[2026.07.19] 4th Pro Anniversary

[Wintek]

July 19th is the 4th anniversary of Yuzuru's Pro conversion.

Sport Hochi is releasing a 3-part series with an interview with Yuzuru. The articles will be release on July 19, 21, and 22.

https://x.com/figure_hochi/status/2078208824305910206?s=20

Sponichi
Has also published articles, free and paid (through Sponichi Annex)

[Wintek]

 

[2026.07.19] 

 

***Machine translation, inaccuracies exist***

 

Source:

https://hochi.news/articles/20260718-OHT1T51401.html

 

Yuzuru Hanyu Has “There is nothing but potential for growth.”

Exclusive Interview Celebrating His 4th Anniversary as a Professional Skater — Part 1: “Changes in His Fourth Year”

 

Spoiler

Sports Hochi, July 19, 2026
Interview and composition: Megumi Takagi

Professional figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu (31) reached the fourth anniversary of his transition to professional skating on July 19. To commemorate the fourth anniversary of Hanyu’s professional career, Sports Hochi will publish a special three-part interview series with him. The first installment focuses on “Changes in His Fourth Year.”

 

Hanyu has always moved forward at full speed.

Not only after turning professional, but also during his competitive years, he continued running without rest. From his senior debut in 2010, he spent 12 seasons constantly pushing forward.

In August of last year, during his fourth year as a professional skater, he made the decision to establish a maintenance period. Those months became a time in which he faced his own body, studied dance and biomechanics, and expanded his range of expression.

“For the first time, I had a maintenance period, and I feel like my body has become new in some ways. Whether it was during my competitive years, after the Olympics, or after turning professional, I had always just kept charging forward. Through undergoing various examinations and having people look at my body, it was also a year where I've really come to realize how much of a tightrope-walking state I've been in until now. The things that I had somehow managed to maintain, I feel like I’ve gradually been able to bring them back to a better condition now. In that sense, I think the biggest change during my fourth year was probably in terms of my body.”

During his April solo show “REALIVE,” for which he served as both performer and executive producer, he spoke about his current state, saying, “I’m at a time where I’m changing rapidly right now.”

“It may be in terms of both expression and skating. There was a period when I couldn’t do figure skating, and during that time, I worked extremely hard on dance training. And while I was studying dance seriously, of course I was also exposed to many different forms of expression.”

Changes also emerged in the way he creates his works.

“Until now, I had somewhat thought about dance programs like ‘Mass Destruction’ and figure skating programs as separate things. But rather than thinking, ‘This part has to be done this way,’ I’ve reached a point where I feel, ‘Everything comes together as one form of physical expression.’ I think that is one of the ways my expression has changed. Since I rebuilt everything again from the beginning after the maintenance period, even the inside of my body itself has changed, things like muscle strength and my sense of balance, along with various other aspects. I feel like I’m in the middle of a major transformation.”

The desire for improvement of the athlete who has won two Olympic gold medals has no end. After turning professional, he has continued taking on new challenges, such as dedicating time to learning various genres of dance. It is surprising that he says he often finds himself realizing, “I really can’t do this.”

“When I watch my own performances, I constantly think, ‘I’m terrible.’”

When asked, “Even now?” he answered immediately.

“Of course, of course. I think things like, ‘Wow, I’m bad at this part,’ or ‘I’m bad at that too.’ It’s nothing but room to grow.”

He is fiercely competitive. He is someone who can continue making limitless efforts in order to elevate his skating. That is precisely one of his strengths as an athlete, and also one of the reasons why Yuzuru Hanyu attracts people. Without becoming satisfied with his current state, he has believed in his own possibilities and continued opening new horizons.

“I am just living my life as I am, carrying various expectations, and wanting to respond to them. I simply spend every day thinking, ‘It would be harder if I couldn’t live up to those expectations.’ I feel like I have no choice but to become someone who cannot just talk about limits. If I decide, ‘I can’t go any further than this,’ I think that limit would probably appear immediately.”

Hanyu explained this while comparing his daily life with figure skating.

“For example, when you think, ‘Maybe I don’t have to work any more today,’ or ‘Maybe I don’t have to try any harder today,’ there are things that you can always stop doing if you decide to stop, right? Figure skating is the same. It’s not something that is essential for survival, and it’s not something I’m doing because someone else has set my schedule. It’s ultimately an extension of a hobby or lessons I chose to pursue. So if I want to decide where my limit is, I can decide it as many times as I want. But choosing not to decide that, and continuing while telling myself, ‘This isn’t my limit,’ is also one form of effort, I think. I want to be that kind of person. I want to be a skater who can make people feel that my value truly exists at any time.”

Surely, from now on as well, Yuzuru Hanyu will continue to be “Yuzuru Hanyu.”

“I think I’ve realized that this is simply the only way I can live. It’s not that I came to live this way because someone forced me to. It’s just that, because of my own personality, this is the only way I can live. I think I’m simply working hard because I don’t want to become someone who does things halfway.”

(Part 2 will be published on the 21st.)

 

[Wintek]

 

[2026.07.19] 

 

***Machine translation, inaccuracies exist***

 

Source:

https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2026/07/19/annexz/20260719b00079000019000c.html

[Yuzuru Hanyu: 4th Anniversary as a Professional (1)] 

"So this is how it turned out": The view revealed by building up the present moment

July 19, 2026 00:00 (Paid/Premium Article)

 

On the 19th, Yuzuru Hanyu (31)—a two-time Olympic champion in men's figure skating—marked the fourth anniversary of his transition to the professional ranks. In an online interview with Sponichi, he looked back on these past four years and outlined his blueprint for the future. Over the last year, despite incorporating periods for physical maintenance, he successfully completed the disaster recovery-themed ice show "notte stellata" and "REALIVE," a production that encapsulated his career trajectory. With the production of ICE STORY 4th already announced, he has embarked on a fifth year of further artistic deepening.
 

