“And there he is. The man they all came to see. The Messiah”, said the British Eurosport’ commentator at the beginning of the final group in the men’s free skating at NHK Trophy. He was obviously referring to the Japanese superstar Daisuke Takahashi – and his words were truly spoken. The Yoyogi National Stadium in Tokyo, packed with 16.000 people, was ecstatic when this man entered the ice – and deafening when he finished his free program.
by Florentina Tone
He tripled his second quad Toe and stumbled on his second triple Axel in combination, but the rest was just flawless. A performance to die for – this is for sure. Daisuke Takahashi skated with his heart on his palms – and everyone in the arena (and in front of the TV, let me tell you) sensed that; and loved that wonderful man, in a creamy, draped shirt, in the final stage of his competitive career. The Japanese skated with lightness, with smoothness, was calm, generous and grateful, giving back what he received over the years. He was impeccable in the short program (taking a huge lead, with those 95.55 points, over the Spaniard Javier Fernandez) and exquisite in the free, winning for the fifth time the NHK Trophy (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2013).
And, yes, if Olympics in Sochi were tomorrow Daisuke Takahashi would win the gold, those 268.31 points received at NHK being the highest scores of the season in the men’s event; the silver would go to Tatsuki Machida (265.38 points at Skate America) and the bronze, to the Canadian Patrick Chan (262.03 points at Skate Canada). Of course, February 2014 is not within the reach, but this is a wonderful boost of confidence for this amazingly talented athlete, who needs to fight, at the Japanese Nationals in December, with five other skaters (Machida, Hanyu, Oda, Kozuka, Mura) in order to get one of those three Olympic berths in Sochi, next year.
…as if he were the violin
Have you seen his face expression after the short? No smile there, just focus, determination, drive, hunger to show he’s good. And what a short program that was! A true masterpiece – as if the music came out of him; as if he were the violin. The star of the Japanese figure skating was imperial, as one of my friends put it – and from the pictures I’ve seen, he kept this particular attitude during the press conference after the short too. He stated then, almost relieved that he proved his point with that routine: “Today I’m extremely happy with my performance and I haven’t been that happy in a while. I never expected my score to be that high, I was surprised. But it wasn’t about the score, I wanted to regain my confidence”.
Those 16.000 people in the arena and the fans all over the world must be thrilled right now: Daisuke Takahashi seems to be back to his absolute best – the quads in the short and in the free skating were amazing and I loved his split jump at the end of the long program. And what an inspired shot at the beginning of his free performance: before going to Daisuke, the camera stopped for a second on a banner in the arena, “Road to Sochi”. The road to Sochi has, indeed, started for this Japanese athlete and one thing is sure: an Olympic gold would be the perfect ending to his competitive skating career.