The 25-year-old, who won the men's title at Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018 and has also won two world titles, has earned silver on the three previous occasions he has taken part in the Four Continents - only open to skaters from outside of Europe – in 2011, 2013 and 2017.

If he can go one better in South Korea's capital on Sunday night, he will become the first male skater to achieve a "super slam" of all the major figure skating prizes.

The four-time Grand Prix Final winner has recently reverted to his Olympic routines in a bid to write his place into history.

“I think I skated with elegance today and today’s performance was the most perfect performance I’ve ever done,” Hanyu told ISU after scoring 111.82 points at the Mokdong Ice Rink for his interpretation of Ballade No.1 in G Minor by Chopin.

“Also, I tried to express my music deeply with my feeling and I could jump higher and with more perfection.

“Actually, I set as a goal a score higher than 110 for myself.

“I grew confident during the performance because I felt so good while I skated.”

China’s double world bronze medallist and 2019 Four Continents silver medallist Jin Boyang, took second place at the halfway, with 95.83 and Jason Brown of the United States finished third on 94.71.

United States pairing Madison Chock and Evan Bates successfully defended their ice dance title despite suffering a momentary slip during their concluding free dance.

Their compatriots Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, overnight leaders ahead of Chock and Bates after the rhythm dance, dropped to bronze medal position.

Canadian champions Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, who had started the evening in third place, moved up to take silver.

Chock and Bates were drawn to skate last out of the 16 ice dance couples and entertained the crowd with their “Egyptian Snake Dance” routine.

The US champions produced a curve combination lift, a smooth one-foot step sequence as well as a rotational lift.

However, they had to overcome a scare when Chock slipped on a transition move. 

The two-times world medallists scored 127.42 points to finish with a winning total of 213.18.

Referring to her stumble, Chock said: “I scared myself.

“Maybe I stepped on something - it was out of the blue.

“I was trying to catch myself.

“It was a testament on how well-trained we are because we picked up really quickly from this fall that took us by surprise.

“But the jolt kind of took some energy away from us.

“We’re just so grateful that we were able to do enough.”

Dancing to Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell, Gilles and Poirier produced level-four twizzles and earned 126.26 points for a total of 210.18.

World bronze medallists Hubbell and Donohue’s programme “A Star Is Born”, to music by Lady Gaga, totalled 122.77 points, leaving them third overall on 208.72.

Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu of China were fourth and last year’s world junior champions, Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada, fifth.

More than 100 skaters from 12 countries are taking part in the event in all, which is running for the 21st time.