World Champion Uno Shoma Makes Shocking Confession After China Cup

The fourth round of the Figure Skating Grand Prix (GP) series, the China Cup, which concluded on November 12, was the first competition of the season for two-time World Champion Shoma Uno (25, Toyota Motor Corp.).

Uno was in first place in the short program (SP), but a quadruple jump error in the FS put him in second place, ahead of newcomer Adam Chao Yim Fa (22, FRA), and his 10th GP win was not to be.

“In both SP and FS, I tried to do more than just jump. I could have shown more expression, more strength and speed in my moves, but I have not felt that I have tried to do both (technical and expressive) in a long time. It was a competition that convinced me that the program itself will improve from here. I always gradually lose my form throughout the season, so if I can continue like this, I think I can have a relatively good season.”

 

Last season, Uno won all his races, including the GP Final, which he won for the first time. Uno spoke just after the World Championships, the season-closing event, of his transformation into a skater who has grown up a whole new level. In the free skate, he performed a highly difficult composition with four types of quadruple jumps, five times in total, but he also confided that the thought of expression had been nagging at his heart for a long time.

“What I’m looking for is something that I can look back on my performance and feel good about it,” he said. “I have improved my jumps in the past two years, but as a skater, I don’t think I’m good enough. I have been putting my expressions as a bridge between jumps, as a second priority. I would like to add some more work to my expression,” 

 

Uno cited Daisuke Takahashi (37), whom he has admired since childhood, and Stéphane Rambière (38), a former world champion whom he looks up to for guidance, as he resolved to pursue “the kind of skating that makes you want to start dancing, just by watching it.”