[2026.08.08] Sportiva: Journey of Japanese Figure Skaters - Yuzuru Hanyu

[yuzurujenn]

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist*

 

 

2026.08.08

 

Source: https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/08/post_49/

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260808131322/https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/08/post_49/

 

 

The desire to "do something for someone else" that awakened Yuzuru Hanyu: The path to the remarkable achievement of winning two consecutive Olympic gold medals.

 

[Series: The Journey of Japanese Figure Skaters]
Final Installment: Yuzuru Hanyu

 

Part 1:

 

Spoiler

At the Milano-Cortina Olympics held this February, Japan’s figure skaters won a record six medals, including the team event. This remarkable achievement was undoubtedly made possible by the accomplishments and struggles of the Japanese figure skaters who came before them.

 

This final installment (the 14th in the series) of our look back at Japanese figure skaters who have competed from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games to the 2022 Beijing Games, focuses on the career of Yuzuru Hanyu, who has achieved numerous milestones, including winning consecutive gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. The first part tells the story of how he rose from his junior days to the pinnacle of the sport.

 

The Undefeated Boy Was Different in His ‘Movement’

 

The 2009–10 season was Yuzuru Hanyu’s second season in the junior category. He won consecutive victories at the Junior Grand Prix events in Poland and Croatia, and at his first-ever Junior Grand Prix Final, he became the youngest-ever winner at the age of 14. Then, at the World Junior Championships in March 2010, he became the first Japanese male skater to win the title while still in junior high school. This undefeated boy, Yuzuru Hanyu, made his senior debut in the 2010–11 season, when he entered high school.

 

At the time, Japan’s men’s figure skating scene was exceptionally strong, with skaters such as Daisuke Takahashi, Nobunari Oda, and Takahiko Kozuka competing at the highest level in the world, all of whom had competed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Against this backdrop, Hanyu finished fourth at his first senior Grand Prix event, the NHK Trophy, making a very promising start. Hanyu himself felt encouraged by his performance, saying, “Even under intense pressure, I was able to land better jumps than I expected. I realized that I still lack stamina, so I want to build up my stamina and aim for the podium.”

 

However, the December 2010 Japanese Championships ended with a result that fell short of his expectations. Although he started in second place after the short program (SP), mistakes on his jumps in the free skate left him fourth overall. “Compared with the beginning of the Grand Prix series, I’ve gotten much better at my skating and spins. That’s precisely why I'm so frustrated about the jump mistakes. I think I was too tense,” he said, openly expressing his disappointment.

 

Nevertheless, to me as I watched him skate, what stood out were his movements, which used his entire body with a fluidity that set him apart from other skaters, and the way his performance seemed to firmly contain the emotions welling up inside him.

 

As the new year began, Hanyu demonstrated his ability to perform under pressure at his first Four Continents Championships. Competing alongside Vancouver Olympic skaters such as Takahashi, Kozuka, and Jeremy Abbott (USA), he started in third place in the short program with a personal best under the official scoring system. Although he made some mistakes on his jumps in the free skate, he still earned the third-highest score behind Takahashi and Kozuka, bringing his total to 228.01 points, well above his personal best at the time. He finished second overall behind Takahashi, securing his first senior podium finish.

 

After the competition, Hanyu's eyes lit up as he said, "I'm just surprised by the result. More than the placement, being able to land the quadruple jump and the triple Axel in the second half cleanly will give me confidence going into next season.”

 

The Struggles and Resolve Following the Great East Japan Earthquake

 

On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck. Hanyu, who was practicing at his home rink in Sendai, experienced the terror firsthand. Moreover, the earthquake rendered the rink unusable, so during the off-season he practiced at rinks in the Kanto region and gained experience by performing in ice shows. At the time, Hanyu spoke about his feelings during that period as follows:

 

“There were so many people close to me who had been affected by the disaster and were going through such a difficult time that I wondered if it was okay for me to be doing what I loved. But when I went to school or walked around town, there were people who would call out to me and say, ‘Watching your performance cheered me up.’ If I could be of even a little help to those people, I thought maybe it was okay for me to continue skating, and I decided to work even harder so that I could cheer them up even more.”

 

The desire to “do something for someone else” may have been what awakened Hanyu. He steadily progressed throughout the 2011–12 season.

 

He challenged himself by incorporating a quadruple toe loop into his short program (SP), and at the Grand Prix event in China, he scored in the 80-point range for the first time in an SP. At the following event in Russia, he set new personal bests in both the SP and free skate. Hanyu narrowly held off Javier Fernández (Spain), who mounted a comeback with his quadruple jumps, to claim his first Grand Prix victory.

 

At his first Grand Prix Final, he raised his personal-best score yet again, but finished fourth behind world champion Patrick Chan (Canada), Takahashi, and Fernández. He experienced the difficulty of competing at the top level, but immediately afterward, he delivered another strong performance at the All Japan Championships despite the demanding schedule, with only one week between events. He started fourth in the SP, but won the free skate after landing a quadruple toe loop. He finished third overall behind Takahashi and Kozuka, earning his first-ever spot on the World Championships team.

 

Looking ahead to his first major international competition, Hanyu expressed his determination, saying, “I’ve experienced a lot, including the earthquake, so I want to make use of those experiences. At the ice shows, I think I had more opportunities than ever before to land a quadruple in a competition-like setting. I also gained confidence from landing quadruples even under dim lighting, and I think I’ve built up my stamina within the program as well.”

