Yuzuru Hanyu Won NHK Trophy with Astounding 322.40 Points

An episode on sports for change, folks. Japan's top male figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu broke his own world record with 106.33 in short program and breezed on to win free program with 216. 07 surpassing 300 marks for the first time to reign the NHK Cup Figure Skating Competition with an astounding total score of  322.40 points, November 28.

That was a shocking event, really, because the record itself was dazzling and Hanyu himself tried and succeeded quadruple jumps twice in succession - for the first time ever. It was a perfect performance, the best in his career so far.

He landed and controlled the first quadruple Salchow jump and comfortably managed the following quad toe-triple toe combination. Then, in the latter half of performance he breezed through a triple axel.

He went on to mark Level 4 in all spins and steps and finished with over 9 of the full score of 10 in the remaining four performance points.

Prior to the NHK Competition, Hanyu had finished second in his first match of this season's GP in Canada. In an exhibition training, he had comfortably made quadruple jumps and felt himself "eager to challenge".

Coach Brian Orser and Hanyu were in agreement that he should target double quadruple jumps, but Orser thought it a bit too early to attempt at NHK.

Both returned to Canada for conditioning and tried new combinations to prepare for NHK. This year's NHK saw an upcoming hopeful Hakuyo Kin in an excellent shape succeeding a quadruple Lutz jump. Hanyu skated through Chopin's Ballade No.1 perfectly for the first time.

Asked to comment on his high scores, Hanyu said:

"I still have a lot to learn. To win in the Olympics twice in a row, I have to be a lot tougher and convincingly strong."

Hanyu is far from being satisfied with his performance at this year's NHK Competition; a world record is not good enough for the Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu.