2013-14 season: Sochi Olympics

With the adjustment period over just in time for the year of the 2014 Olympics, Yuzuru Hanyu geared up for an incredible season. He has been saying since he was as young as 8 years old that he wanted to win the Olympics in 2014, and that season has come. This season, he came rising through the ranks quicker than we've ever seen in figure skating history.

Yuzu once again skated his short program to Gary Moore's "Parisienne Walkways" with mostly the same layout and choreography. When he skated for the first time this season at the 2013 Finlandia Trophy, he landed a perfect 4T and a clean 3Lz+3T, but popped his 3A into a 1A after not getting quite enough height on the takeoff to complete all of the rotations. Nevertheless, he placed first in the short program with a score of 84.66.

2013 Finlandia Trophy - Yuzuru Hanyu Short Program

For this season, Yuzuru skated his free program to Romeo & Juliet again, but with a different arrangement and completely different choreography. Yuzu said that he moreso took on the character of Juliet during this free program instead of Romeo, which he did with his free program two years ago. When he debuted this program at the Finlandia Trophy (above), he landed both of his quads cleanly to open, but got another edge call on his 3F. After a nice combination spin which included an improved Biellmann variation, he did a 3A that was off-axis enough that it was almost a miracle that he landed it with only putting a hand down. His next three jumping passes were more or less clean, two of which were combinations he's never done in competition before, the 3Lo+2T and the 3Lz+Eu+3S. He stepped out of his last jump, the 3Lz. He still placed first in the free skate with a score of 165.59 to win the gold medal overall.

At his first Grand Prix assignment of the season, the 2013 Skate Canada International, Yuzuru landed his 4T but it was very forward-leaning; somehow, he didn't put a hand down after landing that far forward. He did a great 3A with incredible height and distance, but then popped his 3Lz into a 1Lz, still managing to do a 3T to complete the combination after. As he received his score in the kiss & cry (80.40 points), he shook his head, knowing that his short program had the potential to be worth much more than that. He was 3rd place after this segment of the competition.

During the free skating, he fell hard on his opening 4S and then put a hand down after his 4T, but landed a solid 3F with a clean edge after that. More than halfway through the program, he attempted to do a 3A but popped it into a 1A, only managing a 1T after it to complete a combination. The rest of his jumping passes were clean (barring the under-rotated 3S in his third combination), even landing a 3A+2T straight out of both a spread-eagle and a back-counter. Overall, he earned 154.40 points for his free skate for a combined total of 234.80. He finished Skate Canada in second place, putting him in a good position to qualify for the GPF pending his next assignment.

His second assignment for the Grand Prix series was the Trophee Eric Bompard (more commonly known as Grand Prix France). During the short program, after Patrick Chan skated right before him and set a new world record, Hanyu skated completely clean. A highlight of the program was his triple Axel (below), which positively flew across the ice. However, while Patrick and Yuzu's TES (technical elements scores) were very similar to each other, Yuzuru's PCS (performance components score) was lower than Patrick's, which kept him a couple of points behind the lead. Yuzu was a little more reserved during the first half of the program, only really getting into character after his jumps were done. He scored 95.37 points.

Triple Axel

His free skate started off a little messy; he popped his 4S into a 1S after slipping on the takeoff, fell on his 4T right after, and then got an edge call on his 3F. However, he recovered beautifully with the rest of his jumping passes and other elements, landing a beautiful 3A+3T combination, one more triple Axel, four more triple jumps and one more double jump. A fun part of this program was watching as Yuzuru did an Ina Bauer, and you could see his coach off the ice doing it with him (below). Overall, he made a great comeback after his first few jumping passes, and stayed in second place overall with a FS score of 168.22 and a total score of 263.59. With this silver medal, he also qualified for the Grand Prix Final the next month.

Ina Bauer - Yuzu and Brian 

At the 2013 Grand Prix Final, Yuzuru skated for a home crowd in Fukuoka, Japan. This time, the moment he started his short program, he was in character. His 4T to open earned five out of nine +3s in GOE (the maximum is +3), while the other four awarded him +2s. His absolutely stunning 3A told a similar story: five +3s and four +2s. His spins had more speed than previously, he skated with more power than previously--everything was just on. After completing a 3Lz+3T combination with good speed and no hesitation, he executed his best step sequence of this season so far (it got SIX +3s and three +2s in GOE). As he struck his ending pose, his smile was wider than ever. His score for the short program was 99.84, breaking the world record Patrick Chan had set in France and just a hairsbreadth away from the 100-point barrier, which had never been surpassed before. Watch this record breaking short program below:

2013 GPF - Yuzuru Hanyu Short Program

Yuzuru and his coach Brian Orser receiving his short program score.

Yuzuru is shocked, and you can see Brian say "so close!" in relation 

to the 100-mark.

Yuzuru went into the free skate with a 12-point lead over second place. He got off to an unfortunate start with a fall on the quadruple Salchow, but fortunately, the rest of the program was amazing. He had a beautiful 4T with an effortless landing, a stunning 3A+3T, a clean 3A+2T straight out of a spread-eagle and a back-counter and with his arms over his head, and the rest of the program went similarly. To top it off, he was much more fluid and emotionally involved than usual, which easily lead to a much higher PCS than he's used to getting. He earned his first TES in the FP above 100 points, earned a free skating score of 193.41 (a new personal best by a very wide margin!), and a total combined score of 293.25 points (so close to 300!!!!). He was first place in both the short program and the free skating, and won the gold medal for the first time at the Grand Prix Final 13.17 points ahead of Patrick Chan.