 

However, at the World Championships, Hanyu sprained his right ankle during the official practice the day before the SP. He was pushed to the point of considering withdrawing from the competition. Nevertheless, he decided to compete, and in the SP he successfully landed a combination consisting of a quadruple toe loop followed by a double toe loop. Although a mistake on his final Lutz left him in seventh place, he put together a solid free skate without any major errors and achieved a new personal-best score. He raised his total to 251.06 points, finishing third overall behind Chan and Takahashi and once again demonstrating his ability to perform under pressure in the face of adversity.

 

Growing Through Competition with His Rivals

 

Heading into the 2012–13 season, Hanyu made a new decision. He chose to leave coach Nanami Abe, whom he had trained under until then, and take on the challenge of moving his training base to Canada to work under Brian Orser.

 

Behind this decision was his expectation of Orser, who had coached many top skaters, including Kim Yuna of South Korea, as well as his desire to train and learn alongside Fernandez, who was able to land the difficult quadruple Salchow cleanly. Until then, Hanyu had been able to land the quadruple Salchow in practice, but had not been able to incorporate it into his competition programs.

 

“The first thing I did in Canada was basic training, such as learning how to use my edges properly. I need to be able to do the jumps if I want to compete at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, so I want to raise that level as well. Now that I also understand my muscle structure, I’ve started getting into stretching to improve my flexibility.”

 

Hanyu spoke these words at his new training base. In this challenging season, in which he incorporated the quadruple Salchow into his free skate, he was about to make another major leap forward.

 

First, at the Grand Prix event in the United States, he faltered in the free skate and finished second, but he set a new world-record score in the short program.

 

At the following NHK Trophy, he broke the previous world-record score in the short program once again. In the free skate, although he fell on the triple Lutz and combination spin in the second half after saying, “I got tired toward the end,” he still recorded a personal-best total of 261.03 points to win the competition. At his second Grand Prix Final, he started third in the short program. Despite making a few minor mistakes in the free skate, he finished second overall behind Takahashi with a high total of 264.29 points, achieving the goals he had set before the season: “First place in the Grand Prix series and a podium finish at the Grand Prix Final.”

 

However, Hanyu was not satisfied with that result, saying, “If my goal for the 2014 Sochi Olympics were simply to qualify, then third place at the Grand Prix Final would be fine. But I really want to win (at the Olympics), so I think I have to surpass the skaters ahead of me soon. Dai-chan (Takahashi) is still very strong, but I have to surpass him by Sochi.”

 

Then, in December 2012, he achieved his first “surpassing Takahashi” at the All-Japan Championships. He started in first place with a flawless short program. In the free skate, he had to fight for the landings on his opening quadruple toe loop and quadruple Salchow, and his skating lacked momentum toward the end, resulting in the second-highest score. However, he held off Takahashi’s comeback and won his first national title with a total score of 285.23 points.

 

Of course, Hanyu did not become complacent despite the result. Reflecting on the All-Japan Championships, he said, “I still felt that I didn’t have enough stamina. It was a big thing that I was able to give a good performance in the short program, but I’m frustrated that I was second in the free skate. The point difference came about because Takahashi made a mistake in the short program, but I still don’t have the confidence that I surpassed Takahashi through my own ability. I think there are still things I need to work on while continuing to make an effort every day,” he said, once again steeling his resolve.

 

Subsequently, at the Four Continents Championships in February 2013, Hanyu finished second while the other Japanese representatives struggled with poor physical condition. However, his second appearance at the World Championships proved difficult. The competition was crucial because Japan needed to secure three spots for the following year’s Sochi Olympics, but Hanyu made a major mistake in the short program, falling on a jump and putting both hands on the ice, leaving him in ninth place. Takahashi also got off to a slow start in fourth place in the SP, putting Japan’s hopes of securing three Olympic spots in jeopardy.

 

The reason for Hanyu’s poor performance was his physical condition. After the Four Continents Championships, he contracted influenza and was bedridden for about 10 days. On top of that, shortly after resuming practice, he injured his left knee and was unable to skate for about a week. By the time he competed at the World Championships, he was still skating while taking painkillers.

 

To make matters worse, he injured his ankle during official practice on the morning of the free skate. He was truly battered by injuries, but Hanyu said, “Now that I’ve come this far, I wanted to compete without regrets as a representative of Japan, and I wanted to channel the frustration and sense of guilt I felt after the short program into my performance. I chose to reduce the amount of painkillers a little and prioritize how I felt.”

 

In the free skate that followed, he made errors on his second quadruple Salchow and triple Flip, but limited his mistakes to those alone and delivered a determined performance. He scored 244.99 points in total to finish fourth overall. As a result, Japan secured three Olympic spots based on the combined results of Hanyu and Takahashi, who finished sixth. Hanyu showed a look of relief.

 

 

[yuzurujenn]

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist*

 

 

2026.08.08

 

Source: https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/08/post_50/

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260808132150/https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/08/post_50/

 

 

Yuzuru Hanyu, who at one point gave up on winning a gold medal at the Sochi Olympics, said, "I learned the true fear of the Olympics..."

 

Part 2:

 

Spoiler

This final installment (the 14th in the series) of our look back at Japanese figure skaters who have competed from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games to the 2022 Beijing Games, focuses on the career of Yuzuru Hanyu, who has achieved numerous milestones, including winning consecutive gold medals at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. Part two covers his journey to the Sochi Games, his first Olympic appearance.

 

What he learned from losing to Patrick Chan

 

With the 2014 Sochi Olympics, which he had long been aiming for, in sight, Yuzuru Hanyu said, “I want to put all my feelings into it as the culmination of four years of hard work,” and decided to continue with his 2013–14 short program (SP), “Parisienne Walkways,” from the previous season. He also decided to place greater emphasis on the free program. For the free program, although the music itself was different, he chose “Romeo and Juliet,” the same music he had used during the 2011–12 season, which had been a turning point in his career.

