Olympic and world champion Yuzuru Hanyu showed he has regained both his form and confidence with his dominating victory at the Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday.

Exactly six weeks to the day of his unfortunate collison with Yan Han at the Cup of China, Hanyu blew away his competition with a sublime free skate to "Phantom of the Opera" at the GP Final.

With the exception of a fall on his final jump (a triple lutz), Hanyu was fantastic and exhibited all of the ability and grace he possesses.

How impressive was he?

Take a look at some of the comments from the announcers on EuroSport2, which televised the GP Final live throughout Europe.

"He's a dream to watch."

"You nearly run out of superlatives for Yuzuru Hanyu. But there is one that comes to mind — inspirational."

"He has produced one of the performances of his life."

"Right across the spectrum of sport, there are few performers — male or female — who are as special as this young man."

"Incredible. What a comeback from this guy."

"We are not talking here about the best skater of the year. We are not even talking about the best skater of his generation. He may be one of the greatest skaters, if not the greatest skater of all time."

"He can do anything this guy, and put the quads in there as well. Just sensational."

Wow.

Despite falling on his combination jump in the short program and the triple lutz in the free skate, Hanyu beat second-place finisher Javier Fernandez from Spain by nearly 35 points. His performance clearly resonated with both analysts and judges.

"I was a little bit nervous today but I felt very happy and felt the happiness of using my body fully due to the support I got from my team and many other people," the 20-year-old said. "I was exhausted before the triple lutz. I tried to move my body but I think I just lost focus."

Hanyu will be taking big momentum into next week's nationals in Nagano, where he will be going for his third straight title. Considering the disappointing free skate by Tatsuki Machida, who went from second after the short program to finish last, Hanyu will have to be considered a prohibitive favorite at Big Hat.

It's good to see Hanyu back at his best. Despite their inner toughness, athletes can be very fragile. Some might have not recovered as well after the accident with Yan in Shanghai last month.

We have seen it in other sports, where a player gets hurt and is never able to re-engage and excel at the level he or she could before their injury. Hanyu appears to have assuaged any doubts about both his physical condition and confidence with the showing in Barcelona.

Junior excellence: With five of the singles skaters being Japanese at the Junior Grand Prix Final, which ran concurrently with the senior event, the Hinomaru came away with three medals.

Shoma Uno vaulted past compatriot Sota Yamamoto in the free skate to win the gold. Uno, who turns 17 on Wednesday, was nothing short of amazing, landing a quad toe loop and eight triple jumps in his free skate.

"I am surprised with myself," stated Uno after his victory. "I skated much better than I expected. After the short program I was sad, but today's free skating made up for it."

The 14-year-old Yamamoto settled for the silver but was more concerned about his triple axel after singling it in the free skate.

"I'm happy about the result and the placement today, but my goal was to land a triple axel and I didn't do it," commented Yamamoto, who did hit seven triple jumps in his free skate. "So I regret that a little bit."

On the women's side, Wakaba Higuchi, who is just 13, rallied from fifth place after the short program to claim the bronze.

"Today was a much happier day than yesterday," noted Higuchi. "Coming here, I was aiming for the third place, but after the short program I almost had given up the hope to win a medal."

Higuchi won Japan's Junior Championship last month in Niigata.

Power of skating: The book contest The Japan Times ran for copies of "Team Brian" once again illustrated that skating has no boundaries when it comes to fans. The tome details coach Brian Orser's career and interactions while coaching both Hanyu and Yuna Kim.

We received many entries for the books from throughout Japan and around the globe. Included were those submitted from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States.