Jump Takeoffs, Yuzuru Hanyu Style
Merry Christmas! I’m wondering if you girls and guys would like to look at some Yuzu takeoffs with me. I’ve found that watching his takeoffs in slow motion has the same effect on me as watching falling snow: it’s incredibly therapeutic. And we all deserve something nice this Christmas, after all we’ve been and are still going through.
The thing I love about Yuzu’s toe loop, and all of his toe jumps, is how he always keeps his tapping foot low and his picking light, which give his jumps this appearance of effortlessness. His toe tap is also very quick and in tune with the connecting steps leading up to the entry, it’s like, step-turn-pick-jump, 1-2-3-4: no break in the rhythm, no loss of flow, easy and graceful. Furthermore, his technique is what I’d call a pure toe pick, in that he would tap with his toe pick straight down and leave the ice immediately without putting pressure on any other area of his blade. It is the kind of exemplary technique which leaves no room for pre-rotation.
Here’s a triple toe loop in combination:
The toe loop done at the back end of a combo is the most frequently cheated jump, so much so that the ISU feels the need to call it out in the section on cheated takeoff in the technical handbook. This is because the second jump in a combo must be done with little to no speed, thus it is very challenging for skaters to get enough elevation to complete the required number of rotations. The toe loop is also a jump which lends itself to pre-rotation, thanks to the completely open body alignment on takeoff. Both these factors make it very easy for skater to end up rotating their combo triple toe on ice for more than 180 degrees before taking to the air, either deliberately or subconsciously due to lack of focus. Yuzu doesn’t do that. As you can see in that jump above: he pointed his toe at 45 degrees and left the ice immediately, exactly how he usually does it for his quad toe.
You might’ve noticed that Yuzu’s toe loop and Salchow look strikingly similar in real time. This is mostly because of the speed at which he executes them. One, as I pointed out above, his pick in the toe loop takeoff is subtle and blink-and-you-miss-it fast. Two, his spring on the Salchow is just as quick. Normally you’d be able to distinguish the Salchow jump by looking for that moment before takeoff when the skater brings the knees together to form a distinctive / \ shape: that position facilitates the shift in center of gravity from the push-off leg (right side) to the swing-up leg (left side), which is the mechanics of a Salchow. Yuzu also does that, but his transfer of gravity and the release of energy afterwards both happen in rapid succession, again, blink-and-you-miss-it. Another beauty of Yuzu’s Salchow is in how he keeps his upper body movement in perfect sync with his sweeping takeoff: see how the right side of his body rotates as one solid block? It is another measure which ensures no risk of excessive pre-rotation and is the hallmark of excellent jumping technique. You will see it in all of his jumps, not just the Salchow.
Here’s a triple Salchow done in combination, in which you’d see the same speed and synchronicity:
Yuzu has a very peculiar loop takeoff, of course: his left back outside edge on his quad loop is deeper than what many other skaters have on their Lutz (a jump which is required to be taken off from an outside edge). This in theory makes his loop unnecessarily counter-rotated and closes up his body alignment. The orthodox approach is to keep your free leg on a slight inside edge, which would prevent both those things from happening. I’ve always found it fascinating that Yuzu apparently can only jump a quad loop by making its takeoff more difficult than a triple.
This, by the way, is one of his triple loops from back when he was still able to do such things:
See how his outside edge was visible but much shallower here? You might also notice he got such height on this triple that he finished rotating and started opening up his position for the landing when he was still way up in the air. It’s a side effect of practicing the quad loop.
Look, I told you so, he has this pure toe pick technique that exudes an odd sense of tranquility. His love for everything contradictory is as present here as ever: see how he pointed his toe away from the rotational direction? Pre-rotation is a thing that doesn’t even exist in his flip, excessive or no. Because of how he picks and how fast he leaves the ice, he actually rotates his triple flip for more than the required degrees of revolution.
And if you are wondering if he also does that outward toe point thing for his Lutz, well what do you think? Here’s a triple Lutz:
The Lutz by itself is a counter-rotated jump, but this effect in Yuzu’s Lutz is extraordinary, owing both to that quirky toe pick and his cutting deep outside edge on takeoff. There is simply no question about the correct takeoff edge in such a jump, and, same as with his flip, he rotates this jump for slightly more than 3 revolutions in the air.
Going by his approach to the quad loop, obviously you shouldn’t expect anything less when it comes to how extra he is when he moves from a triple Lutz to a quad Lutz:
I have a running joke with my skating friends that Yuzu’s quads are actually under-rotated quints. That quad Lutz clearly has more than 4 in-air revolutions to it, you know? Any non-Axel jump with no less than 3.75 in-air revolutions is recognized as a fully rotated quad by ISU standard (a standard which they don’t even uphold that strictly) so, yeah, I do think I have a case for a quint here.
Saving the best for last, here’s a triple Axel:
I don’t have any word left to adequately tell you how perfect his Axel takeoff is, the elegance and the sureness and the power infused in it, so here, have a bonus gif instead, in which you can also confirm there is no sloppy takeoff even in the simplest of his jumps, a double toe:
You might also want to note, in all of these takeoffs, the uncanny speed at which he gets into an ideal tight air position: his feet are always tightly crossed at the ankles well within the first revolution. This adds to the height and distance he achieves, and further makes his jumps very aesthetically pleasing to watch, especially in slow motion.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and the next time you run into anybody saying that Yuzu cheats his jump or some such stuff, feel free to rub these gifs in their face, no credit required on my part.
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