Hanyu Yuzuru hailed by fellow Brian Orser pupil Chan Junhwan 

Hanyu Yuzuru's former stablemate is tipping the double Olympic champion to become the first man to ever land the quadruple Axel in competition.

Hot off his triumph at the Four Continents, Cha Junhwan said on Saturday (5 February) that he believes the hard work Hanyu has put in will pay off at Beijing 2022.

Cha is a member of the Toronto Cricket Club, home to coach Brian Orser's skaters. Among them is none other than Hanyu, who has worked with Orser since 2012 although he has trained alone during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hanyu and Cha have yet to be reunited in Beijing as the former has yet to arrive for the Games. But knowing Hanyu and his work ethic, Cha believes he will come through and make history.

"He's always training hard", Cha told Olympics.com. "I saw him practising the quadruple Axel and he's really impressive. It's such a challenge but I know that he's training really hard.

"I'm cheering for him".

Beijing will be Cha's second Olympic Games. A six-time national champion in the Republic of Korea, he is the nation's first Four Continents medallist.

Hanyu on the other hand has won just about every title there is to be won in figure skating, eyeing an Olympic three-peat - something which hasn't been done in 94 years.

Cha said the influence Hanyu has had on him over the years is bar none.

"He's a really great skater. We used to train together, but because of Covid we can't skate together anymore", Cha said.

"But when we were training at (the Cricket Club) with Javi and Yuzu and Evgenia and like a lot of good skaters in Canada, we gave each other a lot of energy back and forth.

"So I was really happy that I can skate with with all the great skaters at the Cricket Club".