Sota Yamamoto

[rRainbow]

Sota's FS at 2023 FISU World University Games:

Sota was sleepy.
Interview after the FS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUKBR6j1RdA
Transcript & Translation:

Q: How does it feel to be the FISU World University Games champion?
Sota: I was aiming for a win this time, so I was very satisfied with the result, but I was a little disappointed with some jumps in the free practice today, so I hope I can correct them and practice again for the upcoming competitions in the second half of the season.

Q: What does it mean to represent your university in Japan?
Interpreter: What is university like for you?
Sota: There are so many things to learn and experience that are different from skating, so in that sense, campus life outside of skating is a great opportunity for me to refresh myself.

Q: What’s the first thing you’re gonna do after the medal ceremony here today?
Sota: I was very sleepy today, so I want to go to sleep as soon as I get back.

 

[16Olympics]

Sota's FS at 2023 FISU World University Games:

Sota was sleepy.
Interview after the FS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUKBR6j1RdA
Transcript & Translation:

Q: How does it feel to be the FISU World University Games champion?
Sota: I was aiming for a win this time, so I was very satisfied with the result, but I was a little disappointed with some jumps in the free practice today, so I hope I can correct them and practice again for the upcoming competitions in the second half of the season.

Q: What does it mean to represent your university in Japan?
Interpreter: What is university like for you?
Sota: There are so many things to learn and experience that are different from skating, so in that sense, campus life outside of skating is a great opportunity for me to refresh myself.

Q: What’s the first thing you’re gonna do after the medal ceremony here today?
Sota: I was very sleepy today, so I want to go to sleep as soon as I get back.

Congratulations to Sota. He's been a joy to watch this season so far. He did look tired out there. It's a long way from home but he can sleep and get his rest with his gold medal.

 

[KiraraChin]

Congrats to Sota on the gold!
Just watched his FS, shame about the popped sal but his toe is looking so nice! Really good job!

Also...

Q: How does it feel to be the FISU World University Games champion?
Sota: I was aiming for a win this time, so I was very satisfied with the result, but I was a little disappointed with some jumps in the free practice today, so I hope I can correct them and practice again for the upcoming competitions in the second half of the season.

Competitions? Plural? Is he going to Challenge Cup, I wonder

 

[rRainbow]

Competitions? Plural? Is he going to Challenge Cup, I wonder

He is considering entering the Kokutai with Tatsuya representing Aichi-prefecture. Kokutai senior men's SP will be on Jan. 29 and FS, Jan. 30.

 

[Arriba627]

Love this video clip of Sota skating outside at Lake Placid! I wonder what the amateurs thought when they saw somebody doing triple jumps!

 

[rRainbow]

Men's Medal Ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-21YZkAKt9s
Sota's gala "Poeta" at Universiade:
THE ANSWER Article (Jan. 18): https://the-ans.jp/news/297688/

The Place Where Yamamoto Skated Was...

Figure skater Sota Yamamoto (Chukyo Univ.) jumped a quad at an unexpected place. When he posted the video on Instagram, fans responded, "Isn't it even more difficult to jump on a natural rink?" "It seems to be refreshing."

He danced in nature. Yamamoto skated not on a rink, but on a frozen lake. He skated lightly and did a quadruple jump. When he successfully landed on the ice, the cameraman let out a surprised shriek "oooh."

Yamamoto posted the actual video on his Instagram, and said, "Skating on a frozen lake! It was my first experience and I had so much fun!" Fans responded, "I guess it's even more difficult to jump on a natural rink," "I bet it felt good to jump in the great outdoors," "I was surprised by the amazing video," "So-chan looks like a little boy skating happily on natural ice," and "Skating in a different atmosphere seems to be refreshing."

23-year-old Yamamoto competed at the FISU World University Games held in New York, U.S.A., on the 15th of January (16th in Japan time). He won with a total score of 274.86 points, more than 30 points above the second-place finisher.

