Yuzuru Hanyu: personal life, family, records and earnings

Yuzuru Hanyu is a living legend of world figure skating and the greatest figure skater on the planet. For a long time he dominated the men’s single skating and knew no equal. He has many titles and records to his credit. He won the Olympic Games twice in a row, became a two-time world champion, four-continental champion and a four-time winner of the Grand Prix Final.

However, listing all the titles will not be enough to get at least a vague idea of ​​​​the personality and talent of the athlete. Yuzuru Hanyu is not only an outstanding figure skater, but also an amazing performer, a skater with a surprisingly subtle sense of music. No one lives their programs on the ice the way Hanyu does.

Meanwhile, being a public person, Yuzuru remains one of the most enigmatic and mysterious personalities of our time. Little is known about him, but at the same time, this unique one attracts the attention of millions of people.

Net income and salary of Yuzuru Hanyu.

Information about Hanyu’s earnings remains classified, however, according to sources, his net income is estimated at $ 2 million and this is only due to the salary for his career as a figure skater.

Due to the impressive results and skating skills, Hanyu achieved world fame, and in his country he became almost a deity. Having such wild popularity not only in figure skating, but also outside it, it is not surprising that the largest brands became interested in the skater and offered cooperation.

Now Yuzuru has many large advertising contracts that bring him considerable income. So, for example, the skater advertises Citizen watches, Ajinomoto products (nutrition for athletes), Kose cosmetics, Ghana chocolate. Recently, the cosmetics company Sekkisei introduced new products released in collaboration with Yuzuru Hanyu. Until August 2022, the athlete was the ambassador of the South Korean brand Lotte.

Another important source of income for any skater is participation in ice shows. And in the case of Hanyu, the fees for one exit on the ice can be fabulous sums.

It is known that Yuzuru Hanyu has an exclusive contract under which the skater can only perform in Japan. Not a single foreign show can invite a legendary athlete, which at times raises the cost of his performance.

Russian producer Ilya Averbukh shared his opinion that “the cost of his [Khanyu] entering the ice is probably the most expensive in the world that exists.” According to some reports, this cost starts from 100 thousand euros.

With such a huge fortune, Yuzuru must lead a luxurious lifestyle.

Personal life of Yuzuru Hanyu

Translated from Japanese, the name Yuzuru Hanyu means “string that binds the bow tightly”, which symbolizes trust, strength and directness.

Hanyu is reluctant to speak to the public about his personal life, so no details about his likely girlfriend could be found.

There was a period when rumors about Yuzuru’s romantic relationship with a figure skater from Spain, Javier Fernandez, were actively circulating on the Internet. But the guys completely refuted these fabrications, which have no basis, emphasizing that they are only friends.

Later, Yuzuru was credited with an affair with two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva. The reason for the rumors, probably, was Zhenya’s move to Toronto and the transition to Brian Orser, who trained Hanyu. As a result, these assumptions turned out to be groundless, there was no question of any romance between the skaters.

Currently, Yuzuru is very focused on his work. Given the diligence and dedication with which the skater is immersed in the work process, it is unlikely that he has time for his personal life and dating girls. In the future, Hanyu plans a family, but now he has only one love – figure skating.

Biography and early years

Yuzuru Hanyu was born on December 7, 1994 in Japan, in the northern district of Izumi-Ku in the city of Sendai. His father is the vice principal of a junior high school and his mother is a housewife. He also has an older sister named Saya Hanyu.

At an early age, Yuzuru had asthma, but this did not stop him from skating. He started skating at the age of four. His first coach immediately noted the boy’s fearlessness and a special style of skating. The future champion seriously thought about a career as a figure skater when he saw the confrontation between Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The skater admired his determination from a young age. In addition to regular classes with a coach, he managed to improve his technique on his own. For this purpose, the guy had a notebook in which he wrote down in detail practical developments, personal observations. Yuzuru constantly analyzed records with performances of the best skaters, studied every detail and tried to understand why this or that element must be performed in this way and not otherwise.

Hanyu became one of the few singles skaters who managed to master the Bielmann spin. The fact is that the element requires great flexibility and is almost always performed by women. The first man to perform “Bielman” is the idol of Yuzuru – Evgeni Plushenko.

At the end of 2009, Hanyu won the gold medal at the Junior Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, and the following year won the gold medal at the 2010 Junior World Championships.

Career and achievements

In the second half of 2010, the figure skater’s adult career began. And already in 2011, Yuzuru became the silver medalist of the Four Continents Championship. A year later, he managed to win a gold medal at the Grand Prix stage in Russia and become a bronze medalist of the World Championship.

In the 2012-13 season, he won a silver medal in the Grand Prix Final, and on the eve of the Sochi Olympics, Hanyu won gold in the Grand Prix Final in Fukuuk.

At the Sochi Games, Yuzuru set a new world record with 101.45 points in the short program, and also became the first skater to score over 100 points in the short program. At that start, the athlete performed a spectacular quadruple toeloop and an almost perfect triple axel.

Hanyu became the youngest singles skater to win Olympic gold since Dick Button, who became Olympic champion in 1948 at 18. In addition, Hanyu became the first figure skater from Japan to win Olympic gold.

A month later, Hanyu arrived at the 2014 World Championships and won another gold medal, becoming the first male singles skater since Yagudin in 2002 to win the Olympic and world titles in the same year.
Hanyu won his second World Championship gold medal in 2017, setting a world record in the free program – 223.30 points.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, he again won the title of Olympic champion, becoming the second figure skater after Dick Button to win two gold medals in a row.

Yuzuru Han failed to conquer the top of Olympus for the third time; at the Beijing Olympics, he finished in fourth place, because the main goal for him at that tournament was the execution of the quadruple axel. In the free program, Hanyu made an attempt to make an Axel in four and a half turns. The jump was not counted, but for the first time in history it was recorded in the official ISU protocols as a quadruple axel (albeit with underrotation).

In total, Hanyu has set 19 world records in his career, the best result for men’s singles since the introduction of the ISU judging system in 2004.

After the end of the 2017/2018 season, the refereeing system was significantly revised, in connection with which the ISU reset the statistics with the results of the skaters. Thus, all previous world records have become historical.

In men’s single skating, Yuzuru Hanyu holds three historical records: 1) total for SP 112.72 (September 22, 2017, CS Autumn Classic International) 2) total for FP 223.20 (April 1, 2017, World Championships) 3) total for two programs 330.43 (December 12, 2015, Grand Prix final).

Also, Yuzuru Hanyu is the only male singles skater to have a Super Slam (winner of the Junior Grand Prix Final, Junior World Championship, Grand Prix Final, World Championship, Four Continents Championship, Olympic Games)

Now

This summer, Yuzuru Hanyu announced his retirement from sports, but the skater does not intend to say goodbye to his favorite pastime. He will continue to figure skating, does not plan to slow down and still intends to master the quadruple axel.

Yuzuru has also become slightly less closed off than during his competitive years. The athlete has official accounts on YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. In the near future, the skater plans to hold his own show “Prologue”, in which he wants to tell his story about life and figure skating.