Yuzuru Hanyūda

Yuzuru Hanyūda ( Japanese 羽 入 田 譲 , Hanyūda Yuzuru ; * October 23, 1976 ) is a Japanese skeleton driver .

Yuzuru Hanyūda began playing skeleton in 1997 and has been a member of the Japanese national team since 2002. In December 2002, the Japanese made his Skeleton America's Cup debut in Calgary , finishing twelfth. It was not until November 2004 that he was able to place himself in the top ten for the first time in fourth place. In January 2005 he was able to compete in the Skeleton World Cup for the first time due to this and other good results . In Turin he finished 18th. In the following race in St. Moritz , he came eighth among the top ten and achieved his best placement in this competition to date. The highlight of a good season was participation in the Skeleton World Championship in Calgary in 2005 , where Hanyūda finished 17th. After the Japanese had achieved only moderate results in the 2005/06 season , he was downgraded again. In the following two years, the Japanese achieved mostly good to mediocre results in the America's Cup and in the newly created Skeleton Intercontinental Cup . In the 2007/08 season he reached his best result in the America's Cup with second place behind his compatriot Yūki Sasahara in Park City and was third in the overall standings behind Sasahara and Chris Burgess . In 2008/09 he repeated this placement in the overall standings and, after a third place in Calgary, was second in the same place one day after Kevin Ellis . In 2010/11 he won his first race in Calgary. In the following two races in Lake Placid , Hanyūda was able to finish second behind Greg Maidment and win another America's Cup race one day before him.

Web links

• Profile on skeletonsport.com ( Memento from October 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive )