Sensei Brian Orser talks about Yuzuru Hanyu after WC 2019

let's talk a little bit about yuzu um he is of course a legend an icon in the sport two time olympic champion let's talk about his comeback after his injury this season um of course the world championships didn't necessarily turn out like he wanted to, but it was still an incredible performance, yeah, and it was kind of a carbon copy of last year because he had the same foot injury and maybe we had a little more free time last year preparing for the Olympics. , but those Olympic Games were coming. to keep him motivated when he was ready to get back on the ice and this time it was almost as long and it was a similar situation, but I guess maybe learning from last year he knew exactly the path to take towards recovery and trusting and knowing when it was safe to go up temperature and go full steam ahead and that's what he did because he did it last year and he had to do it this year and it's not the easiest way to do it. get to where you want to be and um, but he was pretty, he got there pretty well and it was really, you know, I guess this is the first time he's competed in Japan since he won the Olympics for the second time, so coming here.

It was just overwhelming, I just prepared myself when we flew knowing that we were going to get to the airport and there would be a huge media blitz and then, um, and just the fans, you know, it was amazing, you were probably in the building. when right when he was walking up those stairs for a practice and this practice is sold out and you could see the people and the other guys skating and you could hear this crowd and everyone was like oh, he usually showed up taking his heat- Taking off his jacket, it was as if someone was finishing their long program.

I know he skated on the ice and he liked a Y position and they said, "You know, these other guys are busting their butts trying to figure out quad flips and bristles." and stuff and then he stands up and gets a big round of applause, you know he's a great ambassador for this sport and you know that figure skating is alive, because you know what's been happening in Japan with figure skating and not just with him but with shoma and then now we have these new rules coming and then in the past with mickey and with mao so and shizuka, so they've had a long history of being great and so he has big shoes to fill, but he's doing it. he's doing great and he's doing absolutely like a true champion and speaking of being a true champion, I've been reading a lot of quotes from him and Nathan throughout the week and there seems to be a lot of very genuine mutual admiration. between them, two incredible athletes, incredible talents, but also class acts, I think, and they are great representatives of the sport, can you talk a little about that rivalry, the friendly and respectful rivalry between the two of them that I know Yuzu has had before such time? with someone like javi yeah i think the key word is respect and yeah and javi and yuzu had a lot of respect for each other but at the end of the day you know usually he wants to win and hobby wants to win and shoma wants to win and nathan wants to win and that's fine and that's what great athletes are all about, but they have respect and I can even see it in practice sessions when you know someone is going to do a jump pass to their music and you know I'm going to see someone like Nathan change a little bit its pattern so that the user can enter and then the user will also do the same and if they accidentally get into each other, but they seem like sorry, sorry.

Sorry, that's great, but you both know that they're still pretty fierce competitors and all that ferocity happens when they go back to their training centers and train, and I can guarantee you that you know that with Yuzu he will. I'll be back soon and you've probably already figured out some calculations on how we can get those extra points. It was unfortunate in the short, we lost about 12 points on that jump pass, so you know you see, so you add that in and then you start looking. Realistically, another point here and another point there, another, you know, and I mean, the user's stamina was not yet at the level to be able to get giant scores on turns and steps, which has an impact on all the components, so there are many. points and they can, he still can be.

I mean, my message to him anyway is that he can still be very competitive with Nathan. Nathan has been smart, his group has been smart because they are playing our game, so they know where to get those points. and for nathan it wasn't just the technical ability of these amazing jumps but his skating skills are improving you know the spins are improving and we did the same thing when we were challenging and trying to compete with patrick chan so go back eight years, You know, we sat down and said how can we get ahead of Patrick Chan, so sure, let's do our jumps, but he was also a great jumper, what was the highlight for him?

He's a great skater, right, he's like a skater's skater and So that's what we need to work on, okay, we don't need to go buy a bunch of quads right away, we need to work on this and it's going to take time, so that's what we did and every competition. A little closer and look closer and when we got to the Sochi Olympics we were on par with Patrick and that was like a big step for us, so with Nathan and Uzuru um, now they're getting better at each other thanks to the other. I have no idea how long this will last and I guess it's kind of a question for Yuzu because I honestly don't know the answer to that and if we do know, I mean next year, he's hinted a little. about that, but he will make that announcement and if he goes to the Olympics in Beijing, I don't know if I think he can sustain this physically.

The answer would be yes, because he loves it, he loves skating, he loves acting, he loves it. competing with the fans with what we saw here in Tokyo and who wouldn't love that it's special, it's very special, yeah, and then it just creates magic and not just him, others and there will be others that sneak in as well that will. He also creates some magic, so he's good for the sport and I guess we'll just have to wait and see.