Shoma Uno (宇野 昌磨, Uno Shōma; born 17 December 1997) is a Japanese figure skater. As a singles skater, he is a three-time Olympic medalist (2018 silver, 2022 bronze, 2022 team silver), a two-time World champion (2022, 2023), and a two-time World silver medalist (2018, 2017). He was also the 2019 Four Continents champion, the 2022–23 Grand Prix Final champion, a fourteen-time Grand Prix medalist (8 gold, 6 silver), the 2017 Asian Winter Games champion, and a six-time Japanese national champion (2016–2019, 2022–2023). At the junior level, Uno is the 2015 World Junior champion, the 2014–15 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and 2012 Youth Olympic silver medalist.
Uno is the first skater to successfully land a quadruple flip, and the second skater behind Yuzuru Hanyu to land a quadruple loop in an international competition. In 2023, Uno became the first man from Japan to win back-to-back world titles. He is also the historic record-holder for the highest score by a junior in the short program.
After first retiring in 2024, Uno announced in May 2026 that he and his partner, Marin Honda, were returning to professional competition as an ice dance team.
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Early life and family
Shoma Uno was born on 17 December 1997, in Nagoya, Japan, to Junko and Hiroko Uno. He has a younger brother, Itsuki, and his grandfather is Japanese painter Fujio Uno. Uno was born prematurely, weighing only 900 grams (32 oz) and fitting in the palm of his father's hand. The blanket used to cover him was a handkerchief. He suffered from asthma as a child and was in and out of hospitals. To strengthen his body, his parents had him try all kinds of sports like soccer, tennis, and ballet. However, in soccer, he was always terrified of the other players and hid behind the goal.
Career
Singles skating
Uno started skating when he was five because of Mao Asada, who talked to him at a skating rink, and he liked skating so much that he begged his parents to go back to the rink. He enrolled in skating classes in Nagoya and started practicing 5–6 hours a day.
His figure skating idol is Daisuke Takahashi. Uno won bronze at the Japan Junior Championships of the 2009–2010 season but did not finish on the podium in either of the next two years.
Junior career
Uno made his Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut in the 2011–2012 season, winning a bronze medal at the JGP Tallinn Cup in Estonia after placing 4th at the event in Poland. At the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics, he won silver in the individual event and gold in the team event. He finished 10th at the 2012 World Junior Championships. Uno was invited to skate in the gala at the 2012 World Team Trophy as the silver medalist in Winter Youth Olympics.
Uno finished 6th at his Junior Grand Prix in Slovenia. At his next JGP event in Germany, he won the silver medal with personal bests in both programs and a total score of 188.48 points. He finished 7th at the 2013 World Junior Championships.
Uno competed in his third JGP season, winning the bronze medal in Riga, Latvia, and placing 4th in Tallinn, Estonia. He placed 5th at the 2014 World Junior Championships and won his first international senior competition at the 2014 Gardena Spring Trophy.
Uno began his season by winning his second senior international competition at the 2014 Asian Trophy. He was assigned to the JGP events in Japan and Croatia. He placed second in Japan and first in Croatia with new personal best scores and qualified for his first JGP Final. He won his first junior national title at the 2014–15 Japan Junior Championships. The following month, he won gold at the JGP Final, placing third in the short program and winning the free skate while setting junior world records for the free skate and combined total. At the 2014–15 Japan Championships, he placed 3rd in both segments of the competition, winning the silver medal.
Uno made his senior ISU Championship debut at the 2015 Four Continents; he placed second in the short program, fifth in the free skate, and fifth overall, setting personal best scores in all segments. He ended his season by winning the 2015 World Junior Championships, winning the short program with a junior world record score of 84.87, and placing second in the free skate. He became the fifth Japanese man to win the junior world title. As the junior worlds champion, Uno was invited to skate in the gala at the 2015 World Team Trophy.
Senior career
Uno started his season with a 5th-place finish at the 2015 U.S. Classic, placing 9th in the short program but winning the free skate. He then went on to win the individual event of the 2015 Japan Open, defeating World champions Javier Fernandez, Brian Joubert and Patrick Chan.
Making his senior Grand Prix debut, Uno won the silver medal at 2015 Skate America after placing fourth in the short program and first in the free program, finishing only 1.52 points behind gold medalist Max Aaron. Uno then made some training changes, saying, "During Skate America, I felt that I lacked a bit of stamina, so I increased the number of run-throughs in training every day and started to do off-ice stamina training." He placed first in the short program at the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard. Due to the November 2015 Paris attacks, the free skate was cancelled, and the short program standings were deemed the final results. Uno thus became the winner of the event and qualified for the 2015–16 Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. He was awarded the bronze medal in Spain behind Yuzuru Hanyu and Fernández.
After repeating as the national silver medalist, Uno finished fourth behind Patrick Chan, Jin Boyang and Yan Han at the 2016 Four Continents Championships, having ranked second to Jin in the short program and fifth in the free skate. At the 2016 World Championships in Boston, he placed 4th in the short program, 6th in the long, and 7th overall. At the 2016 Team Challenge Cup, Uno became the first skater ever to land a quadruple flip at an international competition. He landed two quads in his short program, 4F and 4T-3T combination, and scored a personal best of 105.74 points.
In December 2016, Uno was fourth in the short program with 86.82 points after falling on his quadruple toe loop and failing the combination in the Grand Prix Final. He rallied back in the free skate with a personal best of 195.69 points and placed second in that segment. He placed third overall and won the bronze medal for the second consecutive year, just 0.34 points behind silver medalist Nathan Chen and 11.39 points behind gold medalist Yuzuru Hanyu. Later that month, he won his first national title in Osaka, Japan.