 

“The music is different, so I think I’ll be able to skate it with a different atmosphere. And now that I’m a university student, I’ve gained more stamina, so I have a different kind of energy than I did back then. Being able to skate during the season of the Great East Japan Earthquake was incredibly important to me, and although I don’t think I can perform that program the same way again, I want to create the best "Romeo and Juliet" I can now.”

 

Having expressed his determination, Hanyu also decided to challenge a new program layout, placing a quadruple toe loop after the quadruple Salchow. However, he struggled to improve the consistency of the jumps, and the Sochi Olympic season got off to a somewhat unsettled start.

 

At the Grand Prix event in Canada, mistakes in the SP left him in third place, putting him on the back foot from the start. He also made several jumping mistakes in the free skate and could only manage to move up to second overall. Then, at the French event, he set a personal-best score in the short program to sit in second place, but in the free skate, his opening quadruple Salchow went awry after his blade caught a groove in the ice, and he also fell on the quadruple toe loop. He finished second, more than 30 points behind Patrick Chan (Canada), who had set the highest score in history at the time. It was Hanyu’s second consecutive loss to Chan, following the Canadian event.

 

However, Hanyu was pleased to have had the opportunity to compete directly against Chan in two consecutive competitions. He said he learned from Chan during the competitions, including his detailed use of his body and his attention to expression. In addition, by comparing himself with Chan, who had recorded the highest scores in history at the time in both the short program and free skate, he was able to consider which aspects of his own skating he needed to strengthen in order to catch up with and surpass him.

 

In fact, Hanyu quickly put what he had learned into practice. Three weeks after the French competition, at the Grand Prix Final, he improved his program component scores, which had been identified as an area for improvement, and broke the previous world-record score in the SP, taking the lead by more than 10 points over Chan. In the free skate, although he fell on his opening quadruple Salchow, he executed everything perfectly afterward, recording a total of 293.25 points, the second-highest score in history at the time, and winning the competition. There, he gained a firm sense that he could compete with Chan on equal terms at the Sochi Olympics.

 

At the All-Japan Championships in December, Hanyu scored over 100 points in the SP for the first time in his career. In the free skate, he fell on his opening quadruple Salchow, which he had said he “still lacked experience” with, but he put everything else together cleanly, scoring a total of 297.80 points (unofficial record) and winning decisively to secure his first Olympic berth.

 

“Even though everyone around me was tense and on edge, I was able to maintain my own rhythm. I think that’s because I had the valuable experience of competing against Patrick in every single Grand Prix event.”

 

Winning His First Gold Medal, but Learning the True Fear of the Olympics

 

In February 2014, at his first Olympics, Hanyu competed in the figure skating team event, which was being held at the Olympics for the first time and began the day before the opening ceremony. Under the pressure of being the final skater, he delivered a flawless performance. He showed his excellent form by finishing first, far ahead of Evgeni Plushenko (Russia), an idol whom Hanyu said made his “legs tremble,” and Chan, who was in the midst of winning three consecutive World Championship titles.

 

That momentum carried over into the individual short program a week later. Despite the unexpected withdrawal of Plushenko due to a back injury, Hanyu said he was “far more nervous than in the team event,” but after landing his opening quadruple toe loop, he delivered another flawless performance that exuded confidence. He scored 101.45 points, a new highest score in history at the time, surpassing his score from the team event.

 

“I had a dip in my condition and there were some things that made me anxious, but I was very conscious of trying to maintain a positive mindset. It was better than the performances I had given before, but I myself never really thought I would be able to score over 100 points. I’m really happy that I was able to do it on the Olympic stage.”

 

Chan, who skated after Hanyu, had a slightly shaky landing on his triple Axel and scored in the 97-point range, leaving Hanyu in the lead. The competition for third place and below was extremely close, with nine skaters packed within 3.5 points of one another. However, the highest score among them was in the 86-point range, making the battle for the gold medal essentially a two-man contest between Hanyu and Chan.

 

Hanyu was the third skater in the final group for the free skate the following day, but he said, “My body just wouldn’t move, and I was really anxious from the six-minute warm-up.” Nevertheless, he said, “I tried my best to give everything I had, whatever condition I was in,” but he fell on his opening quadruple Salchow. He landed his next quadruple toe loop cleanly, but then fell again on his triple Flip, getting off to a rough start.

 

Even in the second half of his performance, Hanyu said, “I ran out of stamina, my legs stopped moving, and negative feelings started to creep in.” He made a mistake in his planned three-jump combination, failing to land the final triple Salchow, and his free-skate score of 178.64 points was nearly 25 points below his personal best. Although his total score of 280.09 points put him provisionally in first place, Hanyu admitted that at that point he “thought the gold medal was out of reach” and had given up on reaching the top.

 

However, Chan, who skated next, landed his opening quadruple toe loop–triple toe loop combination perfectly, but then put his hand down on the landing of his next quadruple toe loop. He also had a major wobble on his triple Axel. His skating became unstable in the second half of the program, and his total score was 275.62 points. Even for the world champion, the pressure of having an Olympic gold medal within reach had been immense.

