The Japanese star opted to miss last year’s event to prepare for the World Championships but he will appear in the competition for only the third time here in South Korea.

Hanyu’s previous appearances at the Championships came back in 2011 and 2013, when he ended up as the silver medallist on both occasions.

Reigning champion Chan will be seeking to win the title for the fourth time, but the Canadian will be all too aware that his season's best of 279.72 points is some way down on Hanyu’s 301.47.

The Championships, which is acting as a Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic test event, is only open to skaters from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania.

It seeks to provide athletes from these continents a competition of similar standard to the European Figure Skating Championships.

The defending women’s singles champion will be absent, with Japan’s Satoko Miyahara suffering a slight hip fracture.

This will also prevent her from competing in front of a home crowd at the Sapporo 2017 Asian Winter Games this month.

Canada’s Kaetlyn Osmond will head in as the favourite in Miyahara’s absence, due to boasting the highest season's best of 212.42 points.

Last year’s silver and bronze medallists Mirai Nagasu of the United States and Japan’s Rika Hongo will seek to rise up the podium this year.

Canada’s reigning world champions Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford will seek to win the pairs crown for the third time.

The two-time winners will face strong competition from China, with reigning champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han one of three pairings from the country.

Maia and Alex Shibutani of the US are the defending ice dance champions, with the brother and sister duo expected to go head-to-head with Canada’s Grand Prix Final winners Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.

Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates will also expect to challenge for a podium spot in Gangneung.

Competition is due to begin on Thursday (February 16) and will last until Sunday (February 19).