Japan's Shoma Uno captures gold at figure skating worlds for 1st world title

Japan's Shoma Uno claimed his first world title when he secured the gold medal in the men's event at the figure skating world championships on Saturday in Montpellier, France, making the most of the absence of two top-ranked international skaters.

Uno scored 202.85 for a total of 312.38 after posting new personal bests in both the short program and the free skate.

With two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu and Beijing gold medallist Nathan Chen skipping the event through injuries, Yuma Kagiyama, runner-up at the last Olympics, was among the top two favourites alongside compatriot Uno.

Kagiyama claimed silver after scoring 191.91 on his free skate for a total of 297.60 — failing to properly land his quadruple loop.

That was well below his Olympics score of 310.05 and certainly not enough to prevent Uno, who was leading after the short program, from prevailing.

American Vincent Zhou took the bronze medal with a score of 277.38.

Roman Sadovsky of Vaughan, Ont., finished 12th as the top Canadian with 245.36 points, while Keegan Messing finished 14th (235.03). Messing was ninth after the short program.

WATCH l Sadovsky finishes 12th at figure skating worlds:

Uno did not disappoint and his performance, although not flawless, left his coach Stephane Lambiel raising his arms in celebration.

Uno scored 202.85 for a total of 312.38 after posting new personal bests in both the short program and the free skate.

"I'm very happy, I worked hard for this. And for once I finish first. I'm very satisfied and I want to thank my coach for this," said Uno after delighting the crowd with a routine set to Maurice Ravel's Bolero, a popular choice in figure skating.

Uno won silver at the event in 2017 and 2018, and he finished fourth in 2019