Tears were shed on Tuesday after Japan’s beloved Ice Prince Yuzuru Hanyu had a hiccup at the beginning of his Short Program routine that put him in the unexpectedly low rank of eighth place for the first portion of the competition. The 27-year-old figure skater had been attempting a quadruple Salchow when he caught a hole in the ice that turned his four-rotation jump into a single Salchow instead.
The mishap resulted in Hanyu being awarded a total of 95.15 points while USA’s Nathan Chen came out on top with a world record-breaking score of 113.97 points. Despite Team Japan coming in a close second and third place with Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno earning 108.12 and 105.90 points respectively, the disappointment was palpable among Hanyu fans (or ‘Fanyus’) who are desperate to see the skater win his third Olympic gold this year.
All is not lost, however, with the second portion of the figure skating tournament still yet to come. Known as the Free Skate, this element of the competition is longer and allows for more flexibility than the Short Program, which means that Hanyu could still recover from Tuesday’s performance and come out with a medal.
Rather than chasing another Olympic gold victory, however, Hanyu has his sights set on achieving something he’s never done before in competition: landing the elusive quadruple Axel. Also known as the 4A, the quadruple Axel is one of six main figure skating jumps that involves rotating four and a half times in the air. With a maximum score of 12.5 points, this trick awards the most points of any figure skating jump because it is notoriously difficult to master. So difficult, in fact, that no figure skater has ever successfully landed one in competition.
Despite it being a high-risk, low-reward jump, Hanyu will be including the quad Axel in his Free Skate routine on February 10. Here’s his planned sequence according to NHK:
- Quad Axel
- Quad Salchow
- Triple Axel Triple Toe Loop Combination
- Triple Flip
- Flying Change Foot Combination Spin
- Step Sequence
- Quad Toe Loop Triple Toe Loop Combination
- Quad Toe Loop Single Euler Triple Salchow Combination
- Triple Axel
- Choreo sequence
- Flying Change Foot Sit Spin
- Change Foot Combination Spin
The Free Skate is scheduled to begin at 10.30am JST on February 10. Hanyu will appear in Group 3, which is scheduled to start at 12.43pm JST. Because skaters are permitted to spontaneously change their sequence and featured tricks in the Free Skate, Hanyu’s performance may divert from this planned routine. Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno will appear alongside Nathan Chen in Group 4, which is scheduled to start at 1.38pm JST.
If you're in Japan, you can watch the live event for free on NHK Sports.
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