.. I don’t know - not to ruin jumps, to let the skater focus on his jumps more. He is still among the leaders with that. 

Not just among the leaders, he’s got a very good component score usually - very close to Patrick Chan’s. 

Look at the height (of the 3A)! He must have jumped just under a metre. His jumps are very high. Very nice - very good body posture during the exit. He has it all - you see what a beautiful Ina Bauer! He’s very flexible too and very musical - he’s very promising. 

So that’s why the judges don’t reward him in advance, they’re very unbiased towards him. He turned 18 on the day of the SP here, in Sochi. His story is alike Mao Asada’s - in 2009 (sic!) he won the Junior World Championship. He emerged very early in the FS. The thing you said - his technique being very good (ready) should be credited to Shoichiro Tsuzuki and Nanami Abe, his previous  coaches. And then after he parted with his Japanese coaches, he moved to Brian Orser, to Canada. Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson work with him, his choreographers are David Wilson and Jeffrey Buttle, a former World Champion. 

[Fay]

4CC 2013

SP Parisian Walkways

Rus ESP

 

 

 

… But it isn’t Nan Song from China who’s the principal rival for Takahashi. He’d say he hasn’t got any principal rivals, as he keeps saying ‘My main rival is myself’. But for the rest of the world, he’s got several rivals, and one of the most essential rivals is this young talented boy. He turned 18 on December 7th Yuzuru (Yuzuri – sic!) Hanyu. Look at his season’s best – 95.32. I believe that’s his result at the NHK Trophy SP, which he won. He was second at the GP Final (2012), he couldn’t beat Takahashi. He’s extremely talented and unbelievably brilliant. We’ve just had Takahashi skate – Takahashi is 26, this young man is 18, they’ve got an 8-year gap between them and they’re really very different, but each is fantastic in his own way. (literally, each is a genius in his own way).

4T.

Wow, axel, with no preparation, off the steps, off a 3turn he swings his leg and there’s the axel.

(Yuzu singling his 3Lz) Well, well, well! Ok, we’ll speak about it after the skate, about what happened here.

Well, Yuzuru Hanyu, who trains with one of the most successful coaches currently – Brian Orser. Brian Orser made Yuna Kim an Olympic Champion, though she keeps saying that she’d had wonderful teachers in Korea too, who’d contributed into making her as great as she is. But she became the Olympic Champion with Brian Orser. He also made Javier Fernandez the European Champion. And now he coaches this young Japanese talent, who unexpectedly failed his 3Lz3T combination having made gorgeous 4T and 3A before it.

Well, dear friends, I’ve an association with Arvydas Sabonis, a brilliant basketball player of the USSR team. He was disliked by many people, because some elements other players spent weeks and months on were done came with ease for him. “Why do I have to work so hard and he does it so easily?’ Yuzuru Hanyu is an athlete of the same scale. He’s a huge natural talent (he’s a genius). One can see it by the easy and free manner he skates and just breathes on the ice, how naturally he behaves and feels on the ice, the way he holds his arms, shoulders, turns his head and looks – this isn’t choreographed, he wasn’t trained to do it, he behaves so naturally, he can’t skate otherwise. Well, he’s another Japanese natural talent. He isn’t Daisuke Takahashi – Takahashi worked hard to achieve much of what he does, and since he did expend so much effort on it, he’s more profound in his skating, in his experience and his interpretation of the program. Hanyu is what a 17 or 18-year old talent can be – he was born with this.  That  gives him a huge advantage over the others, but it’s also a drawback. That’s why he failed his 3Lz. He jumps an easy 4T. Then he makes a 3turn and jumps off the same leg into his 3A. 87.65. I thought he’d get slightly less. Well, it’s Osaka, Japan, so it’s understandable… and then he enters his 3Lz and he thinks he’ll pull it off. Nevertheless, he didn’t, but he didn’t get upset, he went on skating in character in his music…

[Fay]

 

4CC 2013

Notre Dame de Paris

Rus ESP

 

 

 

… but now with his eyebrow plastered, in close-up, Yuzuru Hanyu, who turned 18 on December 7th. So he was 17 when he skated at the GP events, but now he’s 18. Brian Orser and Tracy Wilson… are the Japanese Catholics? Perhaps, one of the most… perhaps, the most talented skater of his generation.

Notre Dame de Paris.

2010 Junior World Champion, 2012 World Bronze medallist, Yuzuru Hanyu. Just look at the way he glides, how weightless and easy it looks.

4T. No, he couldn’t pull off his 4S. You could see it, couldn’t you? The way he entered the jump, from a 3turn…

He lost it a bit at the entry. 3F – he did it.

Just with no preparation at all!

We see the second bielmann spin today. The Filipino Martinez was the first, and now Hanyu.

