Back in March, when Japan’s Shoma Uno won the men’s short program at 2024 Worlds, little did we know it was his last competition.
To music from the movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, choreographed by Stéphane Lambiel, this particular program starting with the almost seraphic, and thoroughly addictive “I Love You”, is now surrounded by an additional layer of meaning.
It was Shoma Uno’s Swan Song.
And, alongside with that free skate like a journey, it stays as the Japanese’s final reverence to his fans, his team, the world of skating as a whole, to which he dedicated no less than 21 years; he started skating when he was 5.
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Two months after 2024 Worlds in Montreal, we’re coming back to the men’s short program – remember how it all went through the photos we selected for you, through #photosthatyoufeel.
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Korea’s Hyungyeom Kim skating to Music by John Miles
Personal Jesus was such a great choice of music for Sweden’s Andreas Nordeback
Now that’s a performance to come back to: Roman Sadovsky skating to Unconscious by Charlie Winston, a program choreographed by Marie-France Dubreuil and Samuel Chouinard
Hands setting the air, the tone of the program: Wesley Chiu skating to music from the movie Romeo + Juliet
Adam Hagara was, no doubt, one of the breakthrough stars of the season – and his journey is only at the start
Focus in Aleksandr Selevko’s eyes, while skating his Egyptian-themed short program in Montreal
Not a good day for Boyang Jin, but he’d put everything he had in that last part of his short program set to Vienna by Ultravox
Ah, we love to see Jason Brown skating his best to a song that doesn’t feel like it was randomly chosen. Quite the opposite, we’d say. “The decision is mine / So let the lesson be mine”, sings Benjamin Clementine – and Jason Brown decided to gift us all with a couple more seasons of his skating. And we say: Thank you, Jason.
End of Camden Pulkinen’s short program, to A Different Kind of Love by Son Lux
Mikhail Shaidorov’s short program to music from The Matrix was definitely a good idea – and these photos do nothing but prove it
Nikolaj Memola came prepared at this edition of the Worlds – and made himself proud, made all of us proud with that skate
Smooth as silk. Smooth as the wind caressing the leaves. No metaphor can really do justice to Deniss Vasiljevs’ skating – you just have to sit and watch him skate. You’ll come up with your own metaphors, we are sure.
Lukas Britschgi having fun and a terrific skate at Worlds
Explosive. That’s the kind of short program that Yuma Kagiyama skated at Worlds in Montreal – and he brought the program to life like never before. He was a Believer, no doubt. And the work with Carolina Kostner really pays off – Yuma’s skating became so open, so free, so glorious.
Kao Miura: a beautiful, heartfelt performance to This Place Was a Shelter.
We absolutely loved this program, this waltz for Junhwan Cha. We could watch it on repeat – and we might have done just that as soon as the men’s short was over.
What did we witness? Ilia Malinin starting a fiesta in Bell Centre in Montreal, butterfly-twist and all. And that’s how you go after a gold medal at Worlds, with that kind of skate.
“Adam, it’s you against you”, coach Cedric Tour said in an interview for Inside Skating prior to Worlds, and Adam-that-is-doubting showed up at during the men’s short program in Montreal. One of the favorites for the podium, Adam Siao Him Fa was 19th after SP.
But the end of Adam’s short program, pictured above, was not the end of the story, as we all know it: the Frenchman will redeem himself in the free, making that historical comeback altogether, having the second best free skate of the night and winning the bronze medal overall. He learned his lessons fast, no doubt.
The moon finding its way through the clouds – no better way to describe this Clair the lune short program, which was a stunning vehicle for Shoma Uno in what proved to be his last competitive season
And the moon has always two faces: the calm, nostalgic, melancholic one…
And then the witty, joyful, bubbly one, as shown by this particular moment in time captured on camera.
Our thoughts at the end of that skate? Shoma Uno, you are poetry on ice, you are. And there was something more: a feeling. Watching him skate the way he did in Montreal, we felt a change happened within: in the last part of his program he seemed more extrovert than ever, he showed himself like never before; and emotions burst again, knees on the ice, at the end. He might have known it already.
And if this resembles a family-portrait filled with joy, with gratitude, it might be just that: Shoma Uno, beautifully surrounded by his trainer and his coach. It also feels (now) like the end of a chapter. Thank you, Shoma.
SEE MORE, READ MORE:
The men’s free skate at 2024 Worlds in Montreal? One for the ages