Uno Shoma soars to World Championships gold as Japan sweeps men's and women's singles

The door was open for Uno Shoma.

And he didn't walk through it - he quadruple jumped his way through it.

Skating last at the World Figure Skating Championships on Saturday (26 March) in Montpellier, France, Uno, who led after the short program, didn't back down from his front-runner status, landing five quad jumps and skating to a career-best 202.85 in the free skate.

He earned a 312.48 - his best-ever total - to win the men's singles event by some 15 points.

It's a career moment for Uno, 24, having won two world silvers previously, as well as an Olympic silver and bronze.

"I'm very happy to finally be first - I'm very satisfied," a breathless Uno said to the arena crowd. "Having five quads in the program, it was difficult to perform this program, but this is a very special moment for me."

Uno's Japanese teammate, Olympic silver medallist Kagiyama Yuma, placed second, totalling 297.60 off of a 191.91 free skate that saw him commit several small errors.

Vincent Zhou of the U.S. captured his second career bronze at Worlds, jumping - quite literally - from sixth place to third behind a strong free skate that tallied him 181.54 points for a 277.38 overall. Zhou also won bronze in 2019.

It was a redemptive moment for Zhou, who missed the men's individual event at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 last month after testing positive for Covid-19.

Japan completes sweep of men's and women's singles titles

Georgia's Morisi Kvitelashvili finished fourth with a 272.03, while Camden Pulkinen of the U.S. had an impressive free skate to jump from 12th to fifth, scoring a 271.69

Tomono Kazuki of Japan was sixth, while Daniel Grassl of Italy captured seventh and home hope Adam Siao Him Fa of France had an inspiring skate to finish eighth.

Neither active Olympic champion - Nathan Chen (2022) and Hanyu Yuzuru (2014, 2018) - is in attendance, having opted out of Worlds due to respective injuries.

Uno becomes the first man from Japan to win at Worlds since Hanyu in 2017. Coupled with Sakamoto Kaori's win in the women's singles, Japan sweeps the individual event. It was the last nation to do so at Worlds: In 2014 Hanyu and Asada Mao won respective golds.

He's just the fourth man in history - joining Chen, Hanyu and Kagiyama - to total 200+ points in the free skate and 300+ points in the overall score under the current scoring system.

Uno has credited his coach, the Olympic silver medallist Stephane Lambiel, for his revamped approach to the sport, having nearly quit in 2019.

He joins Hanyu and Takahashi Daisuke as the only Japanese men to win a world title in singles.

MORE: Check out our live blog | Sakamoto claims women's title

Uno, Kagiyama stay at the top of the pack

Leaders after the short program, neither Uno nor Kagiyama relinquished their top spots as the men below them did re-shuffling.

But it was Kagiyama, who won silver at both the 2021 Worlds at in Beijing last month, who was the penultimate skater, leaving the ice frustrated with his downgraded quad loop attempt - and popped triple Axel to close his program.

"Unfortunately it didn’t go like the Olympics," he said. "I was nervous because I was starting towards the end [of the group], competing for something. That’s what led to the mistake and couldn’t perform to the best of my ability. I was telling myself to stay calm but somewhere in my mind, I think I got ahead of myself. I tried to be too perfect which led to the nerves. I won silver last year at my first worlds and probably put too much pressure on myself this year."

The pressure was on for Uno, who wouldn't falter: He hit an aforementioned five quadruple jumps in his "Bolero" free skate, though the final one, a toe-loop, was called under-rotated.

He tacked a single flip onto his final combination instead of a planned triple, but had already won over the crowd... and secured his world championship title.

"I practice every day with the aim of trying to be a better version of myself," Uno said. "I know some skaters skate for themselves, their own individual goals but that never really worked for me. It always helped me to compete for someone else or something else. Skating for someone else took the weight off me."

In total, it's the third time Japan has swept the singles events: 2022, 2014 and also in 2010, when Takahashi and Ando Miki won singles titles.

Zhou: 'This medal was very difficult to come by'

While Uno and Kagiyama held firm, Zhou battled from sixth to podium position in his free, which featured four quad jumps, though one was under-rotated. His "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" skate is one that he has brought back from his season's past, and he was emotional upon his finish.

He said he had doubts in the last two weeks that he could even make it to Worlds, having been through what he calls "emotional hell" after being withdrawn from the Winter Games.

"Eleven or 12 days ago I woke up in this bottomless pit and I told [my team] that my whole career was a failure and had been for nothing. I thought I couldn't do it," Zhou, 21, told reporters. "The one thing that got me here to France was the feeling that I didn't want to live the rest of my life that I didn't even try. That was the only thing that kept me somewhat invested in the journey... taking it day by day."

He added: "This medal was very, very difficult for me to come by. It's definitely one of the most meaningful and significant moments of my career."

It was a significant day for his American teammate, too, as Camden Pulkinen won the small bronze medal for his beautiful performance to "Besame Mucho", which included two quad toes and a three Level 4 spins.

Ilia Malinin, the 17-year-old American who had been fourth after the short, stumbled in his free, falling on a quad Salchow and then two-footing a quad toe in an attempted combination. He dropped to ninth overall.

There were plenty of shining moments on the day, including Siao Him Fa's crowd-dazzling performance and redemptive skates for Kevin Aymoz of France, who finished 11th, as well as Roman Sadovsky of Canada in 12th.

Earlier in the day, Junhwan Cha of South Korea was forced to withdraw. He had been suffering from equipment issues earlier in the week and was 17th after the short program.

Worlds is set to conclude Saturday night with the free dance, which gets underway from 17:05 local. Home hopes Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron lead after the rhythm dance.