2014-15 season: Hardships and Recovery
Yuzuru started off this competitive season by withdrawing from the 2014 Finlandia Trophy due to a back injury. His statement was first posted on Finlandia Trophy's official Facebook page, where he said that the injury wasn't serious, but he didn't want to take any risks and decided to decline participating this year.
Consequently, the first time he skated during this season was at his first Grand Prix qualifying assignment, the 2014 Cup of China. His short program this season is to Chopin's "Ballade No. 1" (one of Chopin's best pieces, in my opinion), a piece with a peaceful opening and a natural, dramatic climax and conclusion--perfect, in other words, for a skating program. During his SP Cup of China, he first executed a flawless triple Axel straight out of a spread-eagle. After this strong start, though, he popped his 4T into a 3T, and then didn't complete a combination after his 3Lz. He still landed in second place after the short program with a score of 82.95.
Despite these mistakes and his low(er than he's fully capable of) score, it's crystal clear that "Ballade No. 1" has the potential to be his best program yet. He stands completely still during the opening notes, his first movement being a roll of his head several seconds into the program. The choreography considers every note of the piece, and builds and slows along with the music; the step sequence is more interesting than any other I've watched. The intricacy is like nothing he's ever skated to before--not even his record-breaking short program from last season. This program somehow makes him look infinitely more mature just a few months after we last saw him skate at the World Championships in March. Watch his debut of "Ballade No. 1" below.
During the 6-minute warm up before the last group of men were to begin skating the free programs, Yuzuru had a terrible crash with another skater, Han Yan from China. During these warm-ups, these skaters are going at really fast speeds, so both Han and Yuzuru were quite injured after this, but Yuzuru looked to be worse off. He stayed down on the ice after the crash for an nearly an entire minute (which is longer than it sounds when you're just watching him lie there) after turning over onto his back. Blood was running down his neck and into the collar of his shirt. Medics arrived to help him eventually, and he got up with some help and was able to skate back off of the rink upright on his own. However, he was still visibly bleeding and shaken as the medics helped him walk on solid ground to be treated where the audience couldn't see. You can see the crash here, but like I said, it's hard to watch.
The proceedings were halted for a while, and it was unclear whether or not either Yuzuru Hanyu or Han Yan would skate their free programs (for both of them, it would mean withdrawing from their next GP events and consequently withdrawing from the Grand Prix Final). After a while, though, the skaters arrived back on the ice for a re-do of the warm-up, and many were shocked to see that Yuzuru had chosen to skate instead of withdrawing, especially after looking so visibly injured. He returned with a bandaged chin and gauze wrapped around his head, clearly struggling, at times, to stay upright. Yan Han didn't show up for the warm-up, but did decide to skate his free program in the end.
This season, Yuzuru skated his free program to a "Phantom of the Opera" arrangement, another well-loved trope in competitive figure skating. Unfortunately, he had to debut his program for the season after this crash and injury. And to his endless credit, he put up a great fight despite being in visible pain throughout. He fell five times: on the 4S, 4T, 3A, 3Lo, and the last 3Lz. He still skated with grace, and still had the highest presentation score in the free skating overall. He limped off of the ice after his program, and cried in the kiss & cry after receiving his score: 154.60. He placed second in the free skate even with his five falls, and he placed second overall at the Cup of China.
Consequently, the first time he skated during this season was at his first Grand Prix qualifying assignment, the 2014 Cup of China. His short program this season is to Chopin's "Ballade No. 1" (one of Chopin's best pieces, in my opinion), a piece with a peaceful opening and a natural, dramatic climax and conclusion--perfect, in other words, for a skating program. During his SP Cup of China, he first executed a flawless triple Axel straight out of a spread-eagle. After this strong start, though, he popped his 4T into a 3T, and then didn't complete a combination after his 3Lz. He still landed in second place after the short program with a score of 82.95.
Despite these mistakes and his low(er than he's fully capable of) score, it's crystal clear that "Ballade No. 1" has the potential to be his best program yet. He stands completely still during the opening notes, his first movement being a roll of his head several seconds into the program. The choreography considers every note of the piece, and builds and slows along with the music; the step sequence is more interesting than any other I've watched. The intricacy is like nothing he's ever skated to before--not even his record-breaking short program from last season. This program somehow makes him look infinitely more mature just a few months after we last saw him skate at the World Championships in March. Watch his debut of "Ballade No. 1" below.
