While many of the top stars from the 2021-2022 campaign had moved on to new careers, Uno did not miss a beat, returning this season well prepared to face the young guns that awaited him at every competition.
Also absent from the scene were three of his longtime rivals: Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu, who turned professional last July; Nathan Chen, the 2022 Olympic champion and Vincent Zhou, the 2022 World bronze medalist, who had both returned to university to pursue an education.
Yuma Kagiyama, who finished ahead of Uno at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games but second to Uno at the World Championships, was forced to miss the first half of the season due to an ankle injury he sustained over the summer that was slow to heal.
Uno opened the 2022-2023 season with a win at Skate Canada International in October. A month later, he captured his third NHK Trophy title in a runaway victory and qualified for the Grand Prix Final.
The fact that, at age 24, he was the oldest of the six men who competed in Torino did not perturb him in the least. “In sport, age does not matter,” said Uno, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Dec. 17.
One of his new rivals is the young American Ilia Malinin, who turned 18 a few days before the Final. Malinin became the first skater in history to successfully land a quad Axel at the U.S. Classic International in September, but two weeks later Uno scored a narrow victory over him at the
