Yuzuru Hanyu has been nearly perfect in winning two Olympic gold medals. But he wasn’t in his short program Tuesday morning, shockingly pulling out of his first planned jump, a quad salchow, rotating just once instead of four times. The mistake almost assuredly cost him a shot at his third gold.
So what happened? His skate got caught on a groove in the ice, he said on Japanese television afterward. He jumped with the right form and the right timing, he said, but at that moment “I was in the hole. It was the hole from the toe jump. So I couldn’t help it.”
Hanyu compared the jump to one at the 2019 world championships, where he under rotated on a quad salchow but still managed to finish second to Nathan Chen. “Today’s mistake was unavoidable for me,” he said, “so I’ll try my best for the free program.”
He recovered well and was so technically sound in the rest of his program, including nailing a quad toeloop-triple toeloop combination and a triple axel, that he remains in a fight for a medal. His score of 95.15 landed him in eighth place.
Hanyu injured his ankle in November, but he said that his preparation for the Olympics went well, and that he is in good condition and full of stamina for Thursday’s free skate.
“I feel grateful for getting 95 points,” he said, giving himself “kudos” for the rest of his program.
Hisako Ueno contributed reporting.
