Yuzuru Hanyu evolved rapidly and turned his eyes to the top of the world in 2012. (4ページ目)

"I had frustration that there was a big point difference in the short program, and I also felt the tension peculiar to the All Japan Championships," Takahashi said afterwards. "But I thought that seeing as the gap was so big, I had to take the plunge and put in my best performance."

Takahashi succeeded with his first quadruple toe loop, and though the following quadruple toe loop lacked enough spin, it became a double toe loop, making successfully continuous jumps.

Regarding the performance after that he said, "I was a little too excited and ended up skipping some elements in the step sequence, and then I entered the choreography sequence in the final stage too early... It was embarrassing but I connected it with suitable movements". Even so, his spirit produced a great performance that fascinated everybody present.

At the end, he concluded the program with a fist punching the air three times. "It wasn't perfect because I made small mistakes, but I succeeded in two quadruples and skated well all the way", Takahashi said afterwards.

He received a high score of 192.36 for his free skate, putting pressure on Hanyu with 280.40 points in total.

Hanyu, however, didn't crack.

At the beginning he managed to delicately maintain the gravity upon landing a quadruple toe loop, and then in the following quadruple Salchow, even though his hip sank greatly, he avoided falling. After that, Hanyu slowed down for step sequences due to the power consumed in the beginning, but he went on to perform carefully until the end.