AFP/Barcelona
Japan’s figure skating superstars Yuzuru Hanyu and Mao Asada will both be bidding to make history in the ISU Grand Prix Final in Barcelona starting today.
Olympic champion Hanyu is targeting an unprecedented third straight men’s gold as three-time world champion Asada chases a record fifth women’s crown.
Hanyu, 21, arrives in Europe on a high after becoming the first skater to break the mythical 300-point mark at the NHK Trophy in Nagano.
Hanyu posted a combined 322.40 points after a free programme which also smashed Canadian Patrick Chan’s previous high.
But rather than providing a confidence boost the Toronto-based skater admitted his success had increased the weight of expectations.
“From now on, the pressure of my score (322.4) will weigh heavily on me,” admitted Hanyu, who along with Chan and Russia’s Yvegeny Plushenko are the only men to have won back-to-back GP Final titles.
“I want to make an effort to clear the hurdle. I have to improve myself in order to win my second straight Olympics,” added Hanyu.
Hanyu will be joined by teammates Shoma Uno, 17, last year’s Junior Grand Prix champion, and Daisuke Murakami, 24, in the elite six-skater field, as Japan eye a men’s podium sweep.
But home hope and reigning world champion Javier Fernandez arrives with wins in China and Russia as he looks for his first GP Final title after finishing runner-up to Hanyu in Barcelona last year.
Former three-time world champion and reigning Olympic silver medallist Chan can also challenge as he returns after a year away from competition.
Chan, 24, who won the title in 2010 and 2011, posted a win in Skate Canada, before falling to fifth in the short programme in the Trophee Bompard in Bordeaux before the event was cancelled because of the terror attacks in Paris.
China’s Jin Boyang, 18, has also qualified for the final in his first year on the senior circuit.
‘RESETTING MIND’
A win would see Asada, the 2010 Olympic silver medallist, overtake Russia’s Irina Slutskaya for the most wins after 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2013.
The 25-year-old’s challengers include Japan’s world silver medallist Satoko Miyahara, Americans Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, and Russia’s Evgenia Medvedeva and Elena Radionova.
“(The NHK Trophy) was quite regrettable,” said Asada, who finished third in Nagano after winning the Cup of China.
“Making use of this experience, I want to do my best at the finals. Resetting my skating and my mind.”
World champion Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, who put Russia back on top of the podium for the first time since 2004 last year, did not qualify, after finishing second in Skate Canada and fifth after the short programme at the Trophee Bompard.
In her absence Medvedeva, 16, and Radionova, also 16, will be bidding to keep the title in Russian hands.
“It’s my first season in seniors and at the beginning everything seemed to be too complex for me,” said Medvedeva.
“But after just a couple of the events I realised that there’s no reason to be worried. The Russian leg of the Grand Prix series gave me the confidence that I needed so much.”
Radionova, the world bronze medallist, added: “I started this season with an injury. That’s why the win in Moscow (Cup of Russia) was the victory over my fears and lack of self-confidence.”
Japan’s figure skaters Yuzuru Hanyu and Mao Asada (right)