In February, he broke the hundred-point barrier with a score of 100.28 in the short program for the first time in his career at the Four Continents Championships, being the fourth person to do so. In the free skate, he landed four quad jumps, including his first ever quad loop in international competition and a quad flip, but fell on both his triple axel combinations. He placed 2nd in the short program, 3rd in the free skate and won the bronze medal with a score of 288.05 behind Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu.
Hiatus: 2024–2026
In 2023, during the off-season, Uno was cast to play the lead role of Monkey D. Luffy for the summer ice show One Piece on Ice He would appear in Stéphane Lambiel's production of The Sorcerer's Apprentice in Champéry, Switzerland, in August 2024, and reprised his role as Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece shows that took place in September 2024.
During the 2024 Paris Olympics, a medal ceremony was organized for Uno and his teammates from the 2022 Olympic Figure Skating Team Event to receive their Olympic silver medals. Although Uno was unable to attend the ceremony due to scheduling conflicts, he expressed happiness that his teammates would have a ceremony to attend. Uno's Team Event Olympic silver medal was eventually delivered to him. During the gala exhibition at the 2024 NHK Trophy, all members of the 2022 Olympic Team Event, including Uno, were invited to center stage, wearing their Olympic costumes and Olympic medals, in celebration of their achievement.
From June 2025 to February 2026, Uno produced and completed his first self-produced ice show, titled Ice Brave. The first edition of Ice Brave premiered at Aichi, Uno's home prefecture, before continuing to Fukuoka and Niigata. The cast of Ice Brave includes fellow Japanese professional skaters Marin Honda and Rika Hongo as well as the members of Prince Ice World, with Uno's coach Stéphane Lambiel participating as the show's only guest skater. The second edition continued without Lambiel to Kyoto, Tokyo, Yamanashi, Shimane and Miyagi, before ending in a special edition in Shin-Yokohama. The show runs for 90 minutes non-stop without any ice cut intermission or pre-shot video footage, utilizing music used for Uno's programs during his competitive career except for a new street dance-inspired group program and Uno and Honda's new programs. For this show, Uno and Honda changed their figure skating blades to a specific model designed by Japanese steel and skating blade company YS Blades for ice dance, and performed to Roberto Cacciapaglia's Wild Side choreographed by Kenji Miyamoto, and Max Richter's re-composition of Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, choreographed by Jean-Luc Baker.
Ice dance with Marin Honda
Following his retirement from singles skating, Uno approached his girlfriend and retired women's singles skater, Marin Honda, suggesting that he and her take on the challenge of learning how to ice dance together. Uno later shared that the idea came to him due to his desire for more people to witness Honda's expressiveness as a skater. "I had no regrets about singles," he said. "However, I think people don't fully understand how wonderful Marin's skating is." Following a period of deliberation, Honda agreed to the idea and the partnership officially formed in October 2024. Honda/Uno first debuted as a team in June 2025 during "Ice Brave," a show that was organized by Uno.
In March 2026, Honda/Uno received additional training at the Ice Academy of Montréal.
On May 22, 2026, Honda/Uno announced their plans to pursue ice dance competitively with the goal of competing at the 2030 Winter Olympics. "We chose to begin in the 2026 season because of our strong desire to seriously pursue the 2030 Winter Olympics as competitors," Uno said. Additionally, Honda/Uno stated that they did not yet have an official coaching team and as a result, Uno's longtime singles skating coach, Stéphane Lambiel, would accompany them to competitions.
Public life
Sponsorships, endorsements and partnerships
Uno has had many endorsement contracts throughout his career that includes an affiliate sponsorship deal with car manufacturer Toyota that was announced in early June 2017. Other notable partnerships include healthcare consumer brand Colantotte, sports equipment and activewear company Mizuno, and cosmetics manufacturer DHC.
Books and magazines
In March 2018, Uno released a 96-page photo book entitled Shoma Uno New Hero: Path to the Silver Medal published by Kodansha. The photo book chronicles Uno's journey at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang where he placed second. He has released two official calendars in 2018 and 2020 respectively.
Personal life and education
Uno attended Chukyo High School and Chukyo University in Nagoya. Looking back at his high school years, Uno later described himself as a quiet student who enjoyed playing games on his smartphone with his classmates during recess. In September 2022, Uno confirmed he was in a relationship with Japanese figure skater, Marin Honda.
Records and achievements
First skater in history to successfully land a quadruple flip jump at the 2016 Team Challenge Cup. This achievement is recognized by Guinness World Records.
Became the first Japanese Figure skater to win three Olympic Medals at the 2022 Beijing Olympics,
Set the junior-level men's record for the short program score with 84.87 points at the 2015 Junior Worlds.
Set the junior-level men's record for the combined total with 238.27 points at the 2014–15 Junior Grand Prix Final. Record was broken by Cha Jun-hwan at the 2016 JGP Japan.
Set the junior-level men's record for the free program score with 163.06 points at the 2014–15 Junior Grand Prix Final. Record was broken by Daniel Samohin at the 2016 World Junior Championships.
Set the men's record for the short program score with 104.15 points at the 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy. Record was broken by Yuzuru Hanyu at the 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki.
Set the men's record for the combined total with 276.20 points at the 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy. Record was broken by Nathan Chen at the 2018 Skate America.
Set the men's record for the free program score with 197.36 points at the 2019 Four Continents Championships. Record was broken by Yuzuru Hanyu at the 2019 World Championships.
Honors and awards
Japan Skating Federation: "JOC Cup" (2019)
Chunichi Shimbun: 33rd "Chunichi Sports Award" (2019)
TV Asahi: "Big Sports Awards" Big Sports Special Award (2017, 2018)
Aichi "Sports Awards" (2017, 2018)
Nagoya "Sports Awards" (2018, 2023)
Toyota, Aichi "Sports Awards" (2022)