Uno Shoma says he must deliver 'career' skate to beat Ilia Malinin at 2024 World Figure Skating Championships
With a sixth national title under his belt, the Japanese star is acting like anything but the reigning world champion thanks to Ilia Malinin's rapid rise.
Figure Skating
Uno Shoma is the two-time defending men’s world champion. But he’s speaking more like a challenger who hasn’t won a thing.
“Should things take their ordinary course, I won’t win,” Uno said on Monday (25 December), a night after being named to Japan’s team for the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in March.
“I don’t feel like someone who has won the last two world championships. If I don’t have the best skate of my career, I don’t win a title.
“I have no time to be feeling the weight and expectations of a three-peat because of the work I have before me.
“I’m just going to think about preparing so that I can perform to the best of my ability.”
The 26-year-old won his career sixth Japanese nationals on Saturday, a feat that tied him for second most all-time and punched his ticket to the world championships in Montreal next year.
Uno, of course, is referring to Ilia Malinin, who ran away with the Grand Prix Final in Beijing earlier in December after landing the first-ever quadruple Axel in a short program.
Uno was runner-up to the USA prodigy but by a measure of almost 20 points. Afterwards, he conceded total defeat, saying Malinin has become virtually uncatchable with his arsenal of jumps.
While Malinin’s time is undoubtedly on the way, for now, the crown still belongs to Uno.
As respectful as the Olympic silver medallist is to his rivals and peers, there is undoubtedly a fire that simmers beneath Uno's cool exterior, which is why he is considering bringing out the quadruple Salchow again, despite having shelved it this season in his pursuit of creativity and expression.
Uno will also be trying to accomplish something that hasn't been done in 56 years at the Worlds. He and reigning women's champion Sakamoto Kaori can become the first singles skaters since Peggy Fleming and Emmerich Danzer to capture three successive titles in parallel.
“I’ve spoken to [coach Stephane Lambiel] and whether I go with it or not, we have agreed that I will start working on it bit by bit,” Uno said. "If I feel confident about it, I’ll use it. But first and foremost I think it’s important for me to polish the jumps I have now.
“I need to take care of the tasks before me, one by one.”
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