Shun Sato: “I feel a tremendous gap between me and Malinin, almost like we are on different levels now. However, going forward, I think he is someone I need to compete against and beat in the future.”
Shun Sato on winning silver at Skate Canada 2024.
original source: Nikkansports / Nikkansports / Nikkansports dd. 28th October 2024 by Daisuke Fujizuka
Shun Sato (20) who was second in the Short program, continued his streak with his sixth consecutive podium finish in the GP Series by winning silver at Skate Canada 2024. Here’s a translation of her comments posted on Nikkansports.
“Well… right after finishing, I thought it might not have gone well, but since I hadn’t seen the other scores yet, I was just thinking, ‘Ah… it’s over…’ However, in the end, I was somewhat relieved to find out I was in first place at the conclusion of my performance,” he reflected on his performance in the free skate.
In the free program, he fell on the opening quad lutz, analyzing that mistake he said, “I felt like the boards before the jump was a bit too close, and I couldn’t quite get the timing right. During practice, it went really well, but in the actual performance, I got a bit nervous and rushed into the jump, which is what I think happened.”
“After looking at the protocols, my impression is that my technical scores were better than I expected. However, due to some mistakes, my component scores didn’t improve much, so I feel I could have done better there,” Shun told.
He was also asked about Ili Malinin, in particular about how he sees the gap between them, to which Sato said, “I feel a tremendous difference, almost like we are on different levels. However, going forward, I think he is someone I need to compete against and beat in the future. So instead of being satisfied with second place this time, I aim to win at least once in the next GP events.”
He also mentioned that he would like to take some techniques from Malinin. “His entry into the rotational axis of the jumps is incredibly fast when I watch him. I think I’m also quick to enter the axis, but compared to Malinin, the speed of his lutz and other rotations is just on a completely different level. I think it would be beneficial to mimic his way of capturing the axis and other aspects of his technique.”
“Having seen Malinin’s skating and jumps up close, I thought to myself, ‘How can he jump so easily?’ Especially with the lutz, which takes me a long time to execute, and he just jumps it like a triple — that’s really incredible. It makes me realize that I need to be able to jump lutz and flips with the same consistency,” Sato added.
The next competition for Shun Sato will be the sixth event of the GP Series, the Cup of China (November 22-24). “Landing the quad flip and the gains from this competition were significant. I want to work hard to perform flawlessly in both the short program and free skate in the upcoming competition in China,” Shun told.
Related topics: grand prix, Ilia Malinin, Shun Sato, Skate Canada
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