Yuzuru Hanyu (26 = ANA) missed her third win in four years. The best deciding match in the world was held for the first time in two years due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection. In the short program (SP) on the 25th he was ahead with 106.98 points, but due to an error in the free race of the last run he was 4th with 182.20 points and 3rd with a total of 289.18 points. After first place Nathan Chen (21 = USA) and second place Yuma Kagiyama (17 = Seisa International High Yokohama), he said: “I want to wait for the 2010 Beijing Olympics” and took the stage where he will win the championship by third time in a row. For the first time, he declared his motivation. Japan secured the three largest spots in the competition for spots at the tournament.

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Can you end up losing? For the first time, Hanyu expressed her feelings for February next year. “I want to do my best and I look forward to the Beijing Olympics.” Press conference after the performance. So far I have said that it is “closed” and “not when I am thinking (due to the crown accident)”, but it said.

It must have been very frustrating. When I checked the score, my expression turned steep. He also surpassed 320.88 points for Chen, who won the championship for the third time in a row, and 291.77 points for 17-year-old Kagiyama. “Rank 3” -. I stayed on the podium, but when I saw on the screen the moment when the color of the medal turned copper, I moved my right hand down with the force of throwing my drink on the floor and went down behind the scenes.

“I’m very tired. I lost my balance one by one, and the jumps that weren’t mine continued.” The triple throttle (three and a half revolutions), which should be able to jump even if I closed my eyes, was also disturbed, and I was confused, “I felt a sense of balance while I was off balance.

As the word says, the mistakes continued from the beginning. When I hand-touch the ice in the opening quad loop, I also held onto the next quad salchow. He went mad for three and a half revolutions and gave up the planned continuous jump. Although I decided to do 2 consecutive 4-rotations-3-rotations finger loops and 3 consecutive jumps of the 4-rotations finger loop prepared in the last half when the score is 1.1 times, the problem in the initial stage echoes. It is the first time in nine years since the 12-year-old tournament (2nd place Daisuke Takahashi, 3rd place Hanyu) turned 17 and lost to the Japanese in the world championship. After that, if you participate, you will always get a silver medal or higher. No way.

Immediately before leaving Japan, I was hit by an earthquake that caused my house to become untidy. It may have been affected by changes to flights to Europe and practice plans. In this tournament, he said, “The only goal is to frame. I don’t care about anything else.” However, it is regrettable to lose. After winning his second gold medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, Chen reigned on top of the world. Unbeaten in the subsequent international competition. Hanyu also lost three straight games in a head-to-head match. It also allowed the emergence of Kagiyama. What are you going to do in the future?

What came out here was “I want to wait for the Olympics.” He also expressed his thoughts on the unprecedented great ability. “I want to quickly practice four and a half revolutions (quad throttle). The goal is to land on the ice so I can incorporate it into the game,” he said.

Hanyu and the World Championship. After the gold medal of the Sochi Olympics in 2014, he won the gold medal of the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2017 the previous year. This time, the year before the Beijing Olympics, he was third. As expected. The key is four and a half revolutions. Mastering the King’s Leap is the first step toward revenge.[Atsushi Kinoshita]