Uno Shoma captures first Grand Prix Final title, winning ninth career GP gold
The reigning world champion skated last and delivered - registering the best free skate score of his career. His Japanese teammate Yamamoto Sota was second, Ilia Malinin of the U.S. third.
Figure Skating
Uno Shoma just keeps getting better.
The reigning world champion and three-time Olympic figure skating medallist will turn 25 years old next week and gave himself an early birthday present in the post-Olympic season, capturing his first Grand Prix Final title on Saturday (10 December) at the Torino Palavela in Turin, Italy.
Uno was sensational in the free skate, scoring a career-best 204.47 to win by some 30 points, registering a 304.46 to beat countryman Yamamoto Sota at 274.35, while American Ilia Malinin jumped from fifth in the short program to finish in third at 271.94.
Uno won the title at this event as a junior in 2014, and since had won four more medals - but never gold. It's his ninth Grand Prix gold following wins at Skate Canada and NHK Trophy so far this season.
He joins Hanyu Yuzuru (2013-16) and Takahashi Daisuke (2012) as Japanese men to win this prestigious event. Uno's coach, Stephane Lambiel, won the GP Final in both 2005 and 2007, as well.
"I'm very happy about winning," Uno said after his win via an interpreter. "Just looking at the people that have been supporting me, the joy, explosive joy I saw in them made me really happy. Everything I trained for could be crystalised in the competition today."
This is the first staging of the Grand Prix Final since 2019 due to pandemic cancellations in 2020 and 2021.
On Friday (9 December), Japan's Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi captured the pairs title, overcoming reigning world champs, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the U.S. by just 1.3 points (214.58 to 213.28).
Another Japanese skater, world champion Sakamoto Kaori, leads the women's event, as well.
Men: Uno hits five quads in free, Malinin lands Axel
The men put on a show in the free skate, with Sato Shun and Malinin opening with strong performances as the first two skaters.
Malinin, the 17-year-old, hit a gargantuan quadruple Axel that would earn him +3.04 points on the GOE (Grade of Execution). It's the fourth time Malinin has landed the historic jump this season.
He said he was skating through an injured left foot, taking out any Lutz jumps from his program: "I was definitely not expecting that [skate]. I am very impressed by what I was able to pull off today."
His 191.84 put pressure on the rest of the field early on, and Yamamoto, the penultimate skater, didn't blink. The 22-year-old continued his breakout international season, hitting three quads to open his free and avoiding any major mistakes.
Yamamoto earns a third Grand Prix silver of the year.
Uno was the showstopper, however. Skating last, he moved through an opening quad loop, then Salchow, flip and triple Axel. He would add two more quads - one in combination - in a moving performance of his "Air on the G String" / "Mea Tormenta, Properate" free skate, which features the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
He added: "I did sense that there is a lot of room for growth, so going into future competitions I do feel that I can increase the level of my performance."
Uno will next compete at the Japanese national championships, set for later this month. While Japan has a bevy of strong skaters, the Uno-Yamamoto head-to-head is gaining traction.
"It will be nice if we can enjoy this relationship of always competing against each other as good rivals and I think we can do that for some time to come," Uno said of his countryman. "We always help each other... we're always there is inspire each other to reach higher standards, that's what we enjoy."
Sato's strong free skate buoyed him to fourth overall, while Miura Kao struggled in the free to go from third to fifth and Italy's Daniel Grassl rounded out the six skaters.