Shoma Uno raises bar for 2016-17

[MaxSwagg]

In the new book, he said he considered retiring after sochi because he was burnt out.

Yes, I know the book. But I'm sure he never uses "retire."

 

[alia jackson]

He considered doing 4Lo before WC when he couldn't do the 4t due to his injury, but decided against it eventually because he wanted to win too much and didn't want to take the risk.

Due to the injury, 4Lo was less painful than the 4T. So he practised a lot of that and thought of adding quad loop at Worlds. But he opted out because he didn't think 4Lo was ready yet quality wise (ready in Yuzu sense, I guess: which means doing it with the most difficult entry you can think of...). - source Blue Flame II

He considered retiring and taking a season off after Sochi just like many Olympic champs did after winning the Olympics. The main reason he still has the motivation to continue competing after the Olympics and is still willing to take the risk to upgrade his layout after winning all major titles and breaking WR is because he didn't win the Olympics with a good performance, barely won the 2014 WC, lost to Chan and Fernandez and lost worlds two years in a row.

As far as I know Yuzu has never considered retiring or taking a season off after Sochi. He continues competing after winning GPF/OGM/Worlds because his goals is not just Sochi OGM (interview at 11yo) but also Pyeongchang (interview at 15yo).

There were many Yuzu's 2014 interviews immediately after Sochi where he said even though he won GPF/OGM/Worlds, he wants to improve on his shortcomings, become stronger and push himself further.

2014 Canon web interview
Interviewer: Once again, what are your feelings on becoming Olympic Champion and World Champion?

Yuzuru: Nothing has changed. My feelings towards skating and my targets have not changed just because I won the Olympic gold medal. The Olympics are just the second most recent competition. As an athlete that continues to skate competitively I want to become stronger, to perform well in competitions. This is how I think. When the new season comes around, there’ll be another World Championships, and at a different venue, in front of a different audience I’ll give a different performance. It’ll be the start of a new season as usual.

April 2014 Chunichi Newspaper interview
Interviewer: Although you have become number one in the world you continue to say “I can push myself further”.

Yuzuru: The actor who won the Academy Awards this year said “The person I will be 10 years later is my hero”. At the age of 10 it would be myself at 20, when I am 20 my hero would be myself at 30. I was touched by that actor’s words, and I think this is a mindset that would allow one to remain steadfast.

As a skater maybe I would have retired 10 years down the road, but its good to think just one year or half a year ahead. That person I would become by then would be stronger mentally and physically.

Interviewer: As you move forward will your ideals change again?

Yuzuru: To put it simply the distance from my ideal has not shortened. Although I have yet to reach it, winning competitions as part of the process gives me a small sense of achievement. I think I would like to experience a big sense of achievement. Once a target has been set, to have reached it would be to have expended everything.

Even at the time I won the Olympic gold medal I already have another target in a separate place. Pyeongchang awaits. The happiness and joy of being able to do my best would enhance me, wouldn’t it?

Interviewer: In what ways do you want to grow next season?

Yuzuru: I still have too many shortcomings. I will turn 20 this year and the competitive seasons I have left are really numbered. As it will come to an end if I get injured, I want to stay healthy and day by day, just work hard to be able to expand myself in the future.

He said in his new book that he considered retiring after sochi. He said in an interview that he considered taking a season off when he had back pain before the 2014-2015 season.

I never came across any such translation/link. Let's take this in Yuzu thread.

 

[Blades of Passion]

Well, last summer we thought that 3A would be a new standard for the top ladies.

Perhaps in the future, but I don't think anyone expected it to be the standard the very next season. We saw at WTT how Liza wasn't able to skate clean. Adding an entirely new element that people can't do to begin with is much different than simply putting additional tech content that you can already do into your SP. The 2-Quad SP for some of the Men is like if multiple Triple-Triple combinations were allowed in the SP for the Women.

 

[SarahSynchro]

Well, last summer we thought that 3A would be a new standard for the top ladies. Reports were coming in from Gracie, Alaine, Courtney (have I forgotten anyone) all practising it... Well we didn't see many in competition save Mao's and some not great ones from Liza who actually initiated that 'mad 3A race'

Mirai and Gabby were attempting 3A as well.