2014 Cup of China - Yuzuru Hanyu Short Program
During the 6-minute warm up before the last group of men were to begin skating the free programs, Yuzuru had a terrible crash with another skater, Han Yan from China. During these warm-ups, these skaters are going at really fast speeds, so both Han and Yuzuru were quite injured after this, but Yuzuru looked to be worse off. He stayed down on the ice after the crash for an nearly an entire minute (which is longer than it sounds when you're just watching him lie there) after turning over onto his back. Blood was running down his neck and into the collar of his shirt. Medics arrived to help him eventually, and he got up with some help and was able to skate back off of the rink upright on his own. However, he was still visibly bleeding and shaken as the medics helped him walk on solid ground to be treated where the audience couldn't see. You can see the crash here, but like I said, it's hard to watch.
The proceedings were halted for a while, and it was unclear whether or not either Yuzuru Hanyu or Han Yan would skate their free programs (for both of them, it would mean withdrawing from their next GP events and consequently withdrawing from the Grand Prix Final). After a while, though, the skaters arrived back on the ice for a re-do of the warm-up, and many were shocked to see that Yuzuru had chosen to skate instead of withdrawing, especially after looking so visibly injured. He returned with a bandaged chin and gauze wrapped around his head, clearly struggling, at times, to stay upright. Yan Han didn't show up for the warm-up, but did decide to skate his free program in the end.
This season, Yuzuru skated his free program to a "Phantom of the Opera" arrangement, another well-loved trope in competitive figure skating. Unfortunately, he had to debut his program for the season after this crash and injury. And to his endless credit, he put up a great fight despite being in visible pain throughout. He fell five times: on the 4S, 4T, 3A, 3Lo, and the last 3Lz. He still skated with grace, and still had the highest presentation score in the free skating overall. He limped off of the ice after his program, and cried in the kiss & cry after receiving his score: 154.60. He placed second in the free skate even with his five falls, and he placed second overall at the Cup of China.
4S Fall - Beginning of Program
3Lo Fall - Near the End
Ending Pose
Before attending his second Grand Prix event, the 2014 NHK Trophy, Yuzu did something he famously does not like to do: he made a statement saying that he wasn't in good shape going into it. He has said before that telling the public that he's in bad shape before a competition makes him feel too much like he's lowering his own standards and giving himself an excuse to skate badly. His announcement before NHK meant he was feeling badly enough to make a plea to his fans to not expect the best from him, just this once.
During the short program, he fell once on his 4T and put both of his hands down during his combination, only a 3Lz+1T. His 3A had a ridiculous amount of speed coming out of it, which is both impressive and also somewhat of a bad thing: it threw off his landing just a little and made him step into his spread-eagle much earlier than he usually would. However, in what seems to be a motif of the season, he still skated with elegance. He was in fifth place after the short program with a score of 78.01, but he still had the highest PCS of the entire short program segment.
He entered the ice for his free skating in a different costume than before, and his free program went similarly to his short. He downgraded three of his jumps and fell on one of them, and the landings on several others were shaky. Even his spins were little wobbly--overall, he lacked the energy that he usually brings to his skating, and just didn't seem completely like himself at this competition. Despite only falling once, his score for the free skating was even lower than it was after the crash at the Cup of China: 151.79 points. This put him in fourth overall, and unsure of whether he even qualified for the Grand Prix Final. Thankfully, though, he ended up qualifying by the skin of his teeth: he was 6th out of 6 qualifiers.
During his first performance at the 2014 Grand Prix Final, Yuzuru skated a beautiful program and landed two of his jumps flawlessly, the 4T and the 3A. He fell on the second part of his combination, but got all of the rotations in. Every program is more than its one mistake: his step sequence during this performance in particular was engaging. He was so "in-character," so to speak, and he looked comfortable on the ice, like he felt at home there. He put more feeling into the performance than he had all season. He scored 94.08 points even with the fall, which put him in first place after the short program segment with a 7-point lead.
