Shoma UNO

The breakthrough

Uno started raising eyebrows in 2009 when he debuted at the junior national championships and placed third. For the 2011-2012 season, he threw his hat into the ring for the Junior Grand Prix Series and went on to make his senior nationals debut that year, when he was also picked for the junior world championships and won silver at the Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck. The 2014-2015 campaign was when Uno's career really took off; he finished second at the senior nationals and swept a horde of titles - the Asian Open Trophy, junior nationals, Junior Grand Prix Final and the junior worlds. Uno joined the senior circuit full-time the following season.

Up, up and away

The rise continued for Uno who, in 2015-2016, became the first-ever male singles skater to medal (bronze) in his first Grand Prix Final while marking his Four Continents and world championships debut. He captured the first of his four successive national titles that season, and was back-to-back runner-up at the 2017 and 2018 world championships and Grand Prix Final. Flashing four different quadruple jumps, his podium finish at PyeongChang 2018 in his maiden Games, behind only reigning champion Hanyu Yuzuru, came as of no surprise. In June 2019, Uno parted with Yamada after 15 years and went without a coach for a season. He is now under the tutelage of fellow Olympic silver medallist Stephane Lambiel, having moved his training base to Switzerland.

Beijing 2022

Uno set two short program personal bests in the Chinese capital, first delivering in the team event men's short (without coach Lambiel by his side) as Japan eventually won bronze (the full result is provisional). He would improve on that score by nearly half a point in the individual event, scoring 105.90 points for his new personal record. It would be enough to help him to another bronze, behind Nathan Chen and teammate Kagiyama Yuma, but ahead of the two-time champion Hanyu.