Akiko Suzuki Unveils Reasons for Shoma Uno’s World Championships Performance Dip and Future Plans

The World Figure Skating Championships were held in Montreal, Canada until March 24th. While Kaori Sakamoto (24) achieved Japan’s first-ever three-peat in the women’s category, Shoma Uno (26), who was expected to achieve a three-peat in the men’s category, faltered in the free skate and finished fourth.

I asked commentator Akiko Suzuki, who competed as a representative of Japan in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Olympics, achieving 8th place in both, about the reasons behind Shoma Uno’s performance decline.

In the Short Program (SP), Shoma Uno executed the quadruple flip and quadruple toe loop perfectly, receiving top marks for spins and steps as well. He scored 107.72 points, achieving the highest score of the season. That’s why his mistakes in the Free Skate are regrettable.

“Shoma Uno entered the Free Skate in first place, but it seemed that a slight misalignment in his sense of jumps appeared during the performance. Even a slight misalignment can affect not only the deductions for jumps but also the evaluation of program components and overall program performance. That may be the reason why his score didn’t quite reach its potential.”

――What does “a slight misalignment in the sense of jumps” refer to?

“It’s a very challenging aspect, but even in a short period, there can be subtle misalignments in the sense of jumps. Especially with jumps, success or failure is determined in an instant. Based on watching his performance in the Short Program, he executed good jumps. However, it seems that his sense didn’t quite match the actual movements of his body when it came to the Free Skate.”

―― Shoma Uno himself seemed to feel from the practice before the Free Skate, “I guess it couldn’t be helped if I made mistakes in both the loop and flip.” It shows the frightening aspect of figure skating where the sense can go awry in the short span between the Short Program and the Free Skate.

“I felt the difficulty of peaking on the day of competition again while watching Shoma Uno’s Free Skate performance.”

―― Was the pressure of aiming for a three-peat weighing heavily on him?

“I don’t think he felt it too much. He’s a player who pursues how much of what he has practiced he can bring out in the actual performance, rather than focusing on winning or losing and scores.”