#mod being nitpicky

[figureskatingask]

hello! I'm curious to know what you mean when you say yuzuru "collapses inwards over his core and doesn’t engage it well on the landing"? thank you :)

Thanks for asking!

This is a bit tricky to explain, as it’s quite subtle. What I mean is that he is almost “floppy” on his landings. His upper body does not seem strong when he lands, it tends to…hunch is not quite the right word, but it’s close. His shoulders go forwards and down and he bends over his waist. The impact generally means that skaters’ bodies will react in this way, but Hanyu’s to me seems more pronounced.

I mean, obviously it works for him and he has an otherwise excellent jump technique, it’s just a small detail about his skating generally that I’d like to see him clean up. Otherwise known as, me being nitpicky and wanting to see a skater of Hanyu’s talent reach the full potential of that talent.

[figureskatingask]

Hi! So, I've heard a lot of comments saying Yuzuru Hanyu is the best at spins currently and although his programs are my favourites i thinks Jason Brown spins are better. So What makes Yuzuru better?

Thanks for asking!

You probably hear “a lot” of comments claiming Hanyu is the best spinner because there are a lot of Hanyu fans. (That was a light-hearted jest. Please don’t kill me.)

The subject of “the best spinner” is, IMO, rather subjective and it depends on your personal definition of what makes a great spinner. In my own humble opinion, I actually agree with you: Jason Brown is the best spinner in the world. All of his positions are effortless, centered, and held well. He makes it look easy and you almost never see him drop a level. He has creative and unique positions without overdoing it.

Now, that’s not to say Hanyu isn’t a good spinner. He’s a very fine spinner, one of the best. But I wouldn’t say that all of his positions are effortless, and some of his more creative or unique positions over-do it and show the strain - the foot-on-his-head sit position is a perfect example. Insanely difficult yes, absolutely worthy of the level feature it gets yes, but it just looks like so much work to pull his foot up there and as a position it’s not exactly pretty (in my opinion of course).

Of course, others will have their own set of criteria, and that’s fine. We’re all different, after all.