Yuzuru Hanyu misses jump, loses top spot in Beijing
Japan's Ice Prince, figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, missed the opening jump of his Olympic routine — a quadruple Salchow in his first appearance in the Beijing Winter Olympics’ short program on Tuesday.
The defending champ’s planned quadruple Salchow at the beginning of his performance turned into a single Salchow instead.
“If I try to think about what went wrong, nothing comes to mind,” Hanyu said after opening his short program set to “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” with a popped quad salchow, shocking the crowd of hundreds in attendance.
“Maybe the ice hates me.” Hanyu added.
Hanyu told reporters that his skate was caught in a mishap in the ice right before his planned jump.
"When I took off, I (stepped) in some hole — maybe, some other skater was doing a toe loop, or a flip, I don't know. But I was on a hole, so I couldn't take off for the first jump," Hanyu claimed.
The remainder of his elements, including a quad toe loop/triple toe loop combination, went off without a hitch, leaving the 27-year-old with 95.15 points, good for eighth place.
“I didn’t feel like I’d made a mistake, so I kept my feelings focused on performing the rest of the program,” Hanyu said. “I’m very thankful to have received 95 points, and I want to praise myself for performing the rest of my elements with such a high level of quality.”
Nathan Chen on the other hand has redeemed himself from the disastrous Pyeongchang Olympics, garnering a world record score of 113.97, now separates him from Hanyu by 18.82 points, leaving Hanyu’s potential third straight Olympic gold in doubt.
Chen, however, sympathized with Hanyu’s botched salchow as he acknowledges the skater he has competed with at the world’s highest level for over half a decade.
“Knowing how it feels to skate, maybe not necessarily at your potential, does not feel great, especially at the Olympics,” Chen said. “You certainly can’t ever count him out; he’s a two-time Olympic champion for a reason.
“And no matter what he does in the future, he will always be a true figure skating icon — one of the greatest ever, if not the greatest ever.”
Tags: skate, olympics, sports