This is Shoma’s long interview from Quadruple 2016. It took place after 2015 Skate America. Please do not repost this translation without permission.
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Heading to the top ― A 17 year old shines
After winning the Junior Grand Prix Final and the World Junior Championship titles last season, Uno Shoma is poised to take on the senior season. His gem of a free skate received standing ovations two competitions in a row — Japan Open and Skate America. He has a performance quality that enraptures an audience, and his technical abilities are the result of unrelenting work ethic. Coupled with his mental strength, a bright future is likely promised. Now he heads towards the top as a senior. The potential of this 17-year-old is limitless.
Now that you have competed at US International Classic, Japan Open, and Skate America thus far this season, how do you feel so far?
Shoma: At my first competition, US International Classic, I was in over my head. I really didn’t want to lose, and I ended up not performing what I was capable of doing. On that note, at this competition, I attacked to not repeat the same mistakes I did at my first competition.
After competing at Skate America, do you feel like you attacked more?
Shoma: Though there were some shaky landings, I’m glad I was able to land them and perform the way I wanted to at Japan Open and Skate America. I finally felt that thrill and accomplishment that comes with skating like that, but I can’t be satisfied with just those performances.
Do you feel that a breakthrough has opened up heading into Trophee Eric Bompard, the Grand Prix Final, and the All-Japan Championships?
Shoma: No, not really. I somehow came in second place here, and I have a chance of making it into the Final; however, I’m still lacking in the ability to definitively get silver or higher at my next competition. Making it to the Final requires a little bit of luck.
This is your senior debut season, but you already have the presence of a senior. Do you feel like you’re a “senior”?
Shoma: What’s different about juniors and seniors is that everyone in seniors is so good, they’re more successful and less likely to make mistakes. They’re all also so fast. As such, during 6-minute warm-ups, I don’t have any space to do my jumps sometimes. Everyone is in the same situation so it’s something I have to get used to.
Everyone is doing their own routine during warm-ups so is it difficult to find your own space?
Shoma: It’s not like everyone is always jumping during warm-up, you just have to quickly find your opening to do your jumps. I just have to stay focused and take it one at a time.
This season you have a fresh, new music for your short program and a classical piece for your free skate — two different performance styles.
Shoma: (Higuchi) Mihoko-sensei picked out the music for me. Since I’ve been skating to the same type of music recently, she suggested we try a more rhythmic piece for the short program. I knew I was really bad at first, struggling with how to perform it, but I’ve become more comfortable with it now.
It’s been a while since you’ve skated to an up-tempo piece of music so what is it like skating to it?
Shoma: I know it’s not my strong suit. I end up making it too dramatic out of habit sometimes. It’s the number one challenge to overcome this season. I want to skate it in a way the audience sees I’m one with the music.
Please share with us something you want us to notice when watching your short program, “Legends.”
Shoma: Joy, giving everything I have, letting loose (laughs) — that’s what I want people to see. But, if I don’t land my jumps, I won’t leave the same impression on the audience like in the free skate. So, I have to make sure I land my jumps next time.
How do you feel about skating to a piece of music that doesn’t have a clear theme?
Shoma: I don’t really think it’s like that with “Legends.” If I land my jumps and give better performances without mistakes, I’m sure I will get a round of applause from the audience like I did today with my free skate. That’s what I’m working towards.
It’s the opposite for the free skate. When the name of the music was announced, it was introduced as a “renowned piece of music.” It’s known as the music used by Arakawa Shizuka when she won the gold medal at the Torino Olympics. Please share with us your version of “Turandot.”
Shoma: I know a bit of the story, but I want to perform in a way without worrying too much about it. Since it’s such a powerful piece of music, it’s easy to leave an impression on the audience. I want to interpret “Turandot” in my own way so as to not get lost in the music and to give a memorable performance.
The program really builds halfway through, what are you thinking about as it swells in the second half?
Shoma: Yeah. I do end up thinking about my jumps so I need to feel the music more.
In “Turandot,” it feels like you’re expressing to the tips of your fingers.
