Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan skates to Chopin's Ballade No. 1 during his short program at the 2020 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul, South Korea, February, 7, 2020. /VCG Photo
Yuzuru Hanyu, a 25-year-old ice prince, is on course for figure skating's so-called "Super Slam" after setting a new world record in the short program at ISU Four Continents Championships in Seoul on Friday.
The two-time Olympic champion scored 111.82 points in the short program skating to Chopin's Ballade No. 1, the same music which served him during his Olympic gold-medal effort in Pyeongchang. The point, his new season's best, gave him an edge of 15.99 points over the second-placed Jin Boyang of China.
Skating third to the last, Hanyu started well with a clean quad salchow. He proceeded by landing steadily a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination and finished his impeccable artistic performance with a clean triple axel.
Hanyu lands all his jumps steadily during his short program at the Four Continents Championships in Seoul, February, 7, 2020. /VCG Photo
Stuffed Winnie the Pooh bears rained down onto the ice as expected as soon as Hanyu completed his skate and it took some time before children skated onto the ice to carry them all off.
With his stunning comeback show in the short program as well as his main rivalry Nathan Chen's absence, Hanyu is on course to become the first male skater to complete the Super Slam of the junior world title, world title, Olympic gold, Grand Prix Final and continental championship.
Chinese skater Jin Boyang, also delivered a fabulous performance with a clean quad lutz-triple toe loop combination, a quad toe loop and triple axel.
Jin Boyang of China finishes 2nd after the short program at the Four Continents Championships in Seoul, February, 7, 2020. /VCG Photo
He posted 95.83 points, trailing behind Hanyu to grab the second place after the short program with a 1.12-points edge over the third place.
The men's free skate will be on Sunday.