Lausanne, Switzerland, January 12, 2020: The future of Japanese figure skating looks to be in safe hands after Yuma Kagiyama won the men’s singles title at the Winter Youth Olympic Games in the Olympic capital on Sunday.
Coming into the free skate, Kagiyama was in third place behind the Russians Andrei Mozalev and Daniil Samsonov following the short programme.
But a remarkably clean and accomplished routine, together with a fall from Mozalev, earned him 239.17 points in total and top spot on the podium.
“I’m super happy and this gives me strong confidence moving towards future tournaments,” said Kagiyama, 16. “Free skating is my favourite, so I didn’t feel any pressure.
"I was wondering how many points I could get but I thought I could do my best. Beijing 2022 is the target for me right now.”
Mozalev, 16, won silver and Samsonov, 14, took the bronze.
The Lausanne Skating Arena was packed with enthusiastic supporters, and erupted at Kagiyama’s victory.
With such an appreciative crowd in place, the main challenge facing most of the young field was nerves.
Source: Olympic Information Service