#and now he does 4s3t in a casual warm-up/practice

[yuzu-all-the-way]

Legendary 4S3T

|| Hope and Legacy - Worlds 2017

[wherespacepooh]

Hanyu Yuzuru on his Olympic strategy: To choose “programs where he can be himself.” (Sportiva 2017/08/11)

Long, but fascinating read giving a more complete sense of Hanyu’s mindset towards Pyeongchang. Never had he been closer toward realizing his ideal skate in mind, perhaps. He may keep the specific details of his arsenal/ training to his chest (to our collective chagrin) until the time is right, and things fluctuate and evolve, but the mindset has always been earnest and his end goal is on full display: Jumps, spins, steps–––THE Figure Skating––HIS figure skating. - gladi.

Translated by gladi, images belong to Noto Sunao/Shueisha. Feel free to repost text with credit.

Original link to article on Web Sportiva

Text by Oriyama Toshimi. Photo by Noto Sunao

On 8.08, at the Cricket Club in Toronto, Canada, Hanyu Yuzuru held his open practice for the Pyeongchang Olympic season. At the first session beginning at 2:30 pm, Windbreaker still on, Hanyu went into the rink and, out of nowhere, took off for a 4T with a beautiful axis, casual as can be. He landed it.  

“This year as well, I haven’t been doing anything particularly special on the physical side. Instead, I’ve been doing many run-throughs and quality training and so forth. In any case, Injury is the worst enemy, so I’m always focused on quality training, quality care… As long as I keep on jumping with high quality, inevitably, injuries may be minimized. So in that sense, I’ve also been quite careful with training."

Just as Hanyu himself had said, at both hour-long practice sessions today (there was another one at 5pm), although there were falls and pops, none of the jumps were off-axis or out of alignment, nor did he miss the timing of any jumps. Wasn't that a sign of consciousness over “jumping quality jumps?” In that sense too, it also showed that training has been productive and going well.

Hanyu has made it clear that the SP of the new season (which he already debuted at ice shows) would be Chopin’s Ballade No.1, which he had used for two seasons after the Sochi Olympics. To add to that, at this open practice, he also officially presented his free program, SEIMEI, which he had used two seasons ago and with which he had gotten the world’s highest score.  

“I may have been a little hesitant about Ballade No.1 for the SP, but with SEIMEI, because I had decided to use this program for the Olympic season from the moment I performed well with it back in 2015-16, there were no hesitations. Exactly because of that, I was at a loss with what to do with the music last season. Although I wanted to do Japanese style, if I make it too Japanese, it would end up being too similar [to what I did the season before]. In that sense, doing SEIMEI, it feels like I’ve warmed up for this season."

With a repeated program, there are certainly risks that people would be thinking “this again?” and that he would be enslaved by his past performance where he achieved perfection. However, Hanyu thinks that is “not a problem as the technical composition is different.”

"What I currently have in mind is to jump the 4Lo and the 4S in the beginning, followed by the 3F and spins and steps. The first jump in the second half will be 4S3T. After that, 4T1Lo3S and 4T. And then, 3A combination jump. Ending with 3Lz for the normal layout. But, with recovery in mind, I do two 3A’s in practice. In order to be able to respond to any situation, I am aiming to always complete the second half layout at a high level."

So says Hanyu, who had also attached 2Lo (instead of 2T) as second jump following [some of the] 3A’s during this practice session. And not only jumps. For the entry into second half where he breaks into movement from a standstill, he repeated fine movements over and over again after referencing Coach Tracy Wilson’s skating, with careful attention to details as he continued to practice.

“I’m able to jump the 4Lz and training is going fairly well, but for now I have not considered putting it in [a program]. To put everything together solidly and nicely in this current configuration. As it is, putting 3 quads into the second half is a definite upgrade in the layout compared to last year. In that sense too, first I would like to properly complete SEIMEI as one whole."

One big reason why Ballade No.1 and SEIMEI were chosen––it is most important that he thinks “after all, [these pieces] fit me well.” Because he can skate without any unnaturalness, with the sense that he is penetrating deep into the piece––that is the biggest deciding factor, says [Hanyu]:

“Even if I did pick new music––and it becomes a situation of ‘try this, do that’––each and every year there are bound to be difficulties. But I don’t think there is time this season to go through this… Instead of doing something new, garnering initial reactions of ‘hm, looks unpolished, but it’ll get better from now on,’ because it is the Olympic season, I must do something where people will think ’this program is amazing’ from the very start.

In that respect, 'how does one perform this music’, ‘how does one feel’ and so forth––I think I have been able to dig deeper. Exactly because I have listened [to the music] countless of times, I am able to train, encapsulating all of these––'how I express this music’, 'how I do the jumps’, etc. Both of these are programs where I can be most like myself, down to the way I breath, and skate comfortably. They are programs where I can perform like myself in all elements too––jumps and spins and steps, so I can avoid superfluous considerations."

For Hanyu himself, both Ballade and SEIMEI are “programs that became the impetus that led him to really consider expression.” From the fact that he decided to repeat these programs, one can also see the extent of his will towards the Pyeongchang Olympics. Jumps and spins and steps. A performance where everything is melded into one coherent “figure skating.” The performance that he aims for, one that could be called THE Figure Skating. Such is his determination to challenge and rise to the top once again.   

“Before Sochi Olympics, it felt like ‘I must do this, I must do that’ and that there was so much on my plate. But now, sort of like ‘I should do this, I should do that’––I guess it has become very clear to me what looks to be my path. Of course, four years ago I had wanted to get the gold medal as well, but I have come to a point now where I seek more and lots of different things.

Now, both the type and the number of quads are a factor, and on top of that, spins and steps must be well done. Moreover, I must also put in a lot of training for the parts in between the elements. Precisely because of that, I have trained a whole assortment of things these three years, and now I must further polish all these various parts. Exactly because there are these various parts, as I had mentioned, that I feel like I am starting to see this ideal thing that is my own skating."

In face of the Pyeongchang Olympics with a successive victory in his line of sight, Hanyu’s vision has never been clearer and more vivid. And perhaps, that is something he came to, precisely because of the pains he went through after Sochi. (fin)