2014 GPF - Yuzuru Hanyu Short Program
His free program went incredibly. He opened with a perfect 4S and followed it up with a perfect 4T, and then his 3F (whose edge is finally under control) was nice and clean. He did a spin with a Biellmann variation, and then did three perfect combinations, two of which had 3As at the front: the 3Lz+2T, the 3A+3T, and then the 3A+Eu+3S. He did a clean 3Lo and then fell on his very last jump, the 3Lz, and that was it--and since he skated last and with how the scores were looking before, he knew five clean jumps into the program that he had won his second Grand Prix Final. He ended the competition with a score of 194.08 in the free program and 288.16, winning by 34.26 points.
At the 2014 Japan Nationals, Yuzuru placed first in the short program after completing a clean 4T and 3A, but popping his 3T into a 2T in his combination after the landing of the 3Lz was too far forward. During the free skate, he fell exactly once on his opening 4S, and then the rest of the program was clean. He placed first in the free skating to place first overall and win his third national title, earning him a spot at the World Championships in 2015.
Yuzu pulled out of the gala skate following his win. He told the press, "I have felt some pain since the Grand Prix Final and spoke to my doctor about it. I was advised to have an examination to determine the full extent of the problem." It was later revealed through the JSF that he was diagnosed with a problem related to the urachus in his bladder. He had surgery, was released from the hospital after two weeks, and then resumed on-ice training after a month. However, not long after his return to the ice after surgery, he sprained his ankle and had to suspend on-ice training for another two weeks. Thus, his preparation leading up to the 2015 World Championships wasn’t ideal.
In March of 2015, 3 months after his last competition, Yuzuru skated his short program at Worlds in Shanghai. He flipped out of his 4T and put his hands down, but his 3A was perfect with a spread-eagle both directly before and after, and his now-fear 3Lz+3T was clean. He skated so elegantly that the entirety of the performance was a highlight. He scored 95.20 points, less than 3 points in the lead going into the free skating.
2014 GPF - Yuzuru Hanyu Free Skate
At the 2014 Japan Nationals, Yuzuru placed first in the short program after completing a clean 4T and 3A, but popping his 3T into a 2T in his combination after the landing of the 3Lz was too far forward. During the free skate, he fell exactly once on his opening 4S, and then the rest of the program was clean. He placed first in the free skating to place first overall and win his third national title, earning him a spot at the World Championships in 2015.
Yuzu pulled out of the gala skate following his win. He told the press, "I have felt some pain since the Grand Prix Final and spoke to my doctor about it. I was advised to have an examination to determine the full extent of the problem." It was later revealed through the JSF that he was diagnosed with a problem related to the urachus in his bladder. He had surgery, was released from the hospital after two weeks, and then resumed on-ice training after a month. However, not long after his return to the ice after surgery, he sprained his ankle and had to suspend on-ice training for another two weeks. Thus, his preparation leading up to the 2015 World Championships wasn’t ideal.
Worlds 2015 - Yuzuru Hanyu Short Program
In March of 2015, 3 months after his last competition, Yuzuru skated his short program at Worlds in Shanghai. He flipped out of his 4T and put his hands down, but his 3A was perfect with a spread-eagle both directly before and after, and his now-fear 3Lz+3T was clean. He skated so elegantly that the entirety of the performance was a highlight. He scored 95.20 points, less than 3 points in the lead going into the free skating.
Worlds 2015 - Yuzuru Hanyu Free Skate
During the free skating, he popped his opening 4S into a very large, somehow very pretty 2S. He then fell on his next jump, the 4T, and got a "questionable edge" call on his 3F after that. The rest of his program, which included 2 triple Axels, five more triple jumps, and a double were clean. His Biellmann variation really nice, as well, and he did skate with his usual grace and impressive speed. He was in-character, immersed in his own program (especially after he got back in the swing of things after his two mistakes). Afterwards, he looked happy but a little bit resigned. As he got his scores, he knew that his training mate, Javier Fernandez, could beat him if he skated well.
He made sure to yell "Go Javi!" when it was his turn right after. In the end, Javier Fernandez won the gold over Yuzuru by nearly 3 points, and Yuzuru took the silver medal above Denis Ten.
Yuzu yelling "Go Javi!" before Javier skates.
Comments
Post a Comment