Immediately after the approval of the new rules by the ISU, rules that in theory should help skaters to grow and improve more and more but which, in practice, impoverish a sport in which landing quadruple jumps became the only important thing, regardless of how they are performed (the skater need just to remain standing, then that the jumps are ugly is irrelevant), I started a journey with my cranes, one in which I decided to show what growth is. How it is possible to constantly improve, until becoming greater than the discipline to which one belongs. Not only for the desire to win, even if there is also that, but for the pleasure of improving and taking the sport that the athlete practice to unimaginable levels.
Dick Button, someone who for decades was considered the strongest skater ever and who only a few years ago was surpassed, and by only one skater, to explain the importance of the best skaters, beyond the titles they won, talked about their ability to make the sport better because they were in it. This, with Yuzuru Hanyu, is more true that it is for anyone else. Figure skating became a better sport because he dedicated himself to skating with all of himself, interpreting memorable programs. Many skaters have an iconic program, which represents him more than any other, with Hanyu it is impossible to point to an iconic program. What would it be, the free skate who gave him the second Olympic gold? But the two SEIMEI of autumn 2015, unlike the Olympic one, are perfect. And what about Hope and Legacy of Helsinki 2017? Or Romeo + Juliet of Nice, with that iconic scream before the choreo sequence? Or also Ten to Chi to, perfect at the 2020 National Championships, and flawed and equally extraordinary in Beijing 2022? And where do we put the short programs? No, Hanyu doesn’t have an iconic program, because his whole journey is iconic.
I have been making cranes with details of Hanyu’s costumes since November 4, 2021. The order of publication of the photos, for almost all the cranes, was random, related to the images of the costumes I came across. When the ISU talked about growth, I decided to follow for a while a chronological order, season after season, remembering the growth of the greatest skater of all time. Only competition programs or, in the case of galas, the programs made especially for the galas and not the old competition programs presented in the galas.
I had thought of publishing a summary post after publishing the crane dedicated to the latest free skate, the second version of Ten to Chi to, but today things have changed, and it seems right to stop for a moment to reflect on Hanyu’s path. In a completely random way yesterday I came to remember his second Olympic triumph, then came the news of the press conference. This morning I stopped the path for a while and published a crane dedicated to Raison, the last program he performed. Not in a competition this time, but in a show, because extraordinary programs can also be interpreted in shows. And, in this case, it is a program that talks about one’s reason for being, one’s motivations. From tomorrow I will resume my journey with Otonal, now I can only thank for all these years of emotions and extraordinary programs.
Hanyu’s competitive path has officially ended today, his path, human and artistic, no. I can’t wait to find out what the future holds.
Fly Yuzu!
Despite the closure of his rink for economic problems, second place at the All Japan Novice B Championship.
Third Place All Japan Novice A Championship
Seventh place All Japan Junior Championship (fourth FS)
1st All Japan Novice A Championship
3rd All Japan Junior Championship (only 12 years old, youngest skater ever on the podium at the Men’s competition at the Japanese Junior National Championship)
5th place JGP Italy (at 13 years old)
1st place All Japan Junior Championship
8th place All Japan Senior Championship
12th place Junior World Championship
1st All Japan Junior Championship
1st JGP Final (14 years old, at the time younger skater to win, a record he held for 8 years), first competition for the Super Slam
6th All Japan Senior Championship
1st World Junior Championship, second competition for the Super Slam
![[HD] 2009 Junior GPF Yuzuru Hanyu FS (JP Commentary)](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/mt3A7znmOhw/hqdefault.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
4th NHK Trophy 2010 (his first 4T)
7th Rostelecom Cup 2010
4th Japan National Championship 2010
2nd 4CC 2011 (youngest skater ever on the podium)
1st place Nebelhorn Trophy
4th place Cup of China
1st place Rostelecom Cup (the only skater younger than him to win a GP competition was Evgeni Plushenko in 1998)
4th place Grand Prix Final
3rd place All Japan Championship3rd World Championship (world debut at 17, with a sprained ankle, a little more than a year after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami)
SA 2012 – New World record, 95.07 points
NHK 2012 – New World record, 95.32 points
1st place Finland Trophy (his first 4S)
2nd place Skate America
1st place NHK Trophy
2nd place Grand Prix Final (suffering from intoxication and busy with university entrance exams)
1st place National Championship
2nd place Four Continents Championship (suffering from a wound over his right eye)
4th World Championship (3rd FS with injured left knee and right ankle)
World record GPF 2013: 99.84 points
1st personal – 5th team in the Team Event
World record OG 2014: 101.45 points
1st place Finlandia Trophy 2013
2nd place Skate Canada 2013
2nd place NHK Trophy 2013
1st place GPF 2013, third competition for the Super Slam
1st place National Championship 2013
1st place Olympic Games 2014, first Asian to win the Olympic gold in the Men’s competition, second youngest skater to win gold in the Men’s competition after WWII, fourth competition of the super slam
1st place World Championship 2014, fifth competition for the Super Slam
2nd place Cup of China 2014, three quarters of an hour after a terrifying accident.
