Shoma Uno Places 2nd at Grand Prix Final

From December 7 – 10, this year’s Grand Prix Final took place in Nagoya. This was the final event in the International Skating Union’s 2017 – 2018 Grand Prix Series. Japan sent 3 skaters to this competition, with Shoma Uno placing second in the men’s competition.

Shoma finished second with a total score of 286.01, 0.50 points behind American Nathan Chen. Shoma’s short program received a score of 101.51, putting him in second place, 1.81 points behind Nathan. Shoma completed a triple axel cleanly, but then weirdly fell at the very end of the landing, costing him a point. “I made a ‘new type of mistake’ today,” Shoma said. “The triple axel is a jump I know I can land. I felt I didn’t take off in the way I usually do. So I tightened myself hard in the air and I don’t know what happened. Maybe over-rotation.” He lost another point for finishing his program after the allotted time. After the Internationaux de France, Shoma made small changes which requires more time for his step sequence.“I changed the music a bit and started today’s program slightly earlier. I was not surprised by the 101 points, but I was more surprised by the two-point deduction.”

Shoma’s free skating was the top one of the event, with a score of 184.50, 1.31 points ahead of Nathan’s. Shoma underrotated his opening quad loop. He then recieved a poor grade of execution on a quad toe. Later in the program, Shoma underrotated another quad toe, one which he planned to do in combination with a double toe, but did not execute. After the short program, Shoma said, “The quad toe loop today was the jump my body was not ready for. I was proud of getting both the quad salchow and quad flip done. I just need to work on the toe loop from now on.”

Satoko Miyahara finished in fifth place with a total score of 213.49. She substituted for the injured Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia. Her short program was ranked third, with a score of 74.61, 1.66 behind Russia’s Alina Zagitova. After the short program, Satoko said, “This season, I didn’t have the Grand Prix Final in my mind, but now that I am here I didn’t want to waste this amazing chance that I got. I thought my jumps were better than Skate America and my scores were better as well.”

Satoko’s free skate was ranked fourth, with a score of 138.88. She underrotated both parts of her triple lutz / triple toe combination as well as the following triple flip. “I know there are some mistakes in today’s program, and it was not the best performance I could put out,” she said. “I felt a little bit more nervous compared to Skate America.” She continued, “I tried hard and finished without major mistakes, so I was relieved. I knew some of the jumps were not clean, and the score reflected exactly what I felt. I take this as the reality, so I know what I need to work on.”

Wakaba Higuchi finished in sixth place with a total score of 202.11. Her short program was ranked fifth, with a score of 73.26. She received an edge call on her triple flip. After the short program, Wakaba said, “Today’s performance was good, so I will try keeping my emotion and I would like to do my best in the free skate like I have practiced.”

Wakaba’s free skate was ranked sixth, with a score of 128.85. There were a lot of issues with this skate: a doubled triple salchow, a doubled triple lutz, and an edge call on a triple flip. “I am disappointed after my skating today,” Wakaba later said. “I forced myself to do my triple lutz / triple toe combination and landed it. But I am still upset after my performance, because I missed the triple salchow and the second triple lutz. I felt that I didn’t have speed in the step sequence.”

The next competition is the Japanese National Championships, which will take place in Tokyo on December 20 – 24. This event will decide who goes to the Four Continents Championships in Taipei, Taiwan in January, the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in February, and the World Championships in Milan, Italy in March.

Shoma Uno

Short program