Ilia said a lot nice things about Yuzu who is his biggest idol and literally said that he is unique and no one can surpass him and how he copied his Seimei pose at the GPF 2025 bc he thought he did a good skate. And yet ppl Fanyus act like he insulted Yuzu bc Ilia compared his level of competitiveness to Yuzu.
If ppl Fanyus could look past their own agenda that Yuzu is the only worthy skater ever and everyone else is miles below him they would be able to see how great it is that Yuzu inspired Ilia to break boundaries and see no limits. That it's Yuzu that made Ilia believe that anything is possible. That's actually such a big impact beyond Yuzu's own competitive years on a skater who leads the field at a time when Yuzu is retired. Isn't that what legacy is about? To have a longlasting impact on your sport?
The sport is evolving and Ilia already achieved one of Yuzu's dreams - landing the 4A. Yuzu paved the way and Ilia walked it. That's how sport grows (if you like the direction or not).
Ofc Ilia has lots of areas where he can improve, but mind you Yuzu also had years to build his status and legacy.
Yuzu is retired for 4 years now and Yuzu is imo the greatest skater ever but it does not take away from Ilia's achievements and the fact that from a competitive point Ilia did surpass Yuzu's technical abilities and broke Yuzu's and Nathan's records. So factually he did get on Yuzu's competitive level.
I do think Ilia's skating and media training can be improved and I wish he would get rid of his management Ari sucks, but Ilia never said a bad word about Yuzu. He simply acknowledges that even Yuzu has his boundaries (he said Yuzu is an "almost perfect" skater before.)
Actually Fanyus could take an example in Ilia and see the human in Yuzu not the godlike figure ppl make out of him.
