Yuzuru Hanyu evolved rapidly and turned his eyes to the top of the world in 2012. (3ページ目)

Although the pressure of being the final skater of the short program in the previous year's tournament had almost cracked Hanyu, this time he fully demonstrated his power.

Hanyu said that he was "nervous and anxious" during the six-minute practice before the performance, but when he executed the first quadruple toe loop perfectly he gained momentum. Each element was carried out carefully, and all judges gave him two or three GOE points. It was a tense two minutes and 40 seconds, during which the power of his performance dominated the rink and was transmitted to the audience. His score was 97.68 points, beating the world's highest score in a Grand Prix series (although unofficially, seeing as it is not an international tournament), and enabling Hanyu to overtake Takahashi and go top.

"I was nervous because I had an image that I couldn't do it in the final run of last season (2011), and I was never able to practice for six minutes," he said afterwards. "I was surprised at the score. I'm glad I was able to perform like that even when I was nervous."

He had improved at the short program, in which he had repeatedly failed in the previous season, as well as steadily increasing his score from the first Grand Prix series of the season, giving him confidence.

The battle between the two in the short program had produced a big difference of 9.64 points, and Takahashi, the first skater of the final group, performed aggressively in the free skate the following day.