After an extremely rough season so far Shoma finally found a coach he seems to feel comfortable around and managed to snag the victory at the Japanese Nationals right away. While his performance wasn’t spotless, it was a difference like night and day compared to his time without a coach earlier in the season.
Yuzuru was visibly exhausted and goes into a well deserved break with the silver medal. While he was understandably not really satisfied with his own skate, there was also no one happier for Shoma than Yuzuru. After all, Yuzu did call Shoma his little puppy ;)
Shoma: “I don’t want to discuss the placement too much. Neither of us skated our best. Still, to win over him was one of the biggest goals of my skating life. I and everyone else in Japan knows that Yuzu-kun is the best skater in Japan. He is a great and extraordinary presence. So I have always wanted to beat Yuzu-kun just once, even more than I wanted to go to the Olympics—because I have always looked up to him.”
Yuzuru: “Shoma has finally returned to his old self, and I’m glad to have lost to him properly for the first time. I’m very happy for him. I could see that he was going through a difficult and painful time, so I am glad to see him skate like himself again. Now, Shoma can say wholeheartedly that he is a real Japanese champion, because he won in a year in which I was able to compete here. I congratulated him from the bottom of my heart.”