Hanyu struggles with his quad toeloop, why?
During the Skate canada 2015, The Japan Times titled after the short program
"Murakami leads; Hanya struggles"
Using video analysis to organize the best follow-up for the skater is an evidence. We are going to study the evolution of Hanyu's quad in the short program.
Short program, a special program
A short program is a very interesting program. Why? I will say it can make a huge outstanding and not in a competition. Last year, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva won the short program with a fantastic triple axel. One of the most beautiful triple axel executed by a woman. With over 8 points ahead, she skated serenely the free skating. She won with 16 points ahead. There is, of course, so many examples.
Quad jump for men
Yuzuru Hanyu, Olympic and world champion ( 2014), had a lot of injuries last season. His training restarted at the beginning of march. We can see the difference between the performance he did during the 2015 World Figure Skating Championship and the 2015 ISU World TeamTrophy ( 3 weeks later). During this season ( 2014-15), the tactic was to put as first jump the quad toe-loop ( Around 24s).
Quad jump, ultimate weapon to win
For the season 2015-16, a new challenge, put a quad in a second part of the program. Like that he can get a bonus. Instead to score 10.30 points (Base value), he can score 11.30 points. With the hard competition, Patrick Chan , the 2014 Olympic silver medalist and a three-time World champion, is back this season, we can understand that every point is important and how to take risks are going to spice up the next international events.
Evolution of the score of Hanyu's 4T in Short Program (SP):
| Event | Base Value | GEO | Total score |
| 2015 World Championship | 10.30 | -2.71 | 8.16 |
| 2015 World Team Trophy | 10.30 |
+2.71 |
13.01 |
| Autumn Classic 2015 | 8.80 | -2.40 | 6.40 |
| Skate Canada 2015 | 0* | 0* |
- * Invalid element (new rule for SP)
Notes:
Yuzuru did his season's best in the short program during the 2015 World championship. His best score for the quad toe-loop (4T) was during the 2015 World Team Trophy.During the Autumn classic, he did a 4T <, called under-rotated according the technical panel. That's why the base value with a bonus ( second part of the program) is 8.80. Last season, during the WC and WTT, he executed his quad toe-loop after 24s. Now, he did after 1min38.
You can see the huge difference. We are talking to do a quad toe-loop in the second part of the program, it means a bonus of 20%. So it misses 2 scenarios.
1) Fall: He will score 7.04 ( and -1 point on the technical score).
2) Success: He will score 13.53 ( Included bonus and GEO +2)
Great challenge
So Yes, a great challenge. Hanyu produced an awesome free skating, with 3 quad jumps with a fall on the final lutz. Patrick Chan returns with a flourish, capturing the gold medal ahead of Yuzuru Hanyu, who landed in second, and Daisuke Murakami in third. Pretty excited to follow them this season.
Photo courtesy by Skate Canada
Analysis of the jump
- Stromotion of the quad jump executed by Hanyu during the 2015 World Trophy Team. (Stromotion effect by Dartfish, analysis by Perform'Live).
The main thing I notice when I watch this analysis, is the angle of rotation in the air. Yuzuru's position is incredibly stable. Only 5° of amplitude. This video is from YouTube, there is a margin of error around 1°/2° maximum.
We can see clearly the good transfer, essential to do a quad rotation. It starts when Hanyu touches the ice (Second figure frozen ) and finishes when he lands. Note: the real rotation of a quad toe-loop is around 1260°, close to 3,5 revolutions.
Update 14.12.2015 : During the NHK Trophy, Yuzuru stormed to the Men's gold and became the first skater in history to crack the 300 points barrier. What a performance. He did again during the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Finale in Barcelona. Hanyu broke his own record score. Amazing.
Tags: Analysis, Stromotion, Japan, Quad toe-loop, Hanyu
