Textbook perfect 4T
It isn't just the quads, it's the quality of the quads
It isn't just the jumps, the skating is beautiful
The delicate touches. The speed. It's everything from top to bottom
What's so special about Yuzuru Hanyu's 4T?
Look at the 4T! 1,2,3,4.. and lands it on one foot
hangs onto it long enough
doesn't put the other foot down
that is a clean quad!
When Kurt Browning landed the first 4T in 1988, this landing was considered a "clean" quad
Today, this landing is certainly not "clean". It will get -GOE (Points deduction)
first move a quadruple toe triple toe
Then "Quads" slowly become important for Men's figure skating from 1990s to 2000s
However, there's a constant debate that "Quads" affected artistry in figure skating
We've seen it in man skating you know
the amount that the quad was rewarded
and how it affected overall artistry, overall skating and the performance
Why quads were blamed to bring down artistry in figure skating?
Because most quads were performed like this
It takes super long "loading" time to prepare for the jump
While preparing for the jump, it's mostly "two-foot" skating without any transition steps
During the 10-20 seconds of preparation for quads, there's an "empty" skating moment and no artistry there.
Or it's something like this.
Two foot skating + repetitive backward crossovers
Notice the stiff hands and body position before the jumps?
Then Evan Lysacek from US won Olympics 2010 without attempting any quads
It was claimed an "artistry over quads" moment in figure skating
Then came Patrick Chan, who combined artistry with quads
In what way did he combine artistry with quads?
Notice the one-foot turns and steps before the jump?
Barely any two foot / crossovers were used
And he fully utilised the entire body and hands to rhyme with the music entering into the jump
Then came Yuzuru Hanyu
He took "quads + artistry" to a new level
He integrated very difficult steps sequence and transition into his 4T
What difficult steps and transition are there?
Choctaw - a turn that goes from forward to backwards or backwards to forwards
where there's a change of foot and a change of the edges
Hanyu added "Choctaw" step sequence before the 4T take off
How difficult is that?
Most skaters can't add difficult steps because they didn't have a stable enough quad
Instead of working on the transition, they need to focus on stability
Yuma Kagiyama managed to add a "cross-roll" before 4T
"cross-roll" is slightly harder than "cross-over"
But "cross-roll" is not considered a difficult step sequence, unlike "choctaw"
There are some other steps and turns do not affect the levels of difficulty of step sequences
but it can be effect in regard of quality such as cross-rolls
and spread eagles
Nathan Chen had tried adding "spread-eagles" as transition into 4T
But it seems to have affected his consistency for 4T
So he had gone back to normal entry for 4T (in season 20/21), just cross-overs + two foot skating
Ironically, the judges reward consistency more than anything
Even though consistency is never a judging criteria, creative entry is..
Boyang Jin used "choctaw" as 4T entry before
However, he had abandoned this difficult entry since he lost consistency for his quads
Hanyu is the only skater who constantly use this difficult entry over the years
These difficult steps and transition are what made his jumps look so airy and beautiful
Even when he's injured, he didn't abandon the difficult steps too
"Eteri girls" are branded for programs full of transition.
But they wouldn't play with the transition before 4T too
Both Sasha and Kamila's entry to 4T were mostly 2 foot skating + crossovers
So it's great watching Kamila working on the new entry for 4T - counter
Counter is a one foot turn with change of skating direction and without change of edge
Hanyu also worked on new entry for 4T from time to time
Twizzle into 4T
Twizzle is a multi-rotational one-foot turn that moves across the ice
The difficult steps and turns before 4T made his jumps look extra special
But playing with difficult turns for jump entry is extremely risky
as it can mean the difference between landing or failing a jump
Wait a min!
Well it's from a difficult entry
If I used a normal entry perhaps I would be able to land it
I was too ambitious aiming for the 3A-3A with difficult entry
Hanyu performed 3A-3A with "counter" entry during GPF 2019 practice
But he "popped" the jump in the competition
Were you tired?
Yes I guess fatigue played a role
If it's a normal entry or single 3A, I wouldn't go in with such a big force
Even though my body was exhausted, I still aimed for that 3A-3A
So I used too much force in that entry, and didn't have any energy left to "close" the body (generate angular momentum for the spin)
Beside the entry, he also worked on the creative transition for the landing of the jump
Notice how long he hold landing without putting the free leg down?
He hold the landing for 6 seconds and
completed 2 difficult one-foot turns (counter + bracket) in between the landing of 4T
Yuzuru Hanyu's journey of perfecting 4T
even when he's not quite over the skate in the air
he can still get a quality landing
that is the skill of this guy
he really is a genius
the program was constructed beautifully
there's that second 4T+3T
you forget about the quads
you forget about all the technical elements there
and you're just lost in the program
figure skating is not such a high profile sport
he's taking it to another level
Where is it all going to end? You have to ask yourself
where is it going?
it is amazing
it is beyond the comprehension really