Sota Yamamoto

[rRainbow]

I understand from google translate that there's a video of him and Kazuki, and he started to listen to the music from the video, and joked with Kazuki about them being cool?

I hear you cough. Google-san is correct. Sota said, "Kazuki and I were saying, 'Perhaps we might be cool (laughs).'"
The TV show "Figure Skating Song Festival 2021" aired from Dec. 21 to 25 and Sota and Kazuki were featured on the 2nd day with the song of "To The First," by Mitsuhiro Hidaka, stage name "SKY-HI." SKY-HI is a Japanese rapper, actor, dancer and producer.

In this 10-minute program, as SKY-HI's song "To The First" played in the background, Kazuki and Sota's history was introduced. it showed their performances and results in All-Japan Junior, Youth Olympic, All-Japan Figure Skating Championships, World Figure Skating Championships and Grand Prix Series, Sota's recovery from fractures and surgeries, and their training. Finally, the two talked about their enthusiasm for this year's All-Japan Figure Skating Championships 2021.

After watching the show, Sota started to listen to the song.

 

[KiraraChin]

Thanks, rRainbow! Kazuki quote retweeted Sota, saying, 'The power of a song'

BTW, it seems that Sota will be featured in the next edition of FS Life! He looks good in white:

 

[surimi]

Notice how in the photo, he's in a white room with a white armchair and white curtains, so of course he's wearing a white sweater to better blend in with the surroundings and become invisible? He really must have been a gecko in his past life...

So, the Nagoya festival seems to be ending, and according to this article, Sota skated well and got standing ovation? I am happy to hear that. https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/394979
It seems he was skating Io Ci Saro. But people on Twitter are putting Sota's name and 3F-3Lo in the same sentence and I'm a bit anxious? This is the layout they report: 3S 4T 3A1Eu3S 3A / 3F3Lo 3F3T 3Lz . Surely he wouldn't jump a combo where he needs to launch into the second jump from his landing right ankle? I am no skating expert, and know Sota is an excellent flip-er, but I am hoping that he won't try combos with 3Lo as the second jump. I trust his training center, but it is also true that several of their skaters have been injured, so it never hurts to wish for Sota's ankles' health in the first place. But the 3F3Lo aside, just imagine how this program would score at Nationals... He'd be over 250, maybe over 260? (sorry, I'm not good at score counting) Admirable boy...

 

[rRainbow]

So, the Nagoya festival seems to be ending, and according to this article, Sota skated well and got standing ovation? I am happy to hear that. https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/394979

Sota Yamamoto (21), Chukyo University, came back from last season's slump and performed his free skate "I'll be here as always" (t/n: translation of Japanese title of Io ci Saro).

He couldn't move his body as much as he wanted to due to the pressure of starting 4th in SP at the All-Japan Championships, but he made up for it on this day. He concentrated on his program, and captivated the audience with his smooth gliding skating skills. He succeeded in all his jumps, and received a standing ovation for his emotional performance.

For the encore, he performed "Yesterday," the SP of this season. Before the performance, it was announced that it had been nine years since he first participated in the Nagoya Festival in his mother's handmade costume, and that his recent favorite thing was to burn essential oils for relaxation. Yamamoto greeted the audience, "I will do my best again this year, so I would appreciate your support.

 

[rRainbow]

Yahoo Japan reported Sota won the Incare.

Sota Yamamoto Not Satisfied With Intercollegiate Victory, “I’d Like to Be More Aggressive.” “I Want to Be Strong and Determined in the Competition.”

The Japan Collegiate Figure Skating Championships (Intercollegiate) entered its third day in Obihiro city, Hokkaido, on June 6th, and Sota Yamamoto (Chukyo Univ.) won the Men's 7th and 8th class with 153.10 points. Only the free programs were used to compete for the rankings.

It was just one day after the ice show in Nagoya on the 4th. He had a hectic schedule, and made some mistakes, such as popping a quad jump in the beginning. Nevertheless, he put his performance together and finished. He was crowned the university champion.

“I had a feeling of tension, which is different from a show. I was so disappointed in All-Japan. I want to be more offensive and not be on the defensive.”

At the All-Japan Championships at the end of last year, he started 4th in SP, but finished 12th in FS, and 8th overall. In the final round of the All-Japan Championships last year, she started 4th in SP, but finished 12th in FS, and 8th overall. The result was greatly affected by the series of mistakes he made at the beginning of the program, such as failed quadruple toe loop and quadruple salchow.

“I was very focused in practice (for All-Japan), but at the end of the day, I didn't have the will and strength for the real thing. I wanted to keep myself more aggressive in competition. I felt that I was still lacking in each and every one of my abilities, as well as in my ability to successfully execute crucial moves, compared to the best in the world. I need to get stronger.”

The next step is to participate in the National Athletic Meet (Kokutai), which will start on January 23. He will keep his all-out attack mode, aiming for higher levels.

Sponichi report:

Sota Yamamoto Wins Intercollegiate Championship, Tatsuya Tsuboi 2nd, Sena Miyake 3rd.

Sota Yamamoto (Chukyo Univ.) won the men's 7th and 8th class with 153.10 points.
In the men's 7 and 8 class, Sota Yamamoto (Chukyo Univ.) won with 153.10 points, followed by Tatsuya Tsuboi (Kobe Univ.) with 146.90 points and Sena Miyake (Kansai Univ.) with 145.53 points.

The women's seventh and eighth class competitions will be held tomorrow, August 7.

 

[KiraraChin]

Congrats Sota for winning Intercollegiate!
Nice to know he'll be competing at Kokutai too.

 

[surimi]

Thanks for your translations as always, Rainbow!
I think his words are very sensible and accurate; at Nationals FS, he did look to me a bit limp and without the killer instinct that he'd have needed. I think JNats is his little private monster he'll need to tackle and overcome, as JSF places so much importance on it.
I agree with Sota's assessment, and vote for 'strength' being Sota's motivational word for 2022.

Also, it seems he and Shoma recently got some sort of award for successful athletes of Aichi? https://twitter.