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▼ All-Japan Figure Skating Championships 2023: Uno Shoma Ready To Face Competition 'Tougher Than Ever'
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The defending champion and two-time Olympic medallist is sticking to his motto of controlling the controllable as the curtains are set to go up in Nagano: "If we perform to our best it should be a terrific championships and I hope I can place high," he said.
Uno Shoma exuded the calm and class of a defending champion on the eve of the All-Japan Figure Skating Championships starting on Thursday (21 December).
“I’m not great, I’m not terrible,” Uno said following official practice at the Big Hat in Nagano used for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games.
“We’ll just see how it goes. Everyone seems to be shaping up really well for this. They’re all jumping well and I think the competition will be tougher than ever. If we perform to our best it should be a terrific championships and I hope I can place high.”
Uno here should face stiffer competition than he did last year when he won his fifth nationals, mainly from a resurgent Kagiyama Yuma, who appears to be clearly past the ankle injury that shelved him for most of the 2022-23 season.
Kagiyama has been rejuvenated by the tutelage of Italy’s four-time Olympian Carolina Kostner, who has joined the Beijing 2022 silver medallist’s team and the impact has been glaringly visible.
Uno is coming off a runner-up finish at the Grand Prix Final in Beijing two weeks ago, when Ilia Malinin outclassed the field en route to his first title.
Throwing down the first-ever quadruple Axel in a short program, Malinin was so far ahead of the pack that Uno conceded total defeat to the American afterwards.
The two-time world champion, however, is not fretting.
“I tried not to waste a single day and worked hard but some days were better than others. I’ve been feeling my way around until today,” said Uno, who turned 26 three days ago.
“Again, there are some good points, not so good points. In my current state I just have no idea how my jumps will turn out.
“When you’re out for results, the jumps do become important whether you like it or not. The practises have become jump-heavy again and that’s when the stress sets in.
“But whatever happens it won’t be because of a lack of work. I’ll decide the next course of action based on the result. There will be a gap after this competition so I’ll take some time to sit down with Stephane and talk about things.”
Uno Shoma exuded the calm and class of a defending champion on the eve of the All-Japan Figure Skating Championships starting on Thursday (21 December).
“I’m not great, I’m not terrible,” Uno said following official practice at the Big Hat in Nagano used for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games.
“We’ll just see how it goes. Everyone seems to be shaping up really well for this. They’re all jumping well and I think the competition will be tougher than ever. If we perform to our best it should be a terrific championships and I hope I can place high.”
Uno here should face stiffer competition than he did last year when he won his fifth nationals, mainly from a resurgent Kagiyama Yuma, who appears to be clearly past the ankle injury that shelved him for most of the 2022-23 season.
Kagiyama has been rejuvenated by the tutelage of Italy’s four-time Olympian Carolina Kostner, who has joined the Beijing 2022 silver medallist’s team and the impact has been glaringly visible.
Uno is coming off a runner-up finish at the Grand Prix Final in Beijing two weeks ago, when Ilia Malinin outclassed the field en route to his first title.
Throwing down the first-ever quadruple Axel in a short program, Malinin was so far ahead of the pack that Uno conceded total defeat to the American afterwards.
The two-time world champion, however, is not fretting.
“I tried not to waste a single day and worked hard but some days were better than others. I’ve been feeling my way around until today,” said Uno, who turned 26 three days ago.
“Again, there are some good points, not so good points. In my current state I just have no idea how my jumps will turn out.
“When you’re out for results, the jumps do become important whether you like it or not. The practises have become jump-heavy again and that’s when the stress sets in.
“But whatever happens it won’t be because of a lack of work. I’ll decide the next course of action based on the result. There will be a gap after this competition so I’ll take some time to sit down with Stephane and talk about things.”
- December 20, 2023
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