By Gus Fielding,
Figure skating superstar Yuzuru Hanyu continued to build toward his much-anticipated Olympic men's title defense Wednesday, practicing in front of around 100 members of the media in the bowels of Gangneung Ice Arena.
Hanyu, who a day earlier vowed to make his comeback from injury at the Pyeongchang Games "worth the wait," did not perform any jumps in the rehearsal of his short program on the practice rink.
Before that in the warm-up, he nailed a triple axel, a quadruple toe-triple toe combination and fell on a quad salchow before getting it right at the second attempt.
The 23-year-old did not speak to reporters after his roughly 40-minute session.
Hanyu, who arrived in South Korea on Sunday, injured his right ankle during practice at the NHK Trophy in November and has not competed since.
His Canadian coach Brian Orser said last week that the Sendai native has been "sweating blood and tears" at his base in Toronto in a bid to be in top shape for the men's short program starting on Friday.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Hanyu admitted that he feared he might not recover from the injury that had threatened to derail his Olympic defense.
"At the NHK after the injury, I wanted to take painkillers and skate but the ankle was just not moving. After two months, I still felt some difficulties skating and there were times when I wondered whether I would ever completely recover," he said.
"But I can skate now and that is what is most important. I want to show this is my dream stage and give a dream performance."
Hanyu is looking to become the first men's back-to-back Olympic champion in 66 years -- a feat achieved by American Dick Button.