4th place NHK Trophy 2014 (still suffering from the accident in China)
1st place GPF 2014 (first problems with uracus remnants)
1st place National Championship (suffering from uracus remnants, he underwent surgery immediately after the competition)
2014 2nd place WC 2015 (with insufficient training due to the surgery and an ankle injury from which he has not yet fully healed)
3rd place World Team Trophy 2015 (3rd Team Japan, 1st Men)
![2014 GPF - Yuzuru Hanyu FS & Fluff [CBC]](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/1alZMRDF3SM/hqdefault.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
World record NHK Trophy 2015: 106.33 points
World record GPF 2015: 110.95 points
1st place ACI 2015
2nd place SC 2015
1st place NHK 2015: FS world record 216.07 points, world record tot. 322.40 points
1st place GPF 2015: world record FS 219.48 points, world record tot. 330.43 points (historic world record, a little suffering from Lisfranc injury)
1st place National Championship (suffering from Lisfranc injury)
2nd place World Championship (suffering from Lisfranc injury)
ACI 2016: First 4Lo ever
1st ACI 2016
2nd SC 2016
1st NHK 2016
1st GPF 2016 (only skater to win the GPF four times in a row in the Men’s competition)
2nd 4CC 2017 (improvising the second half of the program)
1st WC 2017 (FS: Word record N ° 11, now historical world record, first Asian to win two World Championship in the Men’s competition)
3rd Men (1st Team) WTT 2017
Autumn Classic International 2017: 112.72 points. His 12th world record, historical world record.
WOG 2018
2nd place ACI 2017
2nd place CoR 2017 (his first 4Lz)
1st place WOG 2018 (with an injured ankle). First back to back Olympic gold in the Men’s competitions in 66 years, first Asian skater (considering all disciplines in figure skating) winner of two Olympic gold, first Japanese athlete (all disciplines) to win two Olympic gold in an individual competition at the Winter Olympic Games
What a great post! I’ll revisit this many times, to appreciate the cranes and the programs. I’ll miss seeing him in competition, but he’ll be able to skate the way he wants to now. He’ll shine even more brightly!
non ho parole per ringraziarti per questo post. Se ho capito bene è in lavorazione anche il seguito, in bocca la lupo e grazie di nuovo
Lo pubblicherò quando avrò finito di realizzare le gru dell’ultimo quadriennio. Oggi ho pubblicato Otonal 1, domani è il turno di Origin 1, poi ci saranno Haru yo, koi, Otonal 2, Origin 2, Chopin, SEIMEI, Let Me Entertain You, Ten to Chi to 1, Introduzione e rondò capriccioso e Ten to Chi to 2. Una gru al giorno, quindi se non ci saranno imprevisti fra 10 giorni realizzerò il secondo post.
Thank you so much for the posts Ms Martina!! I had been going through all your posts, getting to learn the terms in figure skating, the scoring system, the unfair judging system. I am so happy & grateful to find your channel and able to gain so much insights. I am so excited to hear his new plan and is a smart move. Perhaps very soon, he will do a ‘Yuzuru on Ice world tour or Japan tour’. I just got a feeling that I may be able to watch him live one day!
Thank you. After Saitama 2019 I read numerous criticisms of the rules and judges, so I decided to understand if the criticisms were justified, I started studying the rules and analyzing the programs, and the result is this blog.
I also hope that Yuzu will do world tours, but whatever he decides to do I’m sure he will have fun with him.