The Japanese Yuzuru Hanyu, a two-time Olympic figure skating champion, won the Japanese title for the sixth time in Saitama on Sunday, which should allow him to qualify for the Beijing Olympics (February 4-20).
Hanyu was already in the lead after the short program and he dominated free skating, although he failed to land a quadruple axel, which would have been the first in the competition, narrowly missing his landing.
With a total of 322.36 points, he was ahead of Shoma Uno, his runner-up at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games (2nd, 295.82 points), and the 2021 world runner-up, Yuma Kagiyama (3rd, 292.41 points).
The 27-year-old two-time Olympic champion had proposed run a quad axel in your free program and thus make history by becoming the first skater to do so successfully in competition.
However, Hanyu, who skated to “Heaven in Earth”, he fell short in rotation and failed to complete the 4.5 turns of the maneuver.
The skater from Sendai (northeast of the country) performed three more quad jumps in an otherwise flawless routine and it earned him the championship.
The axel is considered the most difficult jump, since it is launched by skating forward, so you must include an additional half turn to land on the opposite foot (the quad axel is thus 4.5 turns).
This competition has marked Hanyu’s return to the front row after an ankle injury.
During the last 18 months he has trained mainly in Japan, away from his coach, the Canadian Brian Orser, who was also the Spanish coach Javier Fernández.
In Beijing 2022, where he is now the favorite again to win a medal, the Japanese could become the first male skater in history to chain three consecutive Olympic golds.
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