Yuzuru Hanyu returned to a familiar place after his longest break between figure skating competitions: the top of the standings.
The two-time Olympic champion landed a quadruple Salchow and a quad toe loop, tallying 103.53 points in the Japanese Championships short program on Friday. Video is here.
Hanyu, who was given zero points for one spin, leads by 4.93 over 17-year-old Yuma Kagiyama going into Saturday’s free skate in Nagano. Fans were in attendance but were reportedly encouraged not to cheer loudly to reduce the risk of coronavirus spread.
“Although my performance wasn’t worth the score I got, I managed to land all my jumps,” Hanyu said, according to Agence France-Presse, after a program to “Let Me Entertain You” by Robbie Williams.