 

Thus, Hanyu won Japan’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s singles figure skating. “I can honestly say that I’m truly surprised,” he said. Regarding his performance, in which he made a mistake on the triple Flip, a jump he considered one of his most reliable, he said, “To put it plainly, I’m not satisfied.” At the press conference the following day, he said:

 

“Last night’s free skate made me realize the true fear of the Olympics, and I feel that I came to understand the weight of the Olympics. But this isn’t the end. I still want to continue competing, so I want to keep working hard alongside the skating that I love so much.”

 

Major titles won, his winning streak continues

 

One month later, at the World Championships held in Saitama City, Hanyu started third after the short program but came from behind in the free skate to win his first world title by a margin of just 0.33 points over runner-up Tatsuki Machida

 

“My body was at its limit, and I was also very nervous because I felt that I had to win. But the feeling of ‘I’m absolutely going to win this’ was stronger,” Hanyu said. Regarding that victory, he reflected, “I think I am where I am today because that gold medal came with the lingering frustration of not having been able to give everything I had in Sochi.”

 

That season, Hanyu won three major international competitions: the Grand Prix Final, the Olympics, and the World Championships. He became only the second skater to accomplish this feat, following Alexei Yagudin (Russia) in the 2001–02 season.

 

[yuzurujenn]

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist*

 

 

2026.08.09

 

Source: https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/09/post_51/

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260809042702/https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/09/post_51/

 

 

“Yuzuru Hanyu: Behind the Scenes of His Back-to-Back Olympic Titles — Growing Through ‘Study’ While He Was Out Due to Injury”

 

Part 3:

 

Spoiler

This third installment focuses on his struggles following the Sochi Olympics and his journey toward winning back-to-back Olympic titles at the PyeongChang Olympics.

 

A Determined Performance Amid a Serious Accident

 

Having achieved his first goal of winning the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Yuzuru Hanyu began the 2014–15 season with his sights set on his next goal: winning back-to-back Olympic titles. He imposed a new standard on himself, saying, “I don’t think I should be highly regarded simply because I’m an Olympic champion. I think I’ll be more highly regarded if I give performances worthy of an Olympic champion.” As a new challenge to broaden his range of expression, he chose the delicate piano piece "Ballade No. 1 in G minor" for his short program (SP).

 

However, he was hit by an accident right away at his first Grand Prix Series event of the season, the Cup of China. During the six-minute warm-up for the free skate, just as he was about to enter a jump, he collided with Han Yan (China), who was also attempting a jump.

 

Even so, after receiving first aid from the American team doctor, Hanyu went ahead and competed. Although he fell five times, he managed to finish with a total score of 237.55 points, placing second.

 

A subsequent detailed examination determined that he would need two to three weeks to recover. Still, Hanyu competed at the NHK Trophy three weeks later, saying, “I don’t want to give up on making it to the Grand Prix Final.” He finished fourth, but ranked sixth in the standings and secured his place in the Final.

 

At the Grand Prix Final, he took the lead after the SP and then cleanly landed both his quadruple Salchow and quadruple toe loop in the free skate, winning the title with a total score of 288.16 points. At the All-Japan Championships, he also took first place with a total score of 286.86 points, finishing 35 points ahead of the runner-up. His performance was a remarkable display of his sheer determination to win.

 

However, shortly afterward, he was diagnosed with a “urachal remnant” and underwent surgery, which forced him to spend two weeks in the hospital. Even after being discharged, he had a period during which he was unable to practice because of a sprained right ankle. Going into the World Championships without sufficient preparation, he ultimately lost to Javier Fernández of Spain and finished second.

 

Setting One Incredible  High Score After Another

 

The following 2015–16 season became a breakthrough season in which Hanyu soared far above the competition. Although he finished second after losing to Patrick Chan (Canada) at the Grand Prix Series event in Canada, he came alive at the NHK Trophy that followed. In the short program, he changed to a highly difficult layout, placing a quadruple Salchow and a quadruple toe loop–triple toe loop combination in the first half of his “Ballade No. 1 in G minor” program. He landed the difficult jumps without a mistake and scored 106.33 points, nearly five points higher than his own previous world-record score. Then, with an intense, flawless performance in the free skate, he scored 322.40 points in total—the first time in history a skater had surpassed 300 points—and won the event.

 

Two weeks later, at the Grand Prix Final, he produced incredible scores of 110.95 points in the SP and 219.48 points in the free skate, for a total of 330.43 points. Looking back on the result, Hanyu said, “At the NHK Trophy, I was able to simply celebrate and say, ‘I did it,’ but this time, I felt more relieved and thought, ‘Thank goodness.’” He explained the reason as follows.

 

“I think one of the reasons I was ‘scared’ was that after achieving a good result at the NHK Trophy, I found myself in the position of being the one being chased. After winning the Sochi Olympics and the World Championships, I went into the Cup of China with confidence, only to get injured, and then I made mistakes at the following NHK Trophy as well. I remember saying to myself on the way to the Grand Prix Final, ‘I can become the challenger again.’ So, this time, I was scared because I was no longer in that situation. But this kind of environment is also a form of battle with yourself. This competition made me realize that even if you become the one being chased, you still have to fight against all the various circumstances surrounding you.”

 

After winning his fourth consecutive All-Japan Championship title, Hanyu finished second at the 2016 World Championships for the second year in a row, partly due to a ligament injury in the instep of his left foot sustained during practice. After the competition, he was diagnosed with a “Lisfranc joint ligament injury in his left foot” and was told that he would need two months to recover. He therefore devoted himself to treatment and rehabilitation in preparation for the new season.

 

Despite his injury, Hanyu began taking on new challenges for the 2016–17 season. With his toe-loop practice restricted, he made progress in mastering the quadruple loop and began considering incorporating it into his program. In July, he revealed that he would use the loop and Salchow as his quadruple jumps in the SP, while the free skate would feature four quadruple jumps: two Salchows, a loop, and a toe loop.

