There is no talking sense to Fanyus. Anyone who thinks unfair judging of some sort helped Nathan Chen beat Yuzuru Hanyu at 2019 worlds and 2019 GPF is seriously deluded and grasping at straws.

Hanyu was unquestionably best skater in the world in ’14, ’17, ’18. In 2015 and 2016, Javier Fernandez beat Hanyu at worlds; order reversed at GPF. I would call Fernandez #1 in ’15, Hanyu #1 in 16 because he was simply amazing at NHK, GPF & worlds short. Chen #1 in ’19, ‘20

A system that puts a skater who won the biggest global event of season No. 15 for that season is de facto meaningless. This isn’t being ranked 2d instead of lst; that might be legitimately debatable. We’re talking about three spots behind a guy who didn’t even make Euros free.

Yuzuru Hanyu is one of the greatest men’s skaters in history. (It’s impossible to determine exactly the greatest ever because impossible to compare eras; you can, however, make a strong case to call Hanyu GOAT.) But he has not been the best skater in the world the past two years.