He executes triples with such ease as if they were doubles.

(Yuzu singles his last 3Lz) – Yeah, another failure.

Yesterday, when I tried to explain his failure to jump 3Lz – he singled it as he did today – I suggested it was because of his natural talent, he does everything with such ease that he doesn’t expect it to happen…

A very, very talented skater!

He skates the natural way – so he doesn’t concentrate on it too much because he doesn’t concentrate on his elements at all. He does concentrate on his quad, but all the other elements are a piece of cake for him. I think that’s the danger lurking for every wunderkind – a wunderkind always grows and will they turn into a wunder-adult... I don’t know what the relationships are like in Brian Orser’s group, but I think the fact he trains along Javier Fernandez, a totally different skater, who’s worked hard since he was a child, he started with the 30th position, if you see what it means, in order to become a World Champion… a European Champion, sorry!

It’s different generation!...

The difference isn’t that great – what is it, 6 years?

Ok, 6 years, but it’s different generation!

Nonetheless, he should pay attention to the way Fernandez works, what Fernandez does, and he should communicate more with the Spaniard – he’d be bound to tell a lot of useful things about his life. He’s a super-talented boy, he was born in Sendai, he trained in Sendai, I think, and his home skating rink was damaged during that horrible earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, so he spent some time in Yokohama, and when last season was over he moved to Canada, to Brian Orser. But I’d like to remind you of the Japanese coaches who nurtured Yuzuru when he was a child – Shoichiro Tsuziki and Naname Abe. By the way, Naname Abe is a high-class specialist, and if you take top ten Japanese skaters, Naname Abe will feature among their coaches at some stage.

This is a very good partnership. Orser is an intelligent and considerate coach…

I don’t know… I can’t give advice to them, but I think perhaps it’s worthwhile making his programs easier, get rid of the crazy difficulty of his programs?

158.73

Do you agree, a quad, another quad, then 3A and 3A both in combination? That’s incredibly difficult. Maybe it’s worth making things easier?

Orser understands that it’s difficult to compete otherwise – his component score is good, but not so good…

[Fay]

Worlds 2013

SP Parisian Walkways

Rus ESP

 

 

 

-        Now this is an interesting moment – this is a very talented boy, he’s very young and very talented, but all that talent is best revealed when he skates everything irreproachably well. Relaxed arms and shoulder, free mind and look – that’s what makes Yuzuru Hanyu special.

-        Now Brian Orser sent him off not quite in a Japanese manner…

-        Just look at his season’s best – 95.32

-        Yeah, yeah, 95.32 – that result seems untouchable to me. I think he got it at a GP event, didn’t he?

-        Yeah, he got this result at the NHK Trophy in the SP

-        He beat Takahashi then, didn’t he?

-        Yes, he beat everyone there.

-        Including Takahashi

-        He also beat Takahashi at the 4CC – he was on the podium whereas Takahashi wasn’t even close to it. Hanyu came second at the GP Final. His short program is Gary Moore’s music. Parisian Walkways.

-        (Yuzu falls on his 4T) There you go, no 4T! That’s it, I think, it’ll be hard for him to fight for the podium place at this competition.

-        Well, hold on a little…

-        Oh yes, there’s also the combination…

-        He jumped it so recklessly…

-        Very easily and with such speed – I think he overdid it…

-        Yeah, I was thinking ‘where are you flying?”

-        He entered his 3A just as fast, but he executed it quite confidently.

-        But here you are, there’s another mistake, hands down on his 3Lz.

-        He lost his combination?

-        He did.

-        That’s it, he’ll be very far away!

-        10th or 11th?

-        Now he can make a stop and think!

-        And a smile, smile: “Never mind, things happen”. This is the way things should be – it’s not the end, there’s the FP coming, he’ll have his wins. But today two bad mistakes – one is glaring, the other is half-glaring, since he touched the ice with his hands and there was a fall, he fought for it, but these two mistakes won’t allow him to be among the top five – he’ll probably be among 8 to 10.

-        He’ll get a good component score for his age now…

-        Yeah, the component score will be good, his skating and gliding are…

-        They are no longer junior, they’re senior-level.

-        He understands what his interpretation and choreography should be like.

-        Well, yes. He jumped 3A cleanly as we see in the slo-mo. There’s a slight underrotation

-        And there he has a huge lean so he put down his hand not to fall down. That’s his second mistake.

-        So he lost over 6 point of the technical score, because he lost on 3T around 4 points and there will be negative GOE for other mistakes – around 4 points, so all in all around -8 or -10.

-        75.94

He loses to himself by 20 points – he can skate by 20 points better. He’s 6th so far – he’s ahead of Takahito Mura (???) and Florent Amadio.