 

This challenge did not quite translate into flawless performances, but at the NHK Trophy, the second event of the Grand Prix Series, he scored 301.47 points, marking his third time scoring over 300 points, and won the competition. He went on to achieve his fourth consecutive victory at the Grand Prix Final.

 

However, at the Four Continents Championships in the latter half of the season, despite scoring 303.71 points, he was defeated by Nathan Chen (USA), who performed four different types of quadruple jumps, including the Lutz and flip, and finished second. The result made Hanyu keenly aware that a new generation of challengers had emerged.

 

Nevertheless, he showed the dignity of a champion at the World Championships. In the SP, it was a high-level battle in which the top three skaters all scored over 100 points, led by Fernández with 109.05 points. Hanyu, however, got off to a slow start, placing fifth with a score in the 98-point range. In the free skate, though, he delivered a flawless performance of “Hope & Legacy,” featuring four quadruple jumps, and scored 223.20 points. He won the title with a total score of 321.59 points, a result that heightened expectations for the upcoming PyeongChang Olympic season.

 

Overcoming Adversity to Win Back-to-Back Olympic Titles

 

The 2017–18 season was the season of the PyeongChang Olympics. Aiming to win back-to-back Olympic titles, Hanyu chose “Ballade No. 1 in G minor” for his short program, the same piece he had skated to for the two seasons following the Sochi Olympics. For his free skate, he selected “SEIMEI,” which he had chosen two seasons earlier, because he “wanted to see how the Japanese aesthetic would be received around the world,” and with which he had repeatedly broken the world record for the highest score in history.

 

At the Autumn Classic in September, he announced his intention to attempt a free-skate layout featuring five quadruple jumps of four different types: Salchow, toe loop, loop, and Lutz. This was likely a challenge made with an eye toward Chen’s future development, after Chen had successfully landed the loop, his fifth type of quadruple jump, at the U.S. International Classic a week earlier. However, this challenge would later put Hanyu in a difficult position.

 

At the Grand Prix Series event in Russia, where he faced Chen, Hanyu got off to a second-place start after falling in the short program and trailing Chen by more than five points. In the free skate, he managed to land only three quadruple jumps, but he successfully landed the opening quadruple Lutz. He finished first in the free skate, beating Chen, who landed four quadruple jumps, but remained second overall behind Chen. Nevertheless, Hanyu felt a great sense of accomplishment from successfully landing the quadruple Lutz.

 

However, an unexpected incident occurred at his second event, the NHK Trophy. During official practice the day before the competition, which he entered without being in top physical condition, Hanyu injured his right ankle while attempting a quadruple Lutz. The following day, it was announced that he had been diagnosed with a lateral ligament injury in his right ankle and would withdraw from the competition. Furthermore, his recovery would require considerable time, forcing him to withdraw from the All-Japan Championships as well.

 

As a result, although he was selected for the PyeongChang Olympics based on his past achievements, Hanyu would have to take on the biggest stage, where he was aiming for a second consecutive Olympic title, without having competed in any events since his injury.

 

Hanyu arrived in PyeongChang just five days before the men’s short program. “For the three months after I was injured, all I could do was watch competitions, and I went through a difficult period when I couldn’t skate,” he said. At the press conference following the official practice on February 13, large numbers of journalists from around the world gathered, reflecting the enormous level of attention surrounding him.

 

During the period when his injury prevented him from skating, Hanyu devoted himself to off-ice training. He described it as “not wasted time, but time in which I was able to learn many things.” However, it was only a few weeks before this press conference that he was able to resume on-ice training and start jumping again. He had resumed triple jumps and the triple Axel about three weeks earlier, and quadruple jumps about two and a half weeks earlier. Despite being in such circumstances, Hanyu calmly answered the reporters’ questions with a composed expression.

 

On February 16, the day of the short program, Hanyu delivered a flawless performance that dispelled the concerns surrounding him. As he began skating with what seemed like calm concentration coursing through his entire body, Hanyu said, “I was a little worried about the quadruple Salchow because I had missed it during the morning run-through, but I was able to put into practice what I had studied from books, papers, and other sources while I was unable to skate, including how to adjust my training.” From the opening quadruple Salchow to the very end, it was a smooth, flowing performance without a single moment of hesitation.

 

His score of 111.68 points was just short of his personal best. He took the lead, finishing about four points ahead of second-place Fernández.

 

“It really was just like practice. I felt that my body remembered everything, and above all, the Axel, toe loop, and Salchow are all jumps that have been with me for many years. In that sense, I was jumping them with a feeling of gratitude.”

 

However, he was still in pain and performed while taking painkillers. For the free skate the following day, he said, “Because I was injured, there were many things I had to think about, and I learned a lot about strategy. I came here with the feeling that I came here to win.” He therefore decided to skip the quadruple loop and go with a layout featuring four quadruple jumps and one triple Axel.

 

Hanyu was the fourth skater in the final group, followed by Fernández, who was second after the short program, and Shoma Uno, who was third. Just as he had in the short program, he began calmly, landing his opening quadruple Salchow and the following quadruple toe loop with maximum GOE (Grade of Execution) scores. He then cleanly landed a quadruple Salchow–triple toe loop combination in the second half of the program.

 

 

His next quadruple toe loop had a shaky landing, preventing him from completing the planned three-jump combination. Nevertheless, he recovered by adding a triple Axel. At the very end, he somehow managed to hold on to the triple Lutz, which he described as “a jump I had only barely become able to land while battling through pain,” keeping his mistakes to a minimum and completing the program.

