Figure skating: Shoma Uno wins 6th Japan title, books ticket to worlds

NAGANO (Kyodo) — Two-time defending world figure skating champion Shoma Uno clinched his sixth men’s national title and second in a row with a confident free skate performance Saturday.

Beijing Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama earned the highest marks for the segment but could not rein in Uno’s commanding lead from the short program at Nagano Big Hat.

The defending champion scored 193.35 for a season-best 298.04 total, holding off Kagiyama by 5.94 points. Sota Yamamoto, who earned his first win on the ISU Grand Prix circuit this year, was third with a personal-best 287.00 total.

The 26-year-old Uno’s victory earned him a place at next year’s world championships in Montreal and tied him with Yuzuru Hanyu and Takeshi Honda for the second-most Japanese men’s titles.

The Beijing bronze medalist stumbled slightly on his initial quadruple loop but was clean the rest of his way through a routine featuring three other quad jumps and three triples.

“I’m happy I could win among such high-level competition,” Uno said. “Looking back over my six championships, I realize I’ve been at this a long time. In recent years, it feels like I’ve been able to keep my cool while competing.”

Kagiyama, who sat out the entire 2022-2023 season rehabilitating an ankle injury, nailed his opening quad salchow and a quad toe loop combination on his way to 198.16 for the segment and a season-best 292.10 total.

“It was a higher level of competition than I expected,” said Kagiyama, who started the final segment in third place after falling in the short program.

“I made some mistakes and had some frustrating moments, but I was satisfied with parts of my performance. By the start of next year, I want to be more organized and do my best to perform flawlessly.”

World junior champion Kao Miura was fourth with a season-best 280.08 total.

The national championships conclude Sunday, with Kaori Sakamoto aiming for her third straight women’s crown.