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Yuma Kagiyama Takes a Commanding Lead After Short Program at Four Continents

Kagiyama was the final competitor on an evening of outstanding skates at the Four Continents and put forth a dynamic combination of power and presentation.

Published

3 months ago

February 2, 2024

Jack Gallagher

Yuma Kagiyama dazzles the crowd with his excellent performance in his short program routine at the Four Continents Championships on February 1, 2024, in Shanghai. (KYODO)

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Yuma Kagiyama showed why he is an Olympic silver medalist and a two-time world medalist with a fantastic performance in the short program at the Four Continents Championships in Shanghai on Thursday night, February 1.

The 20-year-old star delivered a stunning skate to "Believer" and is in first place with a score of 106.82 points, more than seven points ahead of compatriot Shun Sato, who was impressive in his own right and who has 99.20. South Korea's Junhwan Cha is in third with 95.30.

Sota Yamamoto stands in fourth with 94.44, while China's Boyang Jin is fifth on 89.41.

Kagiyama was the final competitor on an evening of outstanding skates and put forth a dynamic combination of power and presentation. He opened with a titanic quadruple salchow, then followed with a beautiful quad toe loop/triple toe loop combination jump, and went on to land a solid triple axel.

Kagiyama received level fours on all of his spins and step sequence in the amazing effort. His score was close to the 108.12 he tallied in the short program at the Beijing Olympics nearly two years ago.

"With this score, I was happy to say, 'I'm not going to equal [Ilia] Malinin yet,' " Kagiyama stated. "I just saw the details, but I realized that there was still room to grow."

Kagiyama added, "I felt that if everything was perfect, there was a possibility that I could win."

For Sato, a Career-Best Short Program

Sato delivered the best short program of his career to "Libertango," putting together all of the skills he has always possessed but at times has been unable to execute. The Sendai native, who will turn 20 on February 6, started with a quad toe loop/triple toe loop combo, then landed a massive quad lutz, and went on to hit a triple axel. He also notched level fours for all of his spins and step sequence.

"I wasn't expecting my score to be this high, so I'm really satisfied," Sato commented. "I'm glad I was able to stick to my decision to jump the lutz on the second jump."

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Author: Jack Gallagher

The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.