Q. His aim for this competition A. Japanese Nationals is the final selection. I think it really is the most important thing on the path to Olympics, of course I'll do my best. Rather than just finishing it up, I want to make it one I can grow with, just like any other competition.  Regarding Uno's season this year, Coach Lambiel says: "I think he's working really well. He's able to focus on his skating and I see how committed he is in his training, and focused. So that's, for me, very important... That he's humble in his job and that he puts his heart into every training. I think what I love to see is that his fire, ah, it's very constant. So, it's a constant fire, that has a lot of power. It's a blue fire. Yes, it's the hot fire. Not big, but very intense, and constantly burning. It's not like it's in waves, it's constantly burning hot. Like kind of constant size and very deep color and strong. And outside, it looks very peaceful but inside it's intense and strong.” On the day of the Short Program. Although Uno said his injury has no effect, during the official morning practice, he struggles with a particular jump. It's the Quad Flip, which was the cause of the injury on his right foot. It's a jump synonymous with Uno but he can't quite land it successfully.  He moves onto his performance while still in that form. This battle where he fights for Olympics, was getting harsher by minute.  "Uno Shoma who had an accident which resulted in an injury on his ankle. He's the Olympic Silver Medalist. How many jumps can he bring back within the music?"  "Uno Shoma, Oboe Concerto. The choreography is by Miyamoto Kenji." "The first jump is planned to be a quad flip. And he lands the quad flip." "It's a flip!" "There was a report that he might be changing it to a salchow but he went with a flip." “The GOE is 2.86.” "Quad Toeloop, double toeloop." "Flying camel spin." "The last jump... He lands the Triple Axel." "Sit spin." "Step Sequence." "Combination spin."  "He changes the position. He gets away a little at the end, but he properly gets the level." "His mouth moved as if he just said 'I did it!' Uno Shoma showed his strength during a painful situation." He lands the Quad Flip perfectly. The combination of quad toeloop turned into a double rotation to seek certainty, but it was a masterpiece performance that did not make anyone notice the after effects of his injury. Uno's points: 101.88. "Over 100! SP, 101.88! The strong feelings towards the Olmypics. This is definitely the selection for Olympics." On his way to Interview, as he checks Hanyu on the monitor... Shoma: "Is it okay if I watch first?" "So good." "Ooh, amazing." "If it was me that'd be a double." (About the combination) "I'd have done a double for sure." Q. About this performance in SP A. I can't say it was a really good performance, by any means. I had a lot of mistakes at the parts I usually don't make any...  But even so, if I think about the jumps I did since I came here, somehow barely just before the performance I was able to do it. I actually had a part that thought I wouldn't be able to do them for a little while, so I was genuinely happy - even with a performance like that. He gets second place after Hanyu, after the Short. Q. I had goosebumps. A. No no, the performance itself wasn't that... well... if you saw the practice just before it, people might think naaah, but the performance itself isn't at all...  I brushed up my transitions a little more and made it quite better, but I couldn't show those parts. I don't know about spins but I couldn't do the steps at all. I had the plans to jump 4-2 in the first place, things like that, a lot happened and I got 101 points, with the same layout as NHK but different parts as such. Q. I think you were told by Coach Stephane that you'll be doing a salchow, right? (Written: You had the plans to switch Quad Flip to Salchow) A. Ah yeah, I said that I'd do a salchow. With how I felt in the morning, I didn't really feel like I could jump it. I was like, this might be impossible. Since I can jump Salchow as usual... The truth is I don't like my salchow that much, so I didn't really feel into it and was worried about it. But well, it was something I thought within that 6 minutes, but even before skating, in my mind I kept thinking I'd be jumping a flip after all. I didn't practice anything except flip. So if I changed it to a salchow and failed, I might have even regretted it. I thought, in that case I'll do a flip, and then did a flip. Since I was able to jump a good one within the 6 minutes, I thought it'd be fine. Q. (Muffled) you'd be going for a salchow but there was a feeling that you didn't really trust in it. A. You got that? (laugh) Q. I thought you'd go for a flip. A. I really don't have confidence in my salchow. I honestly was worried about the salchow even as I said that. Q. (Muffled) A. If there was a chance I might be failing either, I wanted to go for the one that I wouldn't regret. I talked about my injury but, the truth is I don't have any regrets about my injury. I was just normally going about my practice and made a mistake. I probably would've done the same thing if I could redo it. Because I had no regrets about that, I didn't want to have any regrets by changing the layout either. I might have been successful with the salchow but I also thought about failing it and made it into a flip. The result was good in the end. I jumped it during the 6 minutes and had more confidence during that time. Actually for