Kagiyama Yuma: Japan's new leading man on chasing Ilia Malinin, not being another Uno Shoma: I can't replace him
With Uno's retirement, it will be on double Olympic silver medallist Kagiyama to challenge Ilia Malinin as a new figure skating season swings into high gear.
Figure Skating
As Kagiyama Yuma dives into the penultimate Olympic figure skating season, there is something he wants you to know.
He is not Uno Shoma. And he’s not even going to try to be.
“I can’t replace him,” Kagiyama said on Monday (30 September) in Tokyo, ahead of the fast-approaching 2024-25 ISU Grand Prix Series for which he is entered in the 8-10 November NHK Trophy and the Finlandia Trophy the week after.
“First and foremost, I’m not about to carry the burden on my own whatsoever. Right now, the men’s competition in Japan is really tight. Everyone is so strong.
“We are pushing one another to raise the level of our performance, which I hope everyone will be able to appreciate.”
Kagiyama Yuma - Chasing Ilia Malinin
Three-time Olympic medallist Uno retired back in May, despite having plenty of good skate left in him at the age of 26. Without shedding a tear, he said he had given the sport everything he had.
Uno’s retirement left a gaping hole among the Japanese men, much like the one he filled when Hanyu Yuzuru walked away. Inevitably, the onus has fallen on the shoulders of Kagiyama, the Beijing 2022 men’s singles silver medallist.
After virtually missing the entire 2022-23 campaign as he tried to rush back from a left-ankle injury, Kagiyama took his skating to new heights last season under the tutelage of Carolina Kostner, who helped improved his artistic quality. Kagiyama finished the season on a high with a silver medal at the world championships in Montreal.
Along with Uno, there is another name Kagiyama will not be able to avoid being linked to this season - Ilia Malinin, the reigning world champion armed with a quadruple Axel.
The “Quad God” has certainly lived up to his nickname, winning just about everything there is to win on the calendar. Behind his quad-loaded programs, the 19-year-old American has become practically uncatchable - and he continues to only get better.
Malinin was one reason Uno decided to hang up his skates. In a jumper’s game that figure skating has become, Uno felt the gap between Malinin and the rest was not going to close anytime soon, certainly not before Milano Cortina 2026.
Kagiyama agrees with Uno, that knocking Malinin off the top will be anything but easy - maybe a mission impossible. Yet while it remains to be seen whether he will have any luck, Kagiyama plans to give Malinin a run for his money.
“Throughout the season he was putting up 300 in almost every competition so yes, the gap between Ilia was something I was constantly made aware of,” Kagiyama said. “This season I want to be able to gain on him, even pass him if I can. That’s the skate I’m aiming for.
“There are only three slots available for the Milano [Cortina 2026] Olympics and I know the competition will be difficult. I want to show what my skating is about from this Grand Prix Series.”
Uno himself has thrown in the towel but he appears to believe there is a flicker of hope for Kagiyama, who is five years his junior.
“His jumps are at a totally different level in a whole new world,” Uno said of Malinin. “It is a huge wall to have to climb but I think Yuma has the skills to overcome it. And being able to watch them go back and forth should be nothing short of exciting.”
This summer, Kagiyama picked up his silver from the Beijing 2022 team event at the Paris 2024 Games after the medal reallocations became final. While he was there, he managed to take in the Olympics as a spectator for the first time in his life, which reinvigorated his hunger to win gold at Milano Cortina 2026.
If Kagiyama can peel another layer or two in the next 16 months, he just might - with an emphasis on might. At the very least, though, it will get interesting as Kagiyama inherits the mantle this season, whether he likes it or not.
“I have been wanting to win gold in Milano ever since Beijing was over. When I saw the Paris Olympics with my own eyes, it reminded me just how wonderful the Olympics are,” he said.
“I was in the stands, watching the Games for the first time and felt the full force of it. I imagined then and there how fun it must be if I could excite the crowd as I was in Paris.
“Up until now I was all about being aggressive, skating unhinged. But I want to move on from that style, drop the little kid in me and go for something more mature - like Shoma.
“I want to be able to skate with more class going forward.”
What was once a friendly trivalry with Uno Shoma, it's now on Kagiyama Yuma to thwart Ilia Malinin.