Yuzuru Hanyu talks about that moment– Japan Junior Championships
Hanyu has reached the pinnacle in the figure skating world. But the road there was not always smooth sailing. From junior days, he has participated in many competitions and sometimes he could not skate like he wanted and fell into a slump. The new theme of these articles is “Talking about it now, that moment”. Hanyu will talk about 3 competitions that were really important to him over 3 articles; what his thoughts and feelings were at that time. In this article, he talks about the Japan Junior Championship that started his steady advance.
INTERVIEW
–To a figure skater, Japan Junior Championship is the important competition that serves as the selection process for World Junior Championship. Winning it means holding in your hand the ticket to the world. 13 years old at that time, what were Hanyu’s thoughts?–
When I was promoted to junior level, I didn’t have much actual results yet and I didn’t have the abilities needed for World Junior Championship. But if you win the junior nationals, you can compete in Junior Worlds. So I had rather strong feelings towards this competition. Of course, in any competition that I participate in, I do not want to lose. So every day, with single-minded determination, I worked hard at practising the triple axel.
I still remember very well Junior Nationals. My music was ‘Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini’ by Rachmaninoff. The performance itself was good but the important triple axel was not successful. I felt that the triple axel is an absolute essential. If you make a mistake on that, it is not a 100% satisfactory performance.
The moment when I won, I felt, “I won it !?!” I did not land the triple axel and I did not think I could win; I was so surprised. Although I was puzzled, the happiness of winning and the feeling of “I can go to Junior Worlds! I will work even harder from now” was great. I remember, that night, my family and I went out to eat my favourite 'tonkatsu’ to celebrate.
–After winning Junior Nationals, he competed in some Japanese senior competitions and also the Junior World Championships. What was it like challenging the world for the first time?–
In Junior Worlds, I could not land the triple axel and made mistakes on other jumps as well. The result was 12th position. There was a chance to increase the qualifying spots for Japanese junior men but I did not obtain that….. I was very regretful. This is really not good, I thought.
Skaters who are already participating in senior competitions, compete in Junior Worlds to gain points for world ranking. So the (skill) level of skaters is high. To win these people, one must land the triple axel, I was keenly aware of that. Skills and also the mental aspect, it was a competition where I was confronted by many issues in every area.
Losing at Junior Worlds, I realised that my confidence until that point was overconfidence. In my skating life, there were many times that I overestimated my own abilities, and because of that, there were many times that I lost. But precisely because I have this experience of losing due to that overconfidence, I came to constantly think about many things, like what I should do in order not to lose, how I should clear these issues. As such, now that I think about it, there was not one experience that was wasted.
[t/n: He won Junior Worlds the following year.]
–Next article of YUZU DAYS ‘Talking about it now, that moment’ will be on Sochi Olympics, out in January next year!
Translated by yuzusorbet.tumblr; from:: https://www.myrepi.com/tag/yuzu-days
Thank you again, Angelic Yuzuru!
.png "English"){kind=small}
0 comentários:
Postar um comentário