Uno, Osmond shine as runaway winners

REGINA, Canada

Shoma Uno and Kaetlyn Osmond were in leagues of their own in winning the men’s and women’s crowns on Oct. 28 at Skate Canada International.

Japan’s Uno opened with a gorgeous quadruple loop and produced a quad toe loop combo, but faltered on the landing of two other quads, including his trademark flip.

Still, the reigning world silver medallist who led from pillar to post, finished 40 points clear of second place American Jason Brown 301.1 to 261.14.

Russian Alexander Samarin notched two strong quads to grab bronze (250.06) ahead of Patrick Chan after the Canadian star struggled through one of his worst performances in memory. Chan fell on his opening quad attempt, then turned four triple jumps and a second quad to doubles for seventh in the free skate and fourth overall.

Uno’s challenge to himself was to execute the three jump combos that eluded him in the past.

“I’m really satisfied I made my goal this week and hopefully I can connect it to my second Grand Prix competition in France.”

Uno competes in Grenoble in three weeks while Brown and Chan meet Japanese superstar Yuzuru Hanyu at NHK Trophy in Osaka in two.

On the women’s side, overnight leader Osmond’s Black Swan program proved golden as she finished with 212.91, some 20 points beyond her nearest challenger.

It wasn’t the picture perfect performance the Canadian had delivered the day before, but six triple jumps within sophisticated choreography was more than enough to prevail.

“I love this program and I got a great reaction from the crowd and it just makes the program even more exciting for me knowing that the audience loves it. “All the jumps didn’t work, but I’m happy with the overall package,” said the reigning world silver medallist who, like Uno, competes next in Grenoble.

Russian Maria Sotskova took silver on 192.52, while Ashley Wagner of the United States rebounded from her subpar short program and climbed from seventh to third on 183.94.