Spoiler

This first installment covers his journey over the past four years. (Reporting and text by Hiroaki Yamato; photo selection by Yoshiki Komaito)

 

Japan's national figure skating icon has now spent exactly four years in the professional world. If measured by the Olympic competitive cycle, it marks the completion of one full cycle, a significant milestone. For Hanyu, who has steadily built himself up one step at a time, these four years have felt both long and short.

 

Yuzuru Hanyu: "I feel like I've simply done what I could do. To be honest, when I turned professional, I didn't really have a clear idea of how I wanted things to turn out. At that time, I genuinely felt like I was surrounded by darkness. I didn't know how I should move forward, and while feeling that way, I was trying to aim for something through my life as a professional and through my performances as a professional. But now, when it comes to what I want to express, many more things have emerged that I want to realize much more clearly and much more concretely. The body, the mental state, the skating technique necessary to make those things possible, they're still nowhere near catching up, so it's frustrating. But that's exactly why I'm at a point where I feel I have to continue evolving even further."

 

Four years ago, he stepped into the unknown 

 

Four years have passed since the press conference where he announced his decision to leave competition and commit himself to life as a professional skater. How had he imagined himself four years in the future back then? And now that he has actually walked that path, how does the person he has become compare with the one he imagined?

 

Hanyu: "Back then, I couldn't imagine at all what I'd be like four years later. I felt that I wouldn't know unless I actually tried it. So now it's more like, 'Ah... this is what it became.' I think it's been a good direction. When it comes to what I want to express, I'm firmly in control. At the same time, many professionals bring their own multifaceted perspectives to what I want to do, and they connect those forms of expression together.

 

In that sense, ever since I started my professional career, I've truly been blessed with the staff around me. Even during my competitive career, I always felt I was fortunate to have trainers, coaches, and so many different people supporting me. Becoming a professional hasn't changed that feeling. It has made me realize once again that even now, I'm able to skate because of the people around me."

 

Having completed three installments of his self-produced ICE STORY series, and with notte stellata, held each year in his hometown of Miyagi, continuing to bring about remarkable collaborations, Hanyu has continued running forward under the pressure of wanting to live up to people's expectations. Little by little, he has also accumulated successes as a professional.

 

Hanyu: "Quite simply, I want to gradually become capable of doing the things I couldn't do before. And then I hope I can properly bring those things out within each program. Up until now, there were also many things that I did rather instinctively, in my own way. So I've properly studied those things. I thought very deeply about questions like, 'What is figure skating?' and 'What kind of body does Yuzuru Hanyu have?' I feel that the form I'm in now is simply the result of thinking through those questions."

 

Being able to connect with fans in Japan and around the world

 

ICE STORY presents a wide variety of performances and productions centered on the fundamental theme of living. At the same time, there are stages with completely different purposes, such as notte stellata, dedicated to earthquake remembrance and recovery. His relationship with fans has also changed from his competitive days, through social media and YouTube. Being able to connect with fans in Japan and overseas, and share time together through his activities, is something that brings him joy.

 

Hanyu: "As things stand now, ICE STORY itself is something that takes place only in Japan. Just the fact that people travel all the way from overseas to Japan specifically to see this series already has tremendous meaning for me. Through programs like SEIMEI, Hope & Legacy, and Heaven and Earth, I've skated while deeply feeling the thoughts of various Japanese composers and Japanese culture. Of course, I think people can feel those things through the choreography and through the music itself. But I also think each of those programs becomes something different when they're experienced while breathing the atmosphere of Japan. And by coming to Japan, I hope people can also experience what makes Japan special. In that sense, I think perhaps I've been able to become a good opportunity for that."

 

Changes and evolution of his mind, technique, and body

 

Rather than pursuing the easily understood results of competition, athlete Yuzuru Hanyu continues refining himself in pursuit of his own ideal. After four years, he can clearly feel the changes and evolution in his mind, technique, and body.

 

Hanyu: "As for my ‘mind’, I've experienced many different things, and it's gained much greater depth. Before, I was completely immersed in the athlete's world. Honestly, there was a part of me that believed all I had to do was obtain results. In a sense, I really did have a results-above-all mentality. Then I stepped into a world overflowing with information, where I continually have to communicate my own thoughts and the value of my own life, and in doing so, there were times when I was overwhelmed by many different things. 

 

As for my ‘heart’, experiencing various things has added a new depth. During these four years, there have been many moments when I truly realized just how narrow the world I'd been living in before actually was.

 

As for ‘technique’, there are things I've become able to do, and naturally there are things I'm struggling with as well. Honestly, it's both. But unless what I've become able to do and what I'm struggling with right now actually merge together, I don't think I'll be able to stand before everyone, hold my head high, and truly say to myself, 'This is ICE STORY.' So every day I'm continuing to make that effort, and I'm still in the middle of wanting to evolve further."

 

As for my ‘body’, I actually feel it's become easier than when I was competing. After all, the parts I had repeatedly battered—the parts I kept pushing hard on for three years—were in pretty bad shape. Of course, I haven’t completely resolved all the issues, but I was able to address them before things reached a breaking point. In that sense, I think I have a certain feeling of reassurance now. It really feels like I've been given a new body."