Perfect storm

These monstrous scores came about obviously because of the technical and components aspects of Hanyu's two programs. But the sheer magnitude of these scores was the result of a perfect storm of 1) flawless execution, 2) Hanyu's history and place as Olympic champ, and 3) the fact that Hanyu competed in Japan in front of an electric home crowd that helped him deliver a magical performance in addition to a technical masterpiece.

Could those have been world records in a different setting? Absolutely. But could 106 or 216 or 322 have happened in a different setting? Maybe not. It really was the perfect storm.

GOAT?

These two programs from Hanyu rank up there with the best ever, or as we have read/heard about from other sports, the GOAT (greatest of all time). And of course, you can argue until the cows come home or until pigs fly about whether or not it's the GOAT (you know you liked the livestock references), but it's certainly one of the very best. The sheer excitement of the whole occasion certainly overwhelms most senses of objectivity, but I'll try to articulate my feelings on the GOAT-ness of Hanyu's performances.

Almost everything about what Hanyu did was incredible. Over the course of 6 1/2 minutes, he cleanly hit five quads, three triple axels, and six other triples. It's unprecedented - in my memory of men's skating, I don't recall any instance when this level of difficulty has been achieved with such perfection. The only real minor nitpicky iffy landing was his first jump of the barrage, where he had to fight just a bit for the landing of his quad sal in the short. But c'mon, Jackie.

The dominance factor was huge, as we saw earlier with the world record comparisons. His free skate was so outrageously good that it alone beat the *overall* scores of four of the men in the competition. And he delivered these programs with precision, ease, musicality, and everything else necessary to get you out of your seats and applaud for half an hour straight.

In that sense, his performances are, by default, starting at the top of the pile. But my one reservation is the stage on which the performances were delivered. Don't get me wrong, as one of the Grand Prix events, NHK Trophy is a top-tier regular season competition. But it wasn't the Olympics or even Worlds, where the stakes are astronomically higher and the competition is overwhelmingly stiffer. And obviously, I'm getting into the territory of splitting hairs, but you have to when you're in the conversation of greatest ever.

And so I go back to the Worlds and Olympics victories that were the most special in both being a technical showcase and providing the intangible connection of the performance.