There have been times where figure skating was much more popular than it is right now. I think there are a lot of reasons that could explain this, but that’s not the point of this post.
Rather, I want to draw attention to the fact that at the moment, there is a skater who is so good that he keeps breaking his own world records with his scores: expressions like “best ever” and “once-in-a-lifetime athlete” are even being thrown around. Bijou readers, meet Yuzuru Hanyu.
He is a Japanese skater originally from Sendai, the largest city in the Tohoku region, where the earthquake and tsunami hit in 2011. Hanyu was 16 years old at the time. Although his performance was not perfect in Sochi 2014, he is the current Olympic champion. He also won the World Championships in 2014, but had to settle for silver in 2015. However, he’s really been on a roll during the current 2015-2016 season. Without going into detail about points and records, I wanted to share a video of his free skating program, entitled SEIMEI.
In my opinion, Hanyu achieves a perfect balance of athleticism and artistry: his jumps are high and smooth, his spins are fast and beautiful. What’s more, they are all seamlessly incorporated within the choreography of his programs; everything seems effortless and perfect.
Watch it below:
What did you think? I’d love to read some of your comments below.
UPDATE:
I found an awesome video of Yuzuru Hanyu’s 2014 free skate at the World Championships that compiles commentators’ comments from around the world (with subtitles) throughout the program. It really helps to get a feel for how excited the skating world is about this incredible skater.