Coach Stephane Lambiel eyes three-peat for men's champion Uno Shoma
Uno's coach raises the bar for his Japanese pupil who continues to underline his credentials as the world's best male figure skater: "My dream is that he surpasses me," said the 2005 and 2006 world champion.
Figure Skating
Uno Shoma’s coach Stephane Lambiel is not giving his two-time world champion much time to rest on his laurels.
“I was already listening to a lot of music to think about what direction we will take next year for the short and free,” Lambiel said on Saturday (25 March) after Uno won the men’s event at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships for the second consecutive year.
“I want him to deliver stronger and stronger performances. I became world champion twice in 2005 and 2006 and he became twice world champion so my dream and challenge for him is that he surpasses me, he beats me that he actually becomes ahead of me.
“That’s what I want to push him for.”
While Uno topped the podium in front of his home crowd at the Saitama Super Arena, it was far from smooth sailing for the three-time Olympic medallist.
In the days leading up to competition, Uno suddenly and inexplicably couldn’t land a jump. To make matters worse, he aggravated a right-ankle injury in practice the day before the short program.
Uno openly said he was in bad shape, raising questions as to whether he could defend his title - or skate properly, even.
As it turned out, Uno was alright and led both programs to beat Cha Jun-hwan by a comfortable margin of five points.
Following Saturday’s free skate, Lambiel revealed that the issue with Uno had been more mental than physical.
“He actually twisted his ankle last week and he twisted it this week,” he said. “It was not that bad but it’s just that when you twist it once, you feel very comfortable and when you twist it a second time…
“It recovered but it went back to that doubt, that feeling of instability. It was physically fine but mentally kind of unstable.
“I was not that concerned because when he’s on, he’s on. I just wanted him to be on. Even when he had something in the past, when he has pain or a practice that doesn’t go according to the plan, it doesn’t make him panic.
“So I was not too concerned.”
Lambiel’s partnership with Uno is in season four. When he first sought Lambiel’s tutelage, Uno was coach-less and a wreck, unable to corral the talent that netted him a silver medal at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games.
In the post-Hanyu Yuzuru era, the Nagoya native has owned the men’s scene and his relationship with Lambiel has undoubtedly been the bedrock for that success.
As a former world-class skater himself, Lambiel knows what Uno has and is going through, a point which appears to be of critical importance to Uno.
Having won everything there is to win apart from an Olympic gold, Uno has developed a thirst to work on the aesthetic aspect of his skating as he continues to hone his craft.
“Normally at this point in the year, I’d think about next season, the next competition,” 25-year-old Uno said.
“I didn’t have the results two years ago so back then I wanted results first and foremost. But now, while I’m happy with all the achievements, I feel like I’m just skating for results.
“It’s not a bad thing but if you ask me: am I expressing myself the way Takahashi Daisuke is? He's someone who I admire and look up to and the answer would be no.
“I think it’s something I can work on through ice shows and that is something I want to spend more time doing. Once I get through that, I think I’ll find out what I really want to do and who I want to be.”
Wherever the journey takes Uno, however, it’s hard to imagine Lambiel not being there as the guiding light.
“I feel very happy, very honoured to be on his side,” Lambiel said. “The last two weeks have been quite challenging for him but the most important thing is he was able to perform the way he did in the end.
“Of course there is a margin to be better and I look forward to improve and increase his performance. Today, what he did is just unbelievable and I’m a very happy coach.”