After very silent months in the summer of 2016, we got news that Yuzuru was back in training, and a bit later, that he would skate to two new programs in the upcoming 2016/17 season. Yuzu chose 'Let's Go Crazy' by Prince for his new short program, which was again choreographed by Jeff Buttle. For his new free program he chose Japanese contemporary classical music, View of Silence and Asian Dream Song by Joe Hisaishi and he named his program 'Hope and Legacy'. It was chorographed by Shae-Lynn Bourne.
Yuzu started the season at the Autumn Classic International in Canada where he became the first man who landed the quadruple Loop at a competition when he landed it in his short program. We could see his quad Loops at galas before, but it was finally time to introduce it at competitions, too. It was Yuzu's own decision (as opposed to Brian Orser's), and later it turned out that it was a very smart decision from him.
His new SP was fun, intricate, with extremely difficult step sequence, or spins. Even if the 4Lo was a new jump for Yuzu, he put it in both the SP and FS. He also changed to 4T-3T combination to 4S-3T in the SP. His new free program was beautiful, elegant, and very complex from start to finish with great choreography, transitions in and out of the elements and great spins as well. Yuzu increased the difficulty of his jumps, he not just added 4Lo, but he had 4 quads and 2 triple Axels overall, from which there were two quad Salchows, the second one in a combination in the second half of the program. The triple Axels were also in the second half.
In the Grand Prix Series, Yuzu won the NHK Trophy. It was this competition where he changed his white costume in the SP to a purple one, which was even more form fitting than the white costume. The NHK Trophy short programs were in the morning on Friday in Europe so it meant that I had to watch it at my workplace - in secrectly, of course! I still remember vividly when I saw in the warm-up that he had purple pants on, and seconds later he took off the jacket and the top of his costume was also purple. I smiled so much but I had to contain myself there. The program was very rock starish but in a different way than Parisienne Walkways, when Yuzu was still a teenager. The SP was great choice and the costume looked great on him. Not many could wear a costume like that, but Yuzu could do it!
So, at the Grand Prix Final Yuzu became the first (and so far only) male skater who won four consecutive gold medals. His SP was the best there in the season even if the landing from the 4Lo wasn't completely perfect.
Yuzu decided to compete at the Four Continents too, which was held in PyeongChang, in the arena which would host the Olympics in 2018. The last time Yuzu was at 4CC was in 2013. He again collected a silver medal, albeit he would have deserved to win this time. The sudden rise of points, especially the components of the young American Chen raised eyebrows.
I was a bit sad that I couldn't watch Yuzu in person in 2015/16 especially because GPF was held in Barcelona then. So I decided not to miss the opportunity and I traveled to Helsinki for the World Championships to watch Yuzu and cheer for him. It was a really important competition, firstly because it was the qualifying Worlds for the 2018 Olympics and also because Yuzu didn't win in 2015 or 2016 either. The pressure on him was so much.
Helsinki Worlds was the most exciting competition of my life and I won't forget what I saw there. The rollercoster of emotions was overwhelming.
In the SP, Yuzuru kneeled down from the landing after his 4S, so he couldn't add a Triple Toe-loop on it (the 2T he added got invalidated as well), and he was only 5th after the SP. Oh no.
I felt sorry, really sorry for him. I even cried a bit later, because I didn't find it fair after what Yuzu went through in the past months, years. Javier skated a good short program and he got 109 points for it, so the difference was 11 points. Then I remembered that the situation was a bit similar a year before and anything could happen.
On the day of the free skate, snow was falling in the cold streets of Helsinki. I headed to the arena with a newly found optimism, while I was walking I was listening to the epic music of Yuzu's Romeo and Juliet 1 program and I remembered his roaring he made during the program at Worlds 2012. I thought: 'Fight, Yuzu, fight, you can do it!'.
Yuzu skated first in the last group. And what he did on that day will never be forgotten. He was completely in the zone and he laid down the most gorgeous performance ever. Everything was perfection from start to finish, the 4Lo, the spins, the the quad Salchows, the step sequences (the StSq as well as his spins all got level 4), everything he did was in the highest possible quality. The complexity of his program, the elegance of his performance can be barely described with words. It was magnificient and magical. The spectators were in tears, there was standing ovation for Yuzu. He got a new world record for his performance (223.20) which was - despite being the highest score - still a bit underscored compared to what he showed on the ice there. With this fantastic performance, Yuzu finished from 5th to 1st, and he became a two-time World Champion. It was so well deserved for Yuzu! He could bring out his best at such an important competition.
I was so happy and grateful that I could witness this and that I could cheer for Yuzu at this competition.
On the last day, Sunday, I met some photographers from my country who had media accreditation for the competition. One of them was an elderly man, who proudly showed to me that he got a signature from Yuzuru before the gala rehearsal. We had the same flight back home so he gave me Yuzu's signature for the duration of the flight. I was really cautious not to make it dirty etc. (the batter of my camera was empty but I could take some pictures of the signature with my not so good phone). What an end was it for my trip! I was really happy.
After Worlds, Yuzu also competed at World Team Trophy where he won the gold medal for Japan.
This was a very successful season for him. Firstly I was happy that Yuzu came back after his very bad injury and he did so well. The first man who landed the 4Lo, the 4th GPF title, the second Worlds title, two fantastic programs, etc.
I was very looking forward to the Olympic season and I hoped everything would be okay for Yuzu.
[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] - to be continued soon.
