Photo/Illutration Yuzuru Hanyu takes part in the open practice session on Feb. 5 prior to the start of the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul. (Nobuhiro Shirai)

SEOUL--Japanese figure skating sensation Yuzuru Hanyu is gambling that his old way of doing things will pay off at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships that will begin here Feb. 6.

The two-time Olympic champion will revert to the program that netted him his second gold medal two years ago at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Explaining the decision to reclaim the program that brought so much success, Hanyu said, “It is not about wanting to become better or wanting to win, but I want to perform my figure skating in competition (in my own way).”

At the Pyeongchang games, Hanyu became the first male figure skater in 66 years to repeat as Olympic champion.

But after the  games, Hanyu changed his program and used music associated with two figure skaters he has long admired: Evgeni Plushenko, the Russian who won the gold medal at the Turin Winter Olympics, and Johnny Weir, the former U.S. champion.

For his short program, Hanyu skated to “Otonal,” which Weir once used, while the free program was performed to “Origin,” which was used by Plushenko in a skate show.

For the Four Continents event, Hanyu will skate the short program to a ballad by Chopin, while the free program will be performed to “Seimei,” a song taken from a movie about Abe no Seimei, a 10th century yin-yang practitioner.

In addition to using music associated with his boyhood heroes, Hanyu also tried to become the first figure skater to land a quad axel jump.

Commenting on that change, Hanyu said, “It was fun to ramp up the difficulty of my program and the joy I felt when I achieved it was indescribable.”

However, he added, “The figure skating that I was pursuing was not skating that was only more difficult.”

The change in program did not produce success.

While he sought an unprecedented fifth title at the Grand Prix Final event last December, Hanyu lost by a combined total of more than 40 points to American Nathan Chen.

Later that month, Hanyu lost for the first time to Shoma Uno in the Japan Figure Skating Championships.

That led to Hanyu’s decision to go back to the golden Olympic performance because “I want to show the audience that this is my figure skating.”

In the open practice session held on Feb. 5, Hanyu skated his short program using the Chopin ballad and landed a quad salchow, a combination quad-triple toe loop and a triple axel.

“I was very nervous,” Hanyu said after the practice. “I once again realized how serious I had to be to do that program.”

He hopes to use the familiar program to claim his first title in the Four Continents event.

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