And here's a young man who's 18
But will be 19 on Saturday
Is he gaining in maturity?
Brian Orser rinkside, to send him on his way
This could be a "defining" skate for him (an important place in his career)
Bronze medallist in the world championships in Nice, a couple of years ago
Not been at his best this year, looked a little "brittle" at times (easily broken ie. unstable, inconsistent)
But others have failed here
Could it be his chance?
Runner up in Skate Canada (2nd place)
Runner up in Paris
This is "Yuzuri" Hanyu from Sendai
With Gary Moore's Parisienne Walkways
Brilliant! Quad toe loop
"Commanding" start (dominating, in control)
And a triple axel out of nowhere
Supreme! Triple lutz, triple toe loop
Well look at the response, and you can hear it too
The crowd here, it's just impossible to tell you how dispappointed they'd have been, when they heard that Takahashi wasn't skating
He is the king of figure skating
The best ever, they've had in Japan
The charismatic figure
He's the king...
This guy's the prince
And Hanyu has delivered as good a routine, as he's performed in his life
Just brilliant
Elvis on skates!
He had that confidence from the start, on the boards he just pushed off
You just had this feeling that he was going to "take" the ice, he "owned" it
(It) was a tremendous performance of character...
...In the way he was delivering it with his expression
We were talking about the expression of the others skaters...
...but his facial expression, it's like "I'm here!", "this is it!", "now give me the marks!"
Fantastic!
How long is it going to take to get those flowers off the ice?!
We could be here for some time!
And he's helping, which is good to see
They have got a heck of a job, and still they rain down, he's such a popular figure
Some of these flowers would have been bought with Takahashi in mind...
So he's picking up a load extra! (laughs)
There was a thing in Canada the other week, they had this "teddy bear" thing
Where they do a hockey game
.. and you threw teddy bears on it, it goes to children afterwards
They threw 26,000 teddy bears onto the ice after the first goal
There won't be quite so many here
But, the young girls and boys out there having to work very hard
They're all wrapped of course, so "bits" don't go on the ice
But my words...
He has looked "brittle", but there was not a sense of it here
No, there was no doubt
And the quality... the quality on the first quad
Comfortably round
Spins were good, the last one was just a touch wobbly
The lack of take-off time into the axel, making it more difficult
Some good changes of positions in the spins, and his...
...and the back arm movement there, was a nice choreographic touch
There's the axel
Lovely little flourish with the hands
Again the take-off to the axel
(exclamation)
I said it was... it could be... a "defining" skate
And that may well turn out to be a very important skate, because (there is) such a weight of expectation (on him)
Brian Orser, who himself won a silver medal at the Olympics in '84 and '88
Could he be looking at an Olympic medallist here?
It could happen, no wonder he's smiling
And it's the... the charisma as well... the...
...the way he "connects" with the judges and with the audience
Just look, everybody just can't help it - standing up
Yes, you just think "give him a record contract"
...At the same time as this
An engaging character (charming, charismatic)
Great to see him sweeping up the flowers on the ice as well
So.... great for the crowd
Takahashi out, hopefully it's not too severe
But Hanyu will go into the lead, and rocketing into the lead
80.94 is the best mark so far
Look at that (background: Brian Orser -laughing- so close!)
It's his best ever!
(Brian Orser: Good job!)
99.84, Hanyu moves into the lead
Indeed he might stay there
(Brian Orser: It's a world record!)
(Brian Orser: Good job!)
(Brian Orser: Stay here. Wow.)
(Brian Orser: That was so close to 100 -laughs-)