BEIJING (Reuters) – The weight on the shoulders of Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu should be immense.
With determine skating followers holding their breath to see if Hanyu will ship a efficiency on the Beijing Olympics that might earn him a 3rd consecutive gold – a primary for the game in nearly a century – the stakes are increased than ever.
But maybe the largest stress for the two-time world champion comes from inside.
Over a long-spanning profession, the 27-year-old has amassed a trove of medals however it’s the childhood dream of touchdown the quadruple Axel that has stored him pushing forward.
With a willpower bordering on obsession, Hanyu has mentioned he would generally spend all however quarter-hour of a two-hour apply session on the quad Axel, or “4A”, a taxing routine that would come with dozens of falls on the arduous ice, not to point out the danger of damage.
“I would like to perceive it,” he has mentioned of the jump that no skater has ever landed efficiently in competitors.
“I would like to get to that place the place I can confidently really feel that that is the entire, completely shaped model of Yuzuru Hanyu. And a part of that’s the 4A.”
After lacking the Grand Prix sequence with a sprained ankle this season, Hanyu, whom Chinese followers affectionately name “Youzi” – Mandarin for the yuzu citrus fruit – included the jump on the Japanese championships in December but it surely fell wanting qualifying as a 4A.
HIGH-RISK, LOW-RETURN
For all of its problem, the 4A is a high-risk-low-reward jump. Its base worth of 12.50 is the best of the six determine skating jumps however only one level greater than the quadruple Lutz.
Anything greater than a quarter-revolution of under-rotation would earn a downgrade – as Hanyu did in December – to a triple Axel value simply 8.00 factors. Grade of execution (GOE) factors could also be deducted for different imperfections.
If Hanyu wished to win, standard knowledge says, he would go quad-to-quad on the 5 different jumps towards his closest rival, American Nathan Chen, and compete on total execution.
“If you do a (quad) flip and a Lutz, you’d get a loopy excessive rating,” Chiba University researcher Nobuhiko Yoshioka and a decide on the determine skating circuit.
“But Hanyu actually desires to jump the 4A.”
If Hanyu wins in Beijing, he’ll match Swedish Gillis Grafstrom’s 94-year file of three consecutive Olympic golds in determine skating.
Hanyu’s coaching at residence has been closed to media and as of Saturday, three days earlier than he competes, he had but to present up for apply on the Games venue.
His solely public look has been in a video message on the Japan Skating Federation’s Twitter feed wherein he guarantees the 4A in Beijing, ending his message by holding up three fingers – a nod to his quest for a 3rd Olympic gold.
Chen, for his half, known as Hanyu an unrivalled icon who was continually pushing the game ahead.
“It’s actually uncommon to have the ability to see a skater keep this degree of excellence throughout a number of generations,” he advised reporters final week, saying he was keen to see Hanyu in particular person.
“This is his third Olympics, and he is nowhere close to peaking. It’s simply unbelievable to see his steady development.”
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
