Figure World Championship Representatives Announced: Masama Uno, Kaori Sakamoto and others selected

The representatives for the World Figure Skating Championships to be held in March next year have been announced, and both men's singles champions Masama Uno and women's singles champion Kaori Sakamoto were selected.

The Japan Skating Federation has announced the selection of representatives for the World Championships to be held in Canada in March next year, based on the results of the All Japan Championships held in Nagano City and this season's international competitions.

Singles

Three players were selected: Uno, who won the men's singles title at the All Japan Championships and will win the World Championships three times in a row, Yuma Kagiyama, who finished second in the All Japan Championships and won the NHK Cup in the Grand Prix Series, and Yoshio Miura, who finished in both of the Grand Prix Series matches and also participated in the finals.

In the women's singles, Sakamoto, who also won the All Japan Championship and is aiming for a third consecutive world championship title, 3-year-old Hyakon Chiba, who finished second in all of Japan, and Hina Yoshida, who finished third in the Grand Prix Final, were the three players.

The pair is

The "Rikuryu pair" of Riki Miura and Ryuichi Kihara was selected as the pair.

The two players missed two races of the All Japan Championships and the Grand Prix Series due to Kihara's injury, but given that they won the World Championships last year, they were selected because they are expected to recover from their injuries by the time of the tournament.

In addition, the pair of Yuna Nagaoka and Sumishi Moriguchi, who are in their first year of formation, will be selected for the national team if they score above the standard set by the federation in the tournament to be held next month (January).

Ice dancing is...

In ice dance, the rhythm dance in the first half, the free dance in the second half, and the total score were all topped by different couples at this year's All Japan Championships, and the selection was held because the three pairs were very competitive.

It will be discussed again at the board meeting next month.

Also a representative of the Four Continents Championship

Yosuke Takeuchi, head of the figure development department of the Japan Skating Federation, explained, "We selected a wide range of athletes with an emphasis on the current competitiveness of each athlete and the meaning of strengthening them for the 2026 Olympics."

In addition, representatives for the Four Continents Championships to be held in the United States in February next year were announced, with Kagiyama, Sota Yamamoto, and Hayao Sato in the men's singles, Chiba, Mai Mihara, and Michika Watanabe in the women's singles, and Miura and Kihara as the pairs. In the ice dance, the top three pairs from the All Japan Championships, including Misato Komatsubara and her husband Takashi, were selected.