Shoma Uno Wins Men's Gold at World Figure Skating Championships 2022 After Free Skate

Japan's Shoma Uno dominated the competition in the men's free skate Saturday to capture the individual gold medal at the 2022 World Figure Skating Championships in France.

Uno, who also finished first in the short program on Thursday, posted a 202.85 total segment score in the free skate, which was over 10 points better than his closest competition, countryman Yuma Kagiyama (191.91).

Here's a look at the podium based on the combined points from the two events:

• Gold: Shoma Uno (JPN) — 312.48
• Silver: Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) — 297.60
• Bronze: Vincent Zhou (USA) — 277.38

Uno, 24, captured the bronze medal in the men's individual event at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing last month after winning silver at the 2018 Games.

His performance in France was a vast improvement over his showing in China just six weeks earlier. He improved by nearly four points in the short program and over 15 points in the free skate to easily pull away from the rest of the field.

"I hadn't been able to skate the kind of short program I could be proud of. But I always felt that if I could just skate a really clean one, I could get a super score, and I did," Uno told reporters after the short program.

He was even more impressive in the free skate to clinch his latest major title. He previously won men's singles gold at the 2015 World Junior Championships and the 2019 Four Continents Championships.

Kagiyama, 18, matched the silver medal he won in the Olympics despite a dip in the career-best score (310.05) he posted in Beijing. He also earned silver in the 2021 World Championships and the 2020 World Junior Championships.

His best result is a gold from the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics.

Zhou, who was forced to withdraw from the men's individual event at the Olympics because of a positive COVID-19 test, returned to competition in strong form to win bronze.

The 21-year-old California native equaled his best result in the worlds—he previously finished third in 2019.

American Nathan Chen, who won the Olympic gold medal in men's singles last month, announced last week he would miss the World Championships because of a "nagging injury."

His absence after an unparalleled showing in Beijing opened the door for the rest of the contenders, and Uno took full advantage of the opportunity to capture the spotlight.