Shoma: I’ve never been really good at using my hands and fingers so I took ballet classes this summer. Now I’m more aware and careful at how I’m using them when I’m performing.
We noticed you were singing along during the vocals.
Shoma: Aah, it’s hard if you don’t (laughs). When you’re working that hard out there, you just want to find some fun in there any way you can.
So it wasn’t something choreographed by Higuchi Mihoko-sensei. It was something you started doing on your own?
Shoma: Yes. I’m always listening to the music and somehow I just started singing along. I don’t really know the melody too well (laughs), but I manage somehow.
Your eyes and your face are so rich in expression. Is that natural for you?
Shoma: I put all my efforts in expression with my face, but for my eyes, I’m just wrinkling this part here (*points to space between the eyebrows*) (laughs).
Are there issues to work on, on the technical side?
Shoma: The quality of my (triple) axel. At this competition (Skate America), my double axel-triple flip combination was a bit messy, and I didn’t really get a lot of positive GOEs on my triple salchow so I need to work on those areas. What I really need to work on when I think about this competition is to improve the quality of my jumps.
Do you have a plan to increase your technical difficulty heading into the second half of the season? Do you plan to add on another type of quad? Or add on a triple toe combination instead to your current quad?
Shoma: There are many ways to go about it, but it depends on what will work best for me. If I included a 4-3, I won’t be able to do a 3A-3T so that may not be the best option.
It looks like your plan for the season is to polish up on your current technical content.
Shoma: Improving the quality of my jumps is the most realistic thing for me at the moment. I think the most important thing right now is to improve the success rate of the jumps I am currently capable of doing.
There are more people who have the salchow as the back-end of their half-loop combinations, but you have the flip.
Shoma: First of all, I’m bad at half-loop combinations with the salchow. Also, during new year’s, Hino (Ryuju)-kun and I were fooling around attempting half-loop flip combinations. Hino-kun was really good right from the start whereas I couldn’t do them at all. But, I kept at it, I kept practicing and then it was good enough to be included in competition.
Half-loop combination with the flip is really difficult, isn’t it?
Shoma: Everyone always asks me, “Why the flip?,” but I can’t do any others but the flip (laughs).
During a press conference during the summer, you said you didn’t want to become a skater who is known just for their jumps, but rather, a skater who can bring joy to others with their performances. How would you rate your performance at Skate America in terms of completeness?
Shoma: Performance-wise, I think I’ve improved here, although it’s not 100%, I think it’s 100% of what I am capable of now. It’s just not 100% of where I want to be in the future. If I were to rate it in terms of what I’m looking for, it’s around 40% there. There’s still so much for me to do, so much for me to still learn.
Will the level of what you see as complete increase?
Shoma: That’s just how I feel about my skating right at this moment. When I watch a video of my performance later, I’ll probably find other things to pick at and criticize.
By the way, we heard you skated your free skate here on an empty stomach. That was such a surprise since you gave such a strong, powerful performance.
Shoma: After I got back from morning practices, I slept until around 7pm, and I hadn’t really had anything to eat before heading to the venue. It’s not something I have set in stone. I don’t have a set time of when I’m supposed to eat, like a specific routine of sorts. This is the case for sleeping as well, when sleepiness takes over, I usually lose (laughs). I do have a set time and training menu for warm-ups with my trainer, though.
Does your trainer travel with you?
Shoma: Yes, my trainer travels with me and shows me how to warm up. My trainer also observes how the other skaters warm up, and then we may try the same thing. The trainer notes when someone else is doing the same thing or warm-ups that a lot of skaters seem to do.
Did you also do warm up and cool down exercises when you were a junior?
Shoma: Yeah. Rather than a traditional warm up routine, I would warm up my body by kicking around a soccer ball, and instead of cooling down, i thought sleeping would be enough. So, I’d just go home and fall asleep playing video games (laughs). Now I know it’s important to properly warm up and cool down so I will keep it up.