 

[KiraraChin]

Sota is going to compete at Kokutai, according to this source: https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2023/01/19/0015977131.shtml

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

Sota is going to compete at Kokutai, according to this source: https://www.daily.co.jp/general/2023/01/19/0015977131.shtml

This will be a very special Kokutai, with Kazuki Tomono and Nobunari Oda too.
Will there be a live stream, or a later broadcast?

 

[rRainbow]

Will there be a live stream, or a later broadcast?

Usually every year Kokutai Channel live streams and archives the competitions, but the website is not updated for Winter events yet.

This year's Kokutai is interesting in that Nobunari came back and teams up with Kazuki to represent Osaka. Mitsuki gave up entering Kokutai after Nobunari's announcement to try Kokutai as his first competition after his comeback.
Tatsuya, although he trains and goes to college in Hyogo, enters with Sota representing Aichi. Hyogo is represented by Nozomu and Taichiro.

 

[surimi]

Thank you everyone for keeping Sota's thrad active this week
My PC is back from being serviced, and I can again post comfortably, but as a Sota fan, it pains me that I've likely lost my collection of Sota photos downloaded from the internet over the years, my letters to Sota, and some of the videos of Sota and his skating friends. All of that was on my old hard drive. which died during the repair, and data recovery has not gone well so far. Stupid me for not having those files saved somewhere, but lesson learned.

I'm very happy for Sota and his nice Universiade result. May it be a confidence booster for him heading into WC!
Just a guess, but Sota looked first confused, then disappointed and sad to me at the ceremony when the anthem started, and I'm fairly sure that it's because they didn't play the Japanese anthem but only the FISU one. I bet means so much to him to have both the anthem and the flag when he wins. I wish they'd played both anthems.

I'd guess JSF is going to be mean with competitions until the end of the season: no Bavarian Open entries is a clear indication of what we can expect for Challenge Cup and CdP. I don't think Sota will be sent anywhere else but WC. I just hope this situation is not going to repeat itself next season!

Fingers crossed for a Kokutai stream. I'd love to watch.

 

[KiraraChin]

Sota's Poeta EX by On Ice Perspectives

山本草太/Sota Yamamoto on Instagram: "Poeta🥀 🎥@oniceperspectives"

sota0110 on January 20, 2023: "Poeta🥀 🎥@oniceperspectives".

www.instagram.com

Also, spot Sota with the gang going to the sauna at New Year's Eve!


Check out this cute edit of Sota and Kazuki's friendship. The combination of these two wholesome boys and the lyrics cracked me up

 

[surimi]

Sota's Poeta EX by On Ice Perspectives

山本草太/Sota Yamamoto on Instagram: "Poeta🥀 🎥@oniceperspectives"

sota0110 on January 20, 2023: "Poeta🥀 🎥@oniceperspectives".

www.instagram.com

Also, spot Sota with the gang going to the sauna at New Year's Eve!


Check out this cute edit of Sota and Kazuki's friendship. The combination of these two wholesome boys and the lyrics cracked me up

Great finds, Kirara! I'm glad to see Sota's Poeta practice liked by Vincent Zhou ^ ^ The intensity and speed is what I love about Sota's skating. And the twizzles and the eagles and the long sweeping glide, of course ^ ^

You can see in the sauna image how tiny Sota is. I wonder who some of the sauna boys are. I can recognize Mitsuki and Kazuki of course, then Nozomu and Sumitada, but as for the rest, I don't know...? It's been a while since I watched Taichi Honda, though. Sota must have had a busy New Year's Eve - first the meal with Ryuju, Tatsuya and the other guys, then sauna with another group of friends ^ ^

Nice video, I wish it was longer! There must be a lot of stuff with the two friends, starting with when they were tiny kids. I think I recall that when Sota competed for the first time at the age of 7 or 8 (I don't recall exactly), Kazuki was on the podium with him

 

[yesterday]

Now I can finally get in here again, I had to ignore this thread as I hadn't watched FISU I could actually avoid spoilers very well and enjoy the replays.
Great job Sota

 

[KiraraChin]

You can see in the sauna image how tiny Sota is. I wonder who some of the sauna boys are. I can recognize Mitsuki and Kazuki of course, then Nozomu and Sumitada, but as for the rest, I don't know...?

