Yuto Totsuka’s Yonex partnership set to boost brand in Beijing

Japanese sporting gear maker Yonex has staked much on men’s snowboard halfpipe earth champion Yuto Totsuka, and one of the company’s product or service developers is hoping the board that bears his name will establish the brand’s bona fides around the world.

Hirokazu Yaegashi works for Yonex, a business greater known for its extensive lines of tennis and badminton rackets than for their snowboards, a market they entered in 1995.

Yaegashi sees the Beijing Game titles as a wonderful opportunity for the model to remake its impression with the assistance of snowboarders it equips.

“It will make me very happy to see a Japanese acquire a gold medal making use of equipment created by a Japanese business,” Yaegashi mentioned in a new interview.

“That would inspire the total region and it would make us very pleased of our initiatives.”

Yaegashi aided Yonex make a snowboard he thinks will extra than stand the Olympic test and can assistance riders like Totsuka challenge for the podium.

In March 2021, the 20-calendar year-aged Japanese won his 1st halfpipe entire world title in Aspen, Colorado, conquering Aussie snowboarding celebrity Scotty James who had dominated every of the three editions held considering that 2015.

Yonex is keen to make the most of the showcase the Olympics present to entice new clients to its boards although encouraging individuals who previously experience them to stay loyal when upgrading.

Early in Yonex’s foray into the snowboard sector, it located itself trailing in the wake of sector heavyweights like Burton, Lib Tech and Ride, but the Japanese organization has revealed continual advancement in the past couple of decades with a consumer-focused approach and stringent analysis standards that aided refine its offering.

Totsuka’s signature model, also recognized as the Rev Yts, attributes the lightest swing fat of any board at any time made.

Swing weight is the time period employed to describe the rotational forces that exist at the tip and tail of the board. The excess weight distribution impacts equally the way the board turns and the control that the rider has in the air.

At the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Games, there will be 11 gold medals up for grabs, five for male and feminine athletes competing in the large air, halfpipe, slopestyle, parallel giant slalom and snowboard cross activities as well as a different the new blended team snowboard cross celebration.

Totsuka will make his second Olympic overall look in Beijing just after a horrific crash in the halfpipe remaining finished his at Pyeongchang Online games, and will contend with a board intended just for him, the “Totsuka Distinctive Product.”

Totsuka’s board combines entire world-course effectiveness with an infusion of freeriding style to match his needs.

“They know what I glimpse for (in a board). I’m happy for the reason that they’ve managed to make a board that is both stiff and light-weight,” Totsuka explained.

The stiffness of a snowboard has a substantial result on its properties underneath the toes of the rider, and as these kinds of all manufacturers will give a flex score, usually in between one particular and 10.

“A ton of thinking has absent into our merchandise growth, as we wished to aid the athletes coach in any little way. Now we hold out to see the fruits of our labor,” Yaegashi explained.

“Of program, it is the athletes who do the work and we’re just at the rear of-the-scenes creating the machines, but we choose pleasure in getting able to assistance those striving for success,” he explained.

Individuals on the lookout to emulate their beloved snowboarding star can begin by paying for the Totsuka Rev Yts signature board for ¥98,000 ($850).

Ruka Hirano, a men’s halfpipe gold medalist at the 2020 Winter season Youth Olympic Video games in Lausanne, and Sena Tomita, who capable for the women’s snowboarding group alongside with her young sister Ruki, are also Yonex riders.

Both of those Hirano and Tomita, and of class Totsuka, have the possibility to make the podium in Beijing, and their Olympic accomplishment will not only be a turning level for Yonex but a golden possibility to promote the sport, Yaegashi says.

“It would be fantastic if those people who’ve hardly ever ridden a snowboard before commence right after the Beijing Olympics. I want them to experience inspired to do so and it generates a buzz about the Japanese snowboard industry.”