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.
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 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
Early years 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 2011–2012 season: Junior international debut 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.
2012–2013 season 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.
2013–2014 season: Senior international debut 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.
2014–2015 season: World Junior champion
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 2015–2016 season: First quad flip in international competition
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.
2016–2017 season: First national title, World silver medal
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.
At the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, he set new personal best scores for both the short program with a score of 104.86 and free skate with a score of 214.45, earning the silver medal with the fourth-ever highest combined score of 319.31, just 2.28 points behind World Champion Yuzuru Hanyu and 15.73 points ahead of bronze medalist Jin Boyang. At the final competition of this season, the World Team Trophy in Tokyo, he was able to win a gold medal for Japan with his teammates. He won the short program with 103.53 points and placed second behind teammate Yuzuru Hanyu in the free skate with 198.49 points. He scored a total of 302.02 points, the highest in the men's event.
2017–2018 season: Olympic silver medal
Uno began his season by winning the gold medal at his challenger series event at the 2017 Lombardia Trophy in Bergamo, Italy while setting new personal bests in all segments. At the 2017 Japan Open, he won the silver medal with his teammates. Uno won the gold medal at 2017 Skate Canada, placing first in both segments to begin his Grand Prix Series for the season. After returning from the competition on 31 October, Uno developed a 39-degree high fever and was diagnosed with influenza. In his following competition at 2017 Internationaux de France, he placed second in the short program and first in the free skate to place second overall behind Javier Fernandez. His results qualified him for his third consecutive senior Grand Prix Final, where he won the silver medal only 0.5 points behind Nathan Chen.
At the 2017 Japan Figure Skating Championships, Uno successfully defended his national title. On 24 December 2017, it was announced that Uno would represent Japan at the 2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Taipei City, Chinese Taipei, 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and 2018 World Figure Skating Championships in Milan, Italy. Placing third in the short program and third in the free skate, Uno took silver at the 2018 Winter Olympics, 1.66 points ahead of bronze medallist Javier Fernández of Spain.
At the 2018 World Figure Skating Championships in Milan, Uno had to leave practice only after a few minutes on ice and was carried to a bus on a staff member's back. Upon examination, no serious injury was found; his skates caused his pain. However, it was decided that Uno would still compete in the competition. Uno scored 94.26 in the short program, and 179.51 in the free skate, with a total score of 273.77, earning him the silver medal. His result, together with that of Kazuki Tomono, secured three spots for Japanese men at the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships to be held in Saitama, Japan.
2018–2019 season: Four Continents champion Uno started the season at the 2018 CS Lombardia Trophy, where he won the event. At 2018 Japan Open, he won the men's free program and won the gold medal as a member of Team Japan. In October, he won his first GP event of the season 2018 Skate Canada International. In November, he won his second GP event of the season, the 2018 NHK Trophy. He qualified to the 2018–19 Grand Prix Final and placed second, 5.99 points behind Nathan Chen. At the 2018 Japan Figure Skating Championships, Uno successfully defended his national title, winning by a margin of almost 50 points. This was his third successive national title, despite spraining his right ankle during the competition. He was named to the team to represent Japan at the 2019 Four Continents Championships and the 2019 World Championships.
At the 2019 Four Continents Championships, Uno came fourth in the short program, first in the free skate, and first overall. This marked the first time he won a major international competition after having placed silver at all of them at least once. He set a world record for the free skate with a score of 197.36. At the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, Uno was sixth in the short program, fourth in the free skate, and fourth overall. After the competition, he expressed disappointment with his performances. He concluded the season at the 2019 World Team Trophy, placing third in the short program, third in the free skate, and third overall. In the free skate, he attempted a triple Axel-quadruple toe loop combination, becoming the first skater to attempt this combination in competition, although he was unable to land it successfully. Team Japan won the silver medal.