 

He scored 206.17 points. Although he finished second in the free skate behind Chen, who landed six quadruple jumps of four different types, Hanyu won the Olympic title with a total score of 317.85 points, becoming the first male singles skater in 66 years to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals.

 

After the medal ceremony, Hanyu spoke with a smile about how this Olympics differed from Sochi:

 

“Unlike the sheer determination I had in Sochi, this time I truly felt a sense of duty that I ‘had to win [the medal],’ and because of that, there was also, to some extent, the feeling of ‘What if I miss this chance…?’ When I was 19, I thought I still had plenty of time ahead of me, but this time, I was competing under the pressure of thinking, ‘There’s no time left. I don’t know how many more times I’ll be able to perform on a stage this big.’ In that sense, I think I was able to feel the Olympics more deeply this time.”

 

It was a competition that once again demonstrated the tremendous strength of Hanyu’s mental fortitude. At the exhibition gala on the final day of the Games, Hanyu performed last, taking the closing spot of the show. He skated to “Notte Stellata (A Starry Night),” a piece that Tatiana Tarasova had given him at the 2016 Canadian competition, saying, “I’d really like you to skate to this.”

 

At the Sochi Olympics exhibition gala, Hanyu performed “White Legend,” the short program he had skated during the season in which the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. He explained his thoughts behind the two choices:

 

“My ‘White Legend’ performance at Sochi reflected my experiences around the time of the earthquake. But this time, there is also choreography that feels more like taking flight, so I skated with the hope that I could give a performance that would help those who have recovered from the earthquake feel even a little more energized and uplifted.”

 

After returning home from the Olympics, Hanyu was diagnosed with a lateral ligament injury in his right ankle and an injury to his peroneal tendon. He withdrew from the World Championships, for which he had already been selected, bringing his season to an end.

 

 

 

[yuzurujenn]

*machine translation, inaccuracies exist*

 

 

2026.08.09

 

Source: https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/09/post_52/

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20260809044508/https://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/othersports/figure/2026/08/09/post_52/

 

 

"I was able to do my own version of the quadruple axel." The aesthetics of the jump that Yuzuru Hanyu was particular about at his final Olympics.

 

Part 4 (final):

 

Spoiler

In this concluding fourth installment, we will cover the quadruple Axel, his challenge at the Beijing Olympics, and his journey to becoming a professional skater.

 

What is Yuzuru Hanyu's ultimate ideal image?

 

After winning his second consecutive Olympic gold medal at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, Yuzuru Hanyu stated that his next goal was to attempt the quadruple Axel. Looking ahead to the 2018–19 season, he announced that he would use music performed by figure skaters he had admired for his new programs, saying, “I felt that I no longer needed to be so fixated on whether I won or lost, so I thought it might be okay to skate for myself.”

 

For the short program (SP), he chose “Otonal,” which had been used by Johnny Weir (USA). Explaining the choice, Hanyu said, “I admired the androgynous beauty that can be expressed precisely because you are a man, as well as the beauty of the landings on the jumps.”

 

For his free skate, meanwhile, he chose “Tribute to Nijinsky,” a program performed by Evgeni Plushenko (Russia), who Hanyu said “was the person who inspired me to want to win an Olympic gold medal, and whose program had an overwhelming aura.” He selected two pieces from the music and named the program “Origin.”

 

He unveiled the new programs at the Autumn Classic in September 2018. Competing with pain in his knee, he won the event, but made several mistakes and finished with a total score in the 263-point range.

 

In his free program at that time, Hanyu attempted to include a quadruple toe loop-triple axel combination, which is treated as a sequence and has its base score multiplied by 80%. He explained the reason for this, saying, "I wasn't consciously aiming to be a world first. Right now, I'm able to perform without being constrained by the score, so in that sense, I thought this was the best combination jump I could do."

 

At the subsequent Grand Prix Series event in Finland, he scored 106.69 points in the short program. In the free skate, he performed the first-ever quadruple toe loop–triple Axel combination, landing it successfully despite receiving a deduction. Although Hanyu himself was not completely satisfied with the performance, he scored 190.43 points. His total of 297.12 points, including the short program and free skate, set new world-best scores under the new scoring rules.

 

However, two weeks later, he was injured at the Grand Prix event in Russia. During official practice before the free skate, he hurt his right ankle while landing a quadruple loop. “I knew for sure that I had injured a ligament,” Hanyu later recalled. Under normal circumstances, it would have been a situation in which he had to consider withdrawing, but he immediately began slowly skating around the rink, working out how he would structure his program for the competition.

 

“If things stayed like this, it would be difficult to even qualify for the All-Japan Championships, so I thought about what I wanted to do [in the competition] and what I could cut. The training I had done up to this point had been very significant for me, so I didn’t want to give up here, and I wanted to put the results of that training to use now,” Hanyu said, explaining his decision to compete despite the injury. He performed a program containing three quadruple jumps and ran out of strength toward the end, but still won the event with a total score of 278.42 points.

 

He subsequently withdrew from the Grand Prix Final and the All-Japan Championships. He returned four months later at the World Championships, but got off to a slow start, placing third in the short program. Nevertheless, in the free skate, he limited his mistakes to just one in a layout featuring four quadruple jumps and cleanly landed a quadruple toe loop–triple Axel combination, earning a season-best 206.10 points. His total score reached 300.97 points, but he finished a frustrating second, more than 20 points behind Nathan Chen (USA), who delivered clean performances in both the short program and free skate.

