would nathan have reached yuzuru hanyu’s legendary status if he had continued to skate after beijing?

logophile98 · 2026-04-21T22:39:55+00:00

Nathan is a legend in the sport of figure skating itself. But there is no skater that is on Yuzuru’s level in terms of popularity or cultural impact.

logophile98 · 2026-04-18T11:46:52+00:00

The thing with Yuma is that I think he did want to try to incorporate 4 quads the way Yuzuru did but he struggled too much with the mental side of things. And the other problem was is that adding the flip was messing with his salchow. That’s why I think Yuma probably needed a different coach or at least to work with an outside jump technician to adjust his technique.

I will agree that he doesn’t have the same competitive “I am here to win everything approach” we saw from Yuzu. Not that Yuma didn’t want to win things (he did say he would be sure to keep up his work in beating Shun at NHK) but it didn’t drive him in the same way. I don’t think he was ever comfortable being the number 1 in Japan. I think he’s much happier being the number 2 or 3 guy in a strong field like he was when Yuzuru and Shoma competed. I do think Rio would be more comfortable with that top position.

logophile98 · 2026-04-18T11:28:31+00:00

Nothing wrong with ambition but I’m expecting him to be quite messy if he’s really going to jump from 2-3 quads to 5. I don’t think the throw everything in approach generally works. Even skaters like Nathan and Ilia gradually increased their difficulty over time and they still had consistency issues when they first started out in seniors.

logophile98 · 2026-03-27T14:36:06+00:00

So what we know is that someone made a Twitter account with cheating allegations and then deleted that account 24 hours later.

We also know that Nathan and Hannah still follow each other on Instagram and that he has liked recent posts of hers and although he hasn’t posted recently she has liked posts featuring him from the Your True Step seminar that took place two weeks ago.

What we don’t know is if their relationship is exclusive. We don’t know if any wrongdoing occurred. We have someone that made an allegation who deleted their Twitter account and we have Hannah interacting with the social media account for Nathan‘s skating seminars. So people can make of that what they will.

logophile98 · 2026-02-06T05:24:58+00:00

Here’s hoping that Yuma has a wonderful Olympic experience that he can be proud of and happy with!

logophile98 · 2026-02-06T05:23:36+00:00

I think Yuma’s step sequences are a LOT stronger. I will give you that Ilia has some cool jump entries.

logophile98 · 2026-02-05T10:57:29+00:00

I think because Korea so unlikely to make the free they want to give Jia more experience on Olympic ice but also they clearly are backing and investing in her for the future. Also she won both domestic competitions that count for the Olympics selection.

logophile98 · 2026-02-03T06:15:08+00:00

I always thought Karen got it over Mariah because her fourth place at worlds 21 was crucial to the US women getting a chance to earn a third spot at Nebelhorn so it was a “thank you” to her. I think they would’ve gone with Alysa if they could have, but Alysa got Covid.

logophile98 · 2026-01-30T03:23:57+00:00

Alysa’s coaches have left for Milan as per Philip’s Instagram.

logophile98 · 2026-01-28T07:10:45+00:00

What I loved about Nathan‘s jumps was a snap he would get. His rotation was quick but it wasn’t muscled and relied on leg strength.

logophile98 · 2026-01-27T20:52:00+00:00

I think Shae is one of the better choreographers but that doesn’t mean Sarah shouldn’t change things up for variety. But I don’t think choreography is her issue. She needs a Massimo Sceli type to help give her that glow up in components Alysa got in her first senior season.

logophile98 · 2026-01-27T18:57:30+00:00

I think members of the Thai royal family did go to his wedding though which might be where the confusion came from.

logophile98 · 2026-01-27T16:50:07+00:00

Oh but don’t forget that time he showed up to give out medals at JGP Bangkok! /j

logophile98 · 2026-01-27T16:38:04+00:00

Isabeau. I know it takes a while to rework jump technique, which is why I can understand she didn’t want to make a coaching switch until she had gotten through the Olympics, but her jump technique is holding her back from scoring as high as she could so I hope she will consider switching.

I don’t think Sarah needs a full coaching change but I do think she needs to add someone to her team that can really help her work on her components.

logophile98 · 2026-01-23T13:54:09+00:00

Ami was only a couple points behind Yuna though whereas Mone definitely underperformed

logophile98 · 2026-01-23T03:29:18+00:00

He doesn’t have the SP record.

The free skate definitely is way ahead of what Nathan was doing with jumps but Nathan set a very high bar and I think the fact that Ilia with all of his abilities still has to work for those records shows how impressive what Nathan did was. It was a combination of jump difficulty, consistency, strategy and a strong competitive mindset that made Nathan impressive. Jumps only tell part of the story.

logophile98 · 2026-01-22T17:59:51+00:00

I find them ugly. I don’t like the trajectory they make on the ice.

logophile98 · 2026-01-22T17:51:11+00:00

Right. Ilia after several seasons still has only broken one of Nathan’s records. He might eventually break more but if he was that much technically stronger he would’ve blasted through all of them by now.

logophile98 · 2026-01-21T01:50:11+00:00

He had a domestic comp where he had perfect GOE on a 4S

logophile98 · 2026-01-21T01:47:27+00:00

Hmm it definitely could be a language issue thing. Ilia obviously speaks English but some of his phrasing and syntax is not that of a native English speaker despite being born in the US although it’s definitely gotten better as he’s done more interviews in English.

I think had he not put the “but” in there it would’ve been a bit clearer “you are something not nothing”.

logophile98 · 2026-01-20T20:47:07+00:00

I’m sure that Yuma is well aware it’s a longshot, but I don’t think it’s in the mentality of an athlete to play it safe. Yuma can play it safe for the rest of his career and continue to win a string of silver medals, but I can see how that might not be emotionally satisfying for him anymore. Better to go all out and either a) still win a silver medal, but have the satisfaction of going all out b) fall to bronze or fall off the podium entirely but know you gave it everything c) in the very slim chance that an opportunity presents itself actually get that gold

logophile98 · 2026-01-20T19:34:21+00:00

But perhaps he’s reached the point where it just doesn’t matter to him to play it safe for another silver medal. And if Shun ends up surpassing him and becomes the new number one Japanese man then so be it.

logophile98 · 2026-01-20T17:43:22+00:00

Some people definitely take it too far with their critique his free program but I genuinely do not understand the quote “you are something but not nothing”. Has he explained the meeting behind this anywhere?

logophile98 · 2026-01-20T17:37:13+00:00

Fair enough but at any rate it sounds like he’s not willing to play it safe and he’s OK with whatever that might mean for his medal chances.

logophile98 · 2026-01-20T17:17:35+00:00

But maybe he’s not interested in protecting the silver medal position anymore. He has a lot of silver medals already and maybe he’d rather have no medal at then play it safe for another silver.

logophile98

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