Tokyo, Japan, December 27, 2021: Japan’s most popular athlete, Yuzuru Hanyu, will have the chance to notch a hat trick of Winter Olympics gold medals in Beijing next February after clinching his sixth national crown on Sunday, December 26.
The 27-year-old figure skating legend, who won the men’s title at Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018, won the All Japan Championships at Saitama Super Arena with a score of 322.36.
He was well ahead of Shoma Uno – the Asian Winter Games champion from Sapporo 2017 and Olympic silver medallist at PyeongChang – with 295.82. Youth Olympic Games champion Yuma Kagiyama finished third on 292.41 points.
Hanyu was making his season debut at the nationals after missing the Grand Prix Series with a sprained right ankle. He had not competed since the World Team Trophy in April.
Hanyu, Uno and Kagiyama will represent Japan in men’s figure skating at the Beijing Winter Olympics from February 4-20, 2022.
The other team members will be:
Women’s single: Kaori Sakamoto, Wakaba Higuchi, Mana Kawabe
Pair: Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara
Ice Dance: Misato Komatsubara/Takeru Komatsubara