TWO-TIME reigning Olympic champion Hanyu Yuzuru finally appeared at practice yesterday as he tuned up for today’s short program.

Nicknamed Ice Prince, the 27-year-old Japanese skater is a two-time Olympic champion (2014, 2018), two-time world champion (2014, 2017), and has broken 19 scoring records (the most in singles since the new ISU judging system was introduced in 2004).

He is also the first skater to perform a clean quadruple loop jump in competition.

Hanyu, who has millions of fans around the world, has made it his mission to become the first skater to land the quadruple Axel regarded as the most difficult of the six figure-skating jumps and include it in his Beijing program to win the title. He has hardly competed this season due to injury.

If he succeeds, Hanyu would achieve another milestone of becoming the first Olympian in nearly a century to win a third straight gold. Triple world champion Nathan Chen of the United States is seen as his closest rival for the trophy.

He said he was happy with his form on the eve of the short program.

“I feel like I’ve put in the work I need to,” Hanyu said, speaking for the first time at the Beijing Games. “I’m here in the shape I want to be in.

“The rink is nice and I enjoyed my time out there.”

A night after arriving in Beijng for his third Olympic Winter Games, Hanyu took to the rink in the afternoon for his scheduled 35 minutes.

Hanyu went through the motions to his free tune of “Heaven and Earth,” trying the quadruple Axel a few times — though unsuccessfully.

Hanyu said he will be taking a “different” approach to the quad Axel to the one he took at the Japanese nationals, where he won his sixth championship to qualify for Beijing.

He did not elaborate.

“There are several wrinkles I feel like I need to iron out but for today, I’m good. I’m planning to build on this,” Hanyu said.

Chaos ensued at Capital Indoor Stadium where the world’s media assembled from the crack of dawn for a sneak preview of the 27-year-old megastar.

Hanyu has been drawn into the second-to-last group and will start 21st in the short program today.

Hanyu is not getting ahead of himself, however. His focus for now is on the short program, for which he holds the world record in.

“First things first, I need to concentrate on the short. To me the short and the free skate are a set.

“I have to focus on the short and the rest later.”

He admitted he was feeling some pressure.

“This is an official competition and it’s the Olympics so of course, I get nervous just like everyone else,” he said.

“But I’m in a good place. I will do everything I can and while I won’t go as far as asking for everyone’s support, it would be great if people can watch me.”(SD-Agencies)