Yuma Kagiyama: “Since coming to Milan, I’ve really felt things are going well, and I wonder if I have good chemistry with the Olympics.”
Yuma Kagiyama on his and his teammates performances in the short program at the Olympic Team Event.
original source: sportiva.shueisha.co.jp dd 8th February 2026 by Oriyama Toshimi
Yuma Kagiyama delivered a passionate and nearly personal-best performance in the men’s short program of the Olympic team event, helping Japan close the gap with the U.S. and gaining confidence for the individual competition. Here’s a translation of his comments posted on Web Sporttiva.
On the first day, Kagiyama watched his teammates’ performances from the cheering section and was moved to tears along with Kaori Sakamoto during the ice dance by Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita.
“I’ve competed with Uta-chan (Yoshida) since juniors, and I’m also very close with Masaya, who’s my peer. Watching friends I’ve skated with for so long perform on the Olympic stage brought back so many memories that I started to cry. When I saw their faces coming off the ice, I was so relieved I burst into tears,” Kagiyama shared.
Carrying his teammates’ feelings, Kagiyama approached the SP on the 7th with the mindset, “My performance is crucial for us to win.” “I was nervous,” he admitted, but his determination surpassed his nerves.
“I felt so relieved the moment I landed my triple axel,” Kagiyama said. After that, Kagiyama truly shone in the step sequence, he said, “I focused on getting the level, but I could also see the audience around me.”
“I wanted to enjoy the Olympics, and during the step sequence, I thought, ‘You can’t help but get excited here,’ so I was like, ‘Come on, come on!’ If there had been no reaction, I would have felt lonely, but I took a chance and tried to hype up the crowd behind me with some ad-lib moves.”
Kagiyama’s score was 108.67, just 0.1 points shy of his personal best of 108.77 set at the Grand Prix Final last December.
“Since coming to Milan, I’ve really felt things are going well, and I wonder if I have good chemistry with the Olympics,” Kagiyama said with a laugh. “It’s great that I could bring that feeling into the actual competition. Scoring close to my personal best is huge, but what makes me happiest is being able to contribute to the team. The individual event coming up is also very important, so I want to keep this feeling and stay sharp.”
Related topics: Olympic Games, Yuma Kagiyama
Leave a Reply