Quad Revolution In YOI

quad revolution in YOI

I'm still thinking about this discussion about quads in YOI and which character would attempt a 4A or generally add more quads to their portfolio.

By the time, YOI aired, the first ratified 4F and 4Lo had just been landed in competition by Shoma Uno (4F, April 2016) and Yuzuru Hanyu (4Lo, Autumn Classic, the week before episode 1 aired). While the 4F remains special with Viktor and later Yuuri being the only skaters who can land it, the YOI creators went ahead by including a quad no one had ever landed in competition by the time the storyboards and the fs programmes were created: the quad loop. In YOI, JJ, Emil, and Seung-Gil jump the 4Lo in competition like it's nothing, and Viktor once jumped it at a gala, which is a whole different level of badassery due to the lighting conditions.

Figure skating is constantly evolving as athletes challenge themselves, pushing their physical limits and the boundaries of the sport. Once triple jumps became the new normal, quad jumps become next frontier. As a piece of fiction created by two avid figure skating fans, YOI anticipated the quad revolution. Comparing the history of figure skating to the fictional world of YOI, I expect some characters adding more and more quads to their programmes while others focus on artistry, and the first skater landing a ratified 4A in competition some seasons before Ilia Malinin landed the first ratified 4A irl.

Of all quad jumps, the 4A has the highest difficulty because it's the only quad that has 4.5 rotations. If I think about which skaters would join the race for the 4A, JJ, Yurio, and Emil come to mind. All three are young enough to take up the challenge. JJ and Yurio have ambition and Emil would be in for the fun of it. And I think of Yuuri for three reasons:

the Axel is his best jump

he is physically resilient due to his high stamina and rarely ever suffering from injury

his ambition: by including the 4A in his programmes, he could beat Viktor in score and technical difficulty.

So, what about Viktor?

By the time Viktor picks up his career, he is 28. In competitive singles skating, that's bordering geriatic. Coming back to competition after a hiatus is hard and his admiration of Yuuri’s stamina and physical health suggest that he struggled with stamina and injury in the past. Getting back to his old shape and being able to compete at the top would be his priority. Staying in the air for four-and-a-half rotations? Maybe not so much.

Of course, we have no information on whether Viktor practised the 4A in the past. Many skaters practise jumps they don’t show off in competition to play it safe. Being able to quadruple all the other jumps, he might have been tempted or even jumped the 4A for funsies. However, Viktor wouldn’t have won worlds and the GPF five times in a row if he hadn’t played it extra safe during those seasons, even more so if he is prone to injury. Injury just has the potential to mess up a skater's entire season. Viktor seems too considerate to embrace the risk of adding rotations, whereas I can totally see younger and more reckless skaters like JJ or Yuuri eventually go for the 4A. And because of that I don’t see Viktor pursuing the 4A as a real goal, especially not post-comeback. I’d rather expect him surprise the audience with a 4Lo than endangering his comeback by going for four-and-a-half rotations.