me, I thought the toeloop was more dangerous. Q. It's scary to watch. A. This year I had quite a good condition. During the competitions I often just thought "I can do it in practice, now it's time to see if I can do it in competition or not". For the first time in a while, it was a competition which I had to make it happen but in those 6 minutes, I wasn't the me who had to make it happen but changed it to the mindset of "I just have to do it the way I do in practice". Q. Were you nervous? Will you be more relaxed going into the free? A. I feel like I'll be able to have a slightly better practice tomorrow, if I can, maybe toeloop and loop and such will also... there's some in the beginning but... well. Early in the new year. I'll do my best. Q. Thank you. A. Thank you. The next day. Just like Uno said, there was a change in the contents of his practice. The success rate of his jumps are obviously higher. During that time, in his new free program Uno is 5 types of quads which is the most he's ever done. Among them are the opening's Quad loop and quad salchow. It's a challenging program which ties up to Uno's growth. And, the next day, the free of his fate. A battle where he can exceed himself begins. "It's Uno Shoma after Kagiyama Yuma's top points. He was second place after the short." "Days to overtake myself from yesterday. That's what he aims. Let's watch his Free, Bolero." "The most jumps he's ever done. Will he attack? Uno Shoma. He landed the 4Lo. He landed the 4S too. After this, 4F. 3A. Flying camel spin. Choreo sequence. From here on, two quad jumps. Quad Toeloop... Quad Toeloop. 3A+Eu+3F. Combo spin from flying. CoSp. StSq." "He attacked strongly! This is Uno Shoma. His highest value program ever. " The Quad Loop and Quad Salchow of the beginning is beautifully successful. There was one fall but he was able to see through this program which is very difficult with 5 different quads until the end.  Stephane: Well done! Good job! Almost no miss! Shoma: Yeah! "I'm looking forward to Uno Shoma's score! Free is 193.94. Total is 295.82. This is his personal best. He raised above Kagiyama Yuma." Stephane: Well done! Shoma: Thank you. On his way back, Uno watched the last performer, Hanyu's Quad Axel on the monitor of the venue. When he returns to backstage, he exchanges warm hugs with his former teacher, Coach Yamada Machiko. And as he watches Hanyu's performance with Kagiyama Yuma, Yuma: He's so good Shoma: Yuma-kun, you're also good. After my short finished, I watched Yuzu-kun and Yuma-kun and thought I had to practice jumps that'll give me points some more. But Yuzu-kun is really amazing. Plus, it's not only once but he quite often performs like this, doesn't he? Yuma: You're right. Following Hanyu, he gets second place. This result also led to him being elected as a representative for his second consecutive Olympics. Q. Congratulations on second place. A. Thank you. Q. It was a little while ago time-wise but for starters please tell us what you think about today's performance. A. I think I did well. I of course had some mistakes, and there were a lot of parts in both my SP and FS that I wasn't able to show what I could do in practices. But even so, I think it's also a fact that there were parts where I was able to bring out the things I practiced until today. I was also worried because of the practices of these past days, whether you call it a misalignment or insufficient adjustments.  And yet, this one-time thing which you call a competition, where I don't get a chance of a do-over, to be able to perform and get my best score, even I think it was a performance where I worked hard. Q. About going to Olympics with an injury A.  I was injured last Saturday but at that time, I really thought if it'll be okay. There was also a part of me which thought it'd be fine. And day by day, my pain reduced and I thought I might be able to do it if I had no pain during the competition. But my jumps weren't coming back, even more so than I imagined, even though I didn't feel any pain.  While being worried about that, I was able to minimize my mistakes. Only, my aim for this year's skating is growth after all, so following this competition, when I watched Yuma-kun and Yuzu-kun's performance, I felt that what lacks within me is the GOE of jumps.  Also, I increased the variety of jumps but, honestly looking back at this competition, I realized I need to find something that'll be a weapon to me whether it's their expressive power or not.  So right now I want to practice after healing my foot properly but the truth is I really just want to go back with this new thing I found out and practice anew. Right now rather than feelings like looking forward to Olympics, I just quickly want to get back to practicing. I don't have a clue what will be my next competition but in next competition I want to show everyone my growth. Right now I feel like I was able to tell what was lacking in me after finishing this competition. Even so, leaving behind a season, little by little, I build up things I must do. I want to grow more and more. Rather than looking just at this year, I want to have more growth in me as I look towards next year, and the year after that. Q. Thank you A. Thank you In a painful situation where he's injured immediately before, Uno Shoma faced the battle without ever running away from it. 2021 Japan Nationals became a competition where he was able to show his growth. tweets: https://twitter.com/shomagravity/status/1531446404790595585