 

Hanyu carried both programs over into the 2019–20 season “I feel that this season actually began with last season’s World Championships,” he said. He decided not to include the quadruple toe loop–triple Axel combination he had attempted the previous season, saying that “there wasn’t enough benefit to doing it in terms of the score.” Instead, he focused on winning through performances that emphasized earning positive GOE (Grade of Execution) scores.

 

He went on to win both of his Grand Prix Series events, the Canadian event and the NHK Trophy. However, despite posting a high total of 322.59 points at the Canadian event, he made mistakes in the free skate at the NHK Trophy and finished with 305.05 points, leaving him visibly dissatisfied.

 

“It feels like the nine-year-old me, who was a ‘ball of confidence’ after winning the All-Japan Novice Championships, is constantly telling me, ‘You still have a long way to go.’ I think the ultimate ideal version of Yuzuru Hanyu is for the adult me and the me from back then, who thought I could do anything, to merge together.”

 

He entered the Grand Prix Final with the goal of beating Chen, but a major mistake in the short program put him in second place. He found himself in a difficult situation, trailing Chen by more than 12 points. Hoping to make a comeback, he attempted a free-skate layout featuring five quadruple jumps. He cleanly landed the quadruple loop in the first half and the quadruple Lutz he had taken a chance on, but a mistake toward the end kept his total score below 300 points. As a result, he lost to Chen by a wide margin of more than 43 points.

 

At the subsequent All-Japan Championships, he delivered a performance he was satisfied with in the short program, but faded in the free skate, saying, “I felt like my body was deteriorating.” He made a mistake midway through the program when a planned triple Lutz became a double, causing the performance to unravel. Shoma Uno overtook him, leaving Hanyu to settle for second place.

 

In February of the following year, at the Four Continents Championships, Hanyu decided to change his programs. He returned to “Ballade No. 1 in G minor” for the short program and “SEIMEI” for the free skate.

 

“With the Grand Prix Final and the All-Japan Championships, raising the difficulty is fun, and the joy of achieving it is great, but I felt that it wasn't really like me. At the same time, even when I was working on ‘Origin’ and ‘Otonal,’ I felt like I wasn't skating with my own rhythm. The more high-difficulty elements I incorporated, the more I felt that I was neglecting my own skating. So I decided to reset and try a program that truly brings out who I am.”

 

Speaking this way before the competition, Hanyu scored 111.82 points in the short program, a new world-best score under the new rules. In the free skate, he returned to a layout with four quadruple jumps, but put his hand down on the landing of the opening Lutz and later fell. Nevertheless, he scored 299.42 points in total and won the Four Continents Championships for the first time. With this victory, he achieved the “Super Slam,” winning all six major international competitions, including the junior level, and gained momentum heading into the World Championships.

 

However, the World Championships were subsequently canceled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. The season came to an unexpected end.

 

A Shared Affinity for the Aesthetics of Heaven and Earth

 

During the 2020–21 season, because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanyu was unable to travel to Canada, where he was based, and instead chose to train in Japan using online communication technology. Hanyu was also devoting considerable effort to his university graduation thesis, and when the Grand Prix Series was held in an unusual format that season, he decided not to compete, believing that traveling himself could potentially contribute to the spread of infection.

 

For his short program that season, he chose Robbie Williams’ upbeat “Let Me Entertain You,” saying, “Because it’s such a difficult time, I want everyone to smile.” His free skate, "Ten to Chi to" (Heaven and Earth), was another Japanese-themed program following SEIMEI. Hanyu himself arranged music from the soundtracks of the historical dramas "Ten to Chi to" and "Shin Heike Monogatari" (The New Tale of the Heike) and used it for the program.

 

At the All-Japan Championships in December 2020, his first competition in 10 months, he won his fifth title with a high total score of 319.36 points. Speaking about his feelings toward "Ten to Chi to" (Heaven and Earth), the program with which he delivered such an impressive performance, he said:

 

"At last season's Grand Prix Final and All-Japan Championships, I had the feeling that perhaps I wasn't growing as a skater, and that I was gradually becoming unable to compete. For a moment, I felt tired of fighting. But amidst all that, I also realized that I really love the sense of accomplishment I get from competitions and the struggles I overcome."

 

“'Ten to Chi to' is a story about Uesugi Kenshin, and I felt an affinity with his way of thinking about battle and the aesthetics behind it. I also had my own struggles with various restrictions, and although Kenshin ultimately became a monk, I felt that his values, which led him to a kind of enlightened state, were similar to my own. I connected those things with my performance.”

 

In the restricted environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanyu had to manage and produce himself, train alone, and even choreograph his own programs, and at one point his spirits sank to rock bottom. He even wondered whether he should be competing at all. But when he thought about the people suffering during the pandemic, he also felt that he was fortunate. Hanyu entrusted his inner conflict and his determination to go out and fight to his expression of Uesugi Kenshin’s spirit.

 

At the World Championships, which would determine the number of Olympic spots Japan would secure for the following season’s Beijing Olympics, Hanyu took the lead after the short program but made a series of mistakes in the free skate. He was also defeated by Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama and finished third overall. However, Hanyu accepted the result as something that was only natural.

 

“I felt that I had accomplished a certain amount at the All-Japan Championships, so more than anything, I wanted to land the quadruple Axel. That’s why, even at the World Championships, I was prepared to sacrifice the competition and practice the quadruple Axel right up until the last possible moment…”

 

In any case, Hanyu contributed to securing the minimum required three Olympic spots. Looking ahead, he stated emphatically that his program "Heaven and Earth" would not be complete until he included the quadruple Axel.

