Yuzuru Hanyu Places 2nd, Wakaba Higuchi 3rd at Rostelecom Cup

From October 20 – 22, this year’s edition of Rostelecom Cup took place in Moscow, Russia. This was the first event in the International Skating Union’s 2017 – 2018 Grand Prix Series. Yuzuru Hanyu came in second place in the men’s portion of the event, while Wakaba Higuchi placed third in the women’s portion.

Yuzuru Hanyu came in second place with a total score of 290.77, 3.02 points behind Nathan Chen of the United States. Yuzuru’s short program received a score of 94.85, putting him in second place behind Nathan, whose short program received a score of 100.54. Yuzuru under-rotated his first jump, a quad loop, slightly losing balance after a bad landing. Later in the program, he fell on his quad toe / triple toe combination, putting both hands on the ice. “There were many parts that were obviously bad but I think I was able to overcome the challenge of executing all my jumps without missing the right timing,” he said after the short program. “I think I was able to put my routine together earlier than usual, and it’s a great improvement that I didn’t miss performing any elements in the short program.”

Yuzuru’s free skate was the top one of the event, with a score of 195.92, compared to Nathan’s second place free skate score of 193.25. Yuzuru debuted his quad lutz during the free skate, saying “It’s not a jump I’ve mastered but it’s going to be a good jump for me. I was focusing on the lutz this time, but it’s going to take more work.” He continued, “I have been making adjustments to my program, but I still made some mistakes, and that shows my current weakness. Looking towards the rest of the season, including the Olympics, Yuzuru added, “I have to improve step by step and try to move beyond where I was in my previous competition. That’s the way I’m aiming for the latter stages of the season, when I’ll have cleared one hurdle after another. This is not the kind of performance I know I’m capable of, so from now on I want to keep at it in practice. There is frustration, but I’m also learning. It’s a combination of the two.”

Wakaba Higuchi finished in third place with a total score of 207.17, 8.81 points behind the second place finisher, Italy’s Carolina Kostner. Wakaba’s short program was the third best of the event, receiving a score of 69.60, compared to Carolina’s second place short program score of 74.62. Wakaba’s free skate also came in third, with a score of 137.57, 3.79 points behind Carolina’s second place free skate.

Kaori Sakamoto finished in fifth place with a total score of 194.00. The pairs team of Sumire Suto & Francis Boudreau-Audet finished in eighth (last) place with a total score of 136.80.

This coming weekend sees Shoma Uno, Takahito Mura, Marin Honda, and Rika Hongo taking the ice at Skate Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Yuzuru Hanyu

Short program