Three-time figure skating Olympic medalist Shoma Uno has no regrets retiring from competitive sports, saying he wants to give himself a pat on the back for what he has accomplished.
“I have no lingering feelings (for competitive figure skating) at all,” Uno told a news conference Tuesday in Tokyo explaining his decision. Uno, who announced his intention to retire on Instagram last week, said he will continue figure skating as a professional.
“Looking back at my past footage, I can truly say I worked really hard. I think I accomplished something truly remarkable by honing the skills every day to get to this point,” he said.
The 26-year-old two-time world champion thanked his fans for their support and said that he was excited to move on to the next phase of his career.
“From here on, I’m excited to be able to skate freely (as a professional),” he said. “I’m determined to continue giving my all to skating as I move forward. I hope you will continue to support me with joy in the future.”
Uno has been the face of Japan’s figure skating for men after Yuzuru Hanyu retired from competition in 2022.
A three-time Olympics medalist and two-time world champion, Uno started his figure skating at the age of 5 and won Japan’s national championship for four years straight from 2016. In 2018, Uno won a silver medal in the men’s single at the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea — his Olympic debut — and a bronze four years later in the Beijing Olympics.
In 2022, Uno won the World Figure Skating Championships in Montpellier, France for the first time, making him the third Japanese man to win the title, after Hanyu and Daisuke Takahashi. In 2023, Uno successfully defended his title for the second year in a row, becoming the first Japanese man to do so.
Looking back on his career, Uno said he was more focused on giving his best performance in each competition rather than aiming for a high score. But at the same time, he lost his motivation to continue on when he won the World Championship in 2022.
Uno said he started considering retiring from competitive figure skating about two years ago when fellow figure skaters who he was close to — Hanyu and Nathan Chen — decided to retire from the sport in 2022.
“I felt lonely and somewhat left behind when I learned that the fellow (competitors) decided to retire,” he said. “It was from that point that I began to think about what to do (with my career).”
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