Flawless ‘Seimei’ in 1st open practice session as pro

SENDAI — Two-time Winter Olympic gure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu took to the ice Aug. 10 in Sendai for his rst public practice session since turning pro.

The 27-year-old, who announced his retirement from competitive gure skating in July, gave a awless hometown rendition of “Seimei,” the program he performed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.

“I wanted to prove that I’ve been getting better since the Pyeongchang Games,” Hanyu told reporters. “Standing at the professional starting line today, I feel I can improve even further.”

During the session, Hanyu also attempted to land quadruple axels, but failed. “I’m going to give it my all, practice-wise,” he said.

e public session, which started around noon, was livestreamed on his o cial YouTube channel “Hanyu Yuzuru,” which launched Aug. 7. (Aug. 12)