Going back to Japan Open, during the press conference, Patrick Chan used the word, “Amazing,” to describe how incredible you were in your performance. What do you think about it?
Shoma: I’m so glad. At my first competition (US International Classic), I felt so out of shape, so my performance at Japan Open was the result of me practicing and practicing since that competition. So for this competition (Skate America), I knew I was capable of a performance like that. Instead of just wondering if you could do it, that sense of confidence you get from knowing what you can do is important as well. I want to be able to use all of my strength I have on hand.
At Japan Open, you were able to compete on the same team as Asada Mao, the one who got you into figure skating. How did it feel?
Shoma: Mao-chan always seemed like she was from a different world, no wait, she still seems like she’s from a different world. So, it was a really weird feeling to have been able to stand together with her at the same competition at Japan Open. Mao-chan was the one who got me into skating and being on the same stage and competing alongside someone I respect so much was such a weird feeling. But, I was also really happy.
Finally, please share with us a message for your fans.
Shoma: The season has just started, and I don’t know how the rest of the season will turn out, but I will focus on each competition one at a time. I will work hard so I can earn more competition assignments. Thank you for your continued support.
The male commentator compliments Shoma's deep edges, speed (during the stsq), control on spins, the "ease" of his skating and how his movements seem "big". They seem to think he was planning to do a combination on his 4T and was smart to make up for it with his 3F3T (obviously the solo 4T was planned). They also think Shoma only has one GP assignment, for some reason.
SP - Romanian Eurosport (thanks iguana012!)
"Tatsuki Machida is not here this year but we have Shoma Uno, last seasons's Jr World Champion making his debut in the Sr season"
"SPECTACULAR start with that spreadeagle into 3A as the beat goes on"
"Very interesting choice of music by the way, we don't hear this kind of music often in skating"
"Oops!" when he fell on his quad lmfao
"Now this is a very talented young man and you may not know this but he recently beat the likes of Javier Fernandez and Patrick Chan at a skating event held in Japan called Japan Open but let me tell you, his score was one-hundred-eighty-fiiive"
"And he beat them by a very large margin so I think it's natural to wonder - is Shoma Uno the surprise of this season?"
SP - NTV+ Sport (thanks yanablumka!)
"Look! He sunk into a reverie! Wow, people can even fall to thinking and take a Rodin pose while spinning. Amazing!" (when Shoma was doing a sit spin)
"This guy is really nice and he has good potential. When he becomes really stable and consistent, it'll be very difficult to compete with him."
"Great 3A! Judges heartily gave him all the positive GOEs, but also have all the negative GOEs for the quad toe."
"Shoma's PCS are pretty much the same as Aaron's. And it's fair enough because Shoma is quite artistic and he is not worse than Aaron in any of the aspects of PCS."
FS - CCTV5+ (translation by magicaleggplant with help from veneresplende - thanks!)
Tong: (before Shoma's skate) "After Takahashi [retired], he's sort of become Takahashi's successor, because many of his movements are similar to Takahashi's."
Tong: (after Shoma's skate) "Today he skated really well, he showed his confidence in his skating and his elements were also well-executed. Though there were some small [errors?], it was enough."
Tong: "Sometimes in competition, the purpose is to get scores, but what's even more important is to gain confidence and the recognition of the judges. I think his performance today will make many judges and people in the audience remember him."
Pang: "We see with Japanese skaters, especially the men, one of their distinguishing features is their skating skills and use of deep edges. I think his performance today really showed his inner heart/soul, you can see this performance came from the depths of his heart."
FS - NTV+ Sport (thanks yanablumka!)
"Aaand here is the effort to ensure the audience is not sleeping with the help of the musical composition by the great Italian composer Puccini – Nessun Dorma."
"Here is one more quad. HERE IS ONE MORE QUAD! In the end of the program!"
"Wooow! Woow!" (when Shoma did 2A+1Lo+3F)
"It's a new leader at Skate America... And what if he's actually a new leader of Team Japan? Even though it sounds sacrilegious towards Hanyu. At least Shoma didn't get any deductions here."