 

Then came the 2021–22 season. During this crucial Olympic season, Hanyu was once again troubled by injury. He injured his right foot during practice and had to withdraw from the NHK Trophy and the Russian event in the Grand Prix Series. As in the previous season, the All-Japan Championships in December became his first competition of the season.

 

For his short program in this crucial season, he chose the piano version of “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso,” a piece he said he had “wanted to do for a long time.” At its first performance at the All-Japan Championships, he not only landed all his jumps perfectly but also skated with remarkable precision, matching the speed of his spins to the music. The judges rated the performance highly, awarding him 111.31 points.

 

His free program was set to “Heaven and Earth,” a program he had been refining since the previous season. As promised, he also attempted the quadruple Axel. Although the jump was downgraded and received deductions, he executed everything that followed perfectly, scoring a total of 322.36 points. He won by a wide margin over second-place Shoma Uno and secured his spot at his third Olympic Games.

 

“I was so disappointed by how poorly I was jumping the quadruple Axel in the morning practice that I was mentally falling apart. I felt that it was difficult to use a jump in the actual competition that I still hadn’t fully mastered. However, the fact that I was able to do as much as I did in the competition makes me think that, although I’m frustrated, I’m at a point where I can accept what I’m capable of for now.”

 

After the competition, Hanyu said, “Honestly, I think the chances of winning three consecutive Olympics are low,” but nevertheless showed a positive attitude toward the Beijing Olympics, revealing his strong competitive spirit.

 

“The Olympics aren’t a showcase; it’s a competition where you have to go for the win. To do that, I think I need to build a program that will allow me to earn positive GOE (Grade of Execution) on the quadruple Axel.”

 

This Is the Rotational Speed of a Quadruple Axel 

 

At the Beijing Olympics, Hanyu had been showing good form in official practice, but the short program produced an unexpected result. His opening quadruple Salchow got caught in a groove that had been created during the six-minute warm-up, causing him to complete only a single rotation and receive 0 points. Since everything he did afterward was perfect, the loss of more than 10 points from the Salchow mistake was particularly painful.

 

He scored 95.15 points, putting him 18.82 points behind Chen in first place and making the title suddenly seem much farther out of reach.

 

“Even so, I’m grateful that I was able to receive 95 points, and I want to give myself credit for being able to keep the quality of everything else so high. The six-minute warm-up also went really well, and I still have a good feeling from it, so I’m in good condition heading into the free skate. The mistake was something that was beyond my control, so I just want to do my best for the free skate.”

 

Then came the free skate, where Hanyu was expected to make a comeback. The layout he had prepared consisted of four quadruple jumps, including the Axel, as well as a triple Axel–triple loop combination, a program designed to maximize the quality of his performance. He had even successfully landed the combination during the run-through in official practice. However, midway through the practice session, he sprained his right ankle while landing a quadruple Axel on one foot. Tension ran through the many members of the media who had gathered to watch Hanyu practice.

 

Nevertheless, during the six-minute warm-up just before the free skate, Hanyu attempted the quadruple Axel twice toward the end. He fell on both attempts, but remained determined to take on the challenge.

 

When the moment came, Hanyu’s crucial quadruple Axel was under-rotated, and he fell. His next quadruple Salchow was also under-rotated and resulted in a fall, making for the worst possible start. Nevertheless, from the triple Axel–double toe loop combination onward, he skated without a single mistake, including two combination jumps beginning with a quadruple toe loop in the second half of the program. He delivered a performance that demonstrated Hanyu’s pride as a skater.

 

He finished with a total score of 283.21 points. The final Olympics of his competitive career ended with him in fourth place. After finishing his performance, Hanyu raised both hands toward the sky and remained still for six seconds.

 

“The pose also had the meaning of ‘heaven’ in 'Heaven and Earth,' and I also had the image of sending my soul to the heavens. It’s the same as the final pose I did in From Russia with Love when I was nine, but I was somehow overlapping myself with who I was back then. It’s difficult to put into words, but I had all kinds of emotions swirling inside me. In a sense, I think the story of my program was completed only after I finished that pose and ‘put my sword away.’”

 

Regarding the quadruple Axel, he said, “It felt really good. I thought, ‘So this is the rotational speed of a quadruple-and-a-half,’ and I felt that trying to land from there might be a little dangerous, but I think I was able to do my own version of the quadruple-and-a-half.”

 

Four days later, at a press conference held at the Main Press Centre, Hanyu once again looked back on the competition and spoke about his feelings toward the quadruple Axel.

 

“The reason I kept aiming for the quadruple Axel was because the nine-year-old me inside me kept telling me, ‘Jump it,’ and also kept telling me, ‘You’re so bad at this,’ so I kept practicing. But this time, that nine-year-old me praised my Axel. Actually, although my body is different now, the Axel I have today uses the same form as when I was nine. After searching for the quadruple Axel for so long, the technique I ultimately arrived at was the Axel I had back then.”

 

“I had been struggling desperately to climb that wall, but in the end, I feel that the person who reached down from the top of the wall and pulled me up was my nine-year-old self. I’ve been able to accept that this was ‘Yuzuru Hanyu’s Axel.’ Even if it was under-rotated, even if I fell, I think it was an Axel I could be proud of. One that, when I look back on it someday, I’ll be able to say, ‘Yuzuru Hanyu’s Axel had such a tight axis. It really was beautiful.’”

 

Then, in July 2022, Hanyu announced his decision to continue figure skating as a professional athlete. Since then, he has continued to explore new possibilities in figure skating, including actively staging solo ice shows.