Japan's Shoma Uno wins figure skating worlds while American Vincent Zhou takes bronze

Olympic bronze medalist Shoma Uno concluded a dominant performance at the figure skating world championships by winning the gold medal Saturday, while Vincent Zhou of the U.S. used a strong free skate to catapult from sixth after his short program to earn the bronze medal.

Uno finished with 312.48 points to easily outdistance Yuma Kagiyama, who finished second to his Japanese teammate in both the short program and free skate. Kagiyama had 297.60 points while Zhou finished with 277.38.

The world championships conclude later Saturday with the free dance.

It was an emotional and redemptive performance Saturday for the 21-year-old Zhou, who helped the Americans win team silver at the Beijing Games — a medal that could be elevated to gold pending a Russian doping investigation.

Zhou was preparing for the men's competition when he tested positive for COVID-19, knocking him out of the rest of his Olympics. He was forced to spend nearly two weeks in quarantine before he was finally allowed out in time to perform in the closing exhibition gala, then was deemed a «close contact» and barred from the closing ceremony.

«I'm still very upset over the loss of that opportunity at the Olympics,» he said, «but I'm very grateful that I still had the chance to compete here at worlds. And again, I'm very proud of myself for putting out two strong performances.»

His performance Saturday ended a rollercoaster of a season on a high.

Before all of Zhou's trouble in Beijing, the Brown University student soared to victories in the lower-level Cranberry Cup and Nebelhorn Trophy before finishing second in his Grand Prix assignment at the NHK Trophy. Then, Zhou topped Uno and his American teammate Nathan Chen, the Olympic champion, at Skate America.