Yuzuru Hanyu Opens Up About Olympic Win During Solo Tour, Addresses Rare Question

And it was unmistakably Yuzuru Hanyu’s 12 supreme performances that brilliantly colored the world view. The performances were as follows.

(1) Someday the Dream Will End
(2) Chicken, Snake, and Pig
(3) Asura-chan
(4) MEGALOVANIA
(5) Messenger of Doom
(6) Someday the Dream Will End
(7) Requiem of Heaven and Earth
(8) Ano Natsu he
(9) Come, Spring
(10) Let me Entertain you
(11) SEIMEI
(12) Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso

The most strongly focused of all was the last program in the first half, “Messenger to Ruin,” which featured music from “Final Fantasy IX.”

The hourglass on the monitor starts moving when there are 6 minutes remaining. Just like in actual competitions, the flow from the 6-minute warm-up to the performance signifies Hanyu’s desire to continue being an athlete. It’s easy to imagine that this performance carries the strongest message of Hanyu’s determination to remain an athlete. Interestingly, Hanyu didn’t manage to finish any of the five performances leading up to the finale without making a mistake. It’s as if he poured his last ounce of determination into this final chance, as he describes:

“I woke up in the morning, did an hour of stretching and training, went to practice for three hours, trained on the ice for another three hours, came back home, trained for another hour and a half, and did an hour of mental rehearsal before going to bed… I’ve been repeating days like this constantly. I’ve been training and visualizing even more than when I was competing.”

And the results were evident.

 

Starting with a smooth quad Salchow, executed with a beautiful rotation axis and a graceful landing, Yuzuru continued his flawless performance with a triple Axel, followed by a double loop, triple loop, quad toe loop, quad toe loop, Euler, triple Salchow, Euler, and triple Salchow—a sequence of five consecutive jumps, including six triple Axels, all executed successfully. The 7,000-strong audience erupted in cheers. Clearly elated, before launching into the encore performance with “Let me Entertain you,” Hanyu took the microphone with a smile and expressed:

“I finally managed to nail the ‘destruction’ without any mistakes. Ah~ Thank you very much.”

Hanyu was notably expressive throughout the day. Before the encore, he delivered nearly 10 minutes of heartfelt thoughts to the audience.