2013 GPF - Yuzuru Hanyu Free Skate

In the Japanese National Championships, Yuzuru placed first for the second time after skating clean in both the short program and the free skating, earning him a spot at the Sochi Olympics and the 2014 World Championships.

At the beginning of this Olympic quadrennial, or even at the beginning of last season, nobody would have expected for Yuzuru Hanyu to be a favorite for the podium at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Nonetheless, Yuzuru faced incredible pressure going into the Olympics, having been very recently named as Japan's hope for an Olympic figure skating medal.

Yuzuru skated his short program for Team Japan during the team event in Sochi, and it was perfectly clean, an amazing way to start off his first Olympic experience. He placed first in the short program and earned 10 points (the maximum) for Team Japan. Team Japan, unfortunately, didn't have strong internationally-ranked Pairs or Ice Dancing teams, so they ended up in fifth place.

During the individual men's event, Yuzuru skated his short program even better than he did in the team event. As he entered the ice after his name was called, he looked absolutely focus, almost like he wasn't nervous at all (although we know that's definitely not true). The moment the music started, he was in character, meaning intense and sassy and confident. His first jump, the quadruple toe loop, was absolutely flawless; it received nearly unanimous +3s in GOE (only two judges gave him a +2 instead). His first spin was a Flying Camel spin with a doughnut variation, which requires a lot of flexibility, and it was perfect--good speed and well-centered. His second spin, his sit spin, had even better speed and nice arm variation; both of these spins got positive GOEs. His next jump was a flawless triple Axel directly off of a back-counter--it had both incredible height and distance with incredible speed coming out of it. His next jumping pass, the 3Lz+3T, was perfectly clean and had no hesitation between them. His step sequence was fun and confident with good skating skills and choreography to go with it. His combination spin, the last element in the program, was just as good as the others. It was an incredible short program for an Olympics; I've included quite a few program highlights below.

 Highlight - 4T

Highlight - Doughnut Variation

Highlight - 3A

Highlight - 3Lz+3T

Highlight - Lunge During Step Sequence

When he greeted his coach off the ice, he looked happier than ever. He couldn't sit with Brian in the kiss & cry because Javier Fernadez (his other student) was skating right after Yuzu, so he sat with a representative from Team Japan to wait for his score. When it came up, both Yuzu and the representative had a hard time containing their excitement: it was 101.45. A new personal best, a new world and Olympic record, and most importantly the first time any singles skater has scored over 100 points in the short program. All of this, he did at the Olympics, the best possible place to set a world record. Watch his short program and kiss & cry from the 2014 Sochi Olympics below. (Needless to say, he went into the free skating in first place.)

2014 Olympics - Yuzuru Hanyu Short Program

Short Program - Kiss & Cry

His free program (below) was a bit of a different story compared to his flawless short program. He fell on his opening 4S, but he followed it up with a perfect 4T. He put both of his hands down after the 3F, and after that were two spins and a step sequence--all of which were nice, but you can tell that Yuzu was nervous and he wasn't as emotionally involved in the program as he could have been. His 3A+3T combination was flawless, and his 3A+2T combination broke at the waist after the 3A but was still completed. He had two more clean triple jumps, a loop and a Salchow, and a 3Lz+Eu+3S combination that had a bit of hesitation between due to his weight being in the wrong place after the lutz. After his jumps were over, his last step sequence was much more emotional than the first, with plenty of drama and character. It may not have been perfect, but he still managed to smile after he finished his free program.

2014 Olympics - Yuzuru Hanyu Free Skate

He waited for his score in the kiss & cry with his coach, clearly very nervous. With the mistakes made and with a couple of skaters still left to skate their programs after him, anything could have happened. His free skating score was 178.64 with a combined total of 280.09. When he saw his scores, he simply sat there staring; it was hard to predict, from there, who would take the gold medal. Yuzuru's score ended up being 0.54 points higher than Patrick Chan's free program score, and with his lead in the short program, Yuzuru took the gold medal at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

He was the youngest male singles skater to win the gold medal at the Olympics since Dick Button in 1942, and the first ever Asian skater to take the gold medal in the men's singles discipline at the Olympics. He was also the only Japanese athlete to win a gold medal at these Olympics.

At the 2014 World Championships in Saitama, Yuzuru fell on his opening 4T in the short program, but the rest of his program was clean. He went into the free skating in 3rd place. During the free skating, Yuzu only made minor mistakes, with no falls or hands down. In front of a home crowd and fresh off of an Olympic gold medal, Yuzu made a great comeback with his free skating after his fall on the 4T in the SP and earned 191.35 points for a combined total of 282.59. He won the gold medal at the World Championships and stood on the podium with his countrymate (silver medalist) Tatsuki Machida and his training mate (bronze medalist) Javier Fernandez.

2014 Worlds - Yuzuru Hanyu Free Skate

He was the first male skater since Alexei Yagudin in 2002 to win the Grand Prix Final, Olympics, and World Championships in the same season.