First pic, left to right: Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda, Kazuki, Mitsuki, Nozomu Yoshioka, Sumitada Moriguchi and Sota.

The second pic, from left to right: Shunsuke Nakamura, Nozomu Yoshioka, Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda, Sota, Kazuki, Taichi Honda, Sumitada and Mitsuki!

 

[rRainbow]

Thanks Kirara, for identifying the boys.

Sota Fanvideo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCLJSa3Kjfc

 

[KiraraChin]

Sota was assigned to Challenge Cup!

 

[surimi]

wow, unexpected. Very glad for Sota of course!
Now I'm on the fence about going or not going. Here are my pros: Sota. And the cons: hard to get to location ; serious family business that would need to be rescheduled if possible ; TBH I'm not really interested in any of the other Japanese skaters sent there so I'd be betting all my money (literally) on Sota not WDing. I do like Haruya's Rachmaninov though - heretic thought, but the program itself (music, cuts, choreo) is IMO a lot better than Sota's. Decisions, decisions... I guess the rescheduling and flight/event prices will be the deal breaker for me.
Also - maaan, no events for Rino and Sena this season... JSF really punishing them for being ill/injured this season :[

 

[surimi]

Good luck in the SP tomorrow, Sota! To my eyes, he looks a little tired in the photos. I hope he's been resting well. It's important to rest and relax enough before Challenge Cup, and especially WC. I'm glad fans are admitted this year, and he'll have cheers and banners.
Kazuki and Shun are very strong competition, and although I'd be happy if Sota wins, I won't be disappointed if one or both are above him, as long as Sota skates strongly, with determination in his jumps, without those multiple annoying small errors that bothered him Jan/Feb last year. For that, he needs to be well-rested, which will also refresh his mind better than repetitive exercise and little rest. I hope he knows that. Those salchows seem a bit challenging, but maybe he can take a look at them with a foreign specialist if he skated well at WC and managed to earn Special funding.
Good luck!

 

[surimi]

After Kokutai SP, Sota sits in 2nd with 82.12, losing a few tenths on Kazuki in the first place. Well, I did say he looked tired to me, and all the Universiade boys underperformed, so compared to Shun and Tatsuya, he did fairly well.
Here's his protocol: https://twitter.com/deepworld0912/status/1619558348801867776/photo/1 He singled the axel, and had a wonky 4S, and also got lv3 and some 0 GOEs for his first spin. I want to see the video... Interestingly, he got higher PCS than Kazuki, but in this case I'd think it's probably warranted as his SP is stronger than his FS and he's been skating it long enough to be able to focus on emoting and selling his program.
- Here's an article (paid, unfortunately) where he says something about wanting to be strong - https://mainichi.jp/articles/20230129/k00/00m/050/066000c (well said, Sota, he's on the right track)
- frustrated Sota after the SP (he looks an awful lot like Daiki Hashimoto here! I can't believe how alike the two boys are): https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/photonews/photonews_nsInc_202301290000563-7.html
- both top two finishers:


Good luck tomorrow, Sota! I hope he won't hesitate to water down his content a bit if he's tired. Better play it a bit safer than usual, and place well, than be regretful and even more tired due to mistakes on a multitude of hard jumps.

 

[surimi]

Congratulations to Sota on his 2nd place in Kokutai, and to Aichi on its victory!
Here's a photo from the ceremony, and it's nice to see Sota and Kazuki huddling together: https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2023/01/30/gazo/20230130s00079000561000p.html
Sota's protocol:

Multiple jump mistakes. I wonder to what extent exhaustion and the freezing temperatures are to blame. Shun did a stellar job in the same conditions, but Sota's tallish and thin, and I've never seen him use gloves in competition before, so who knows. I've never seen him get unclear edge calls on his 3F, either, the good flip-per that he is. Onwards to a proper rest, no 4Lz and 4F, and a mental recharge!
There's a chance that Challenge Cup will contain all of Shun, Tatsuya and Torgashev, so he needs to be as fresh as possible.
I've just realized that Sota's season this year is as long as Liza Tuktamysheva's tend to be Hold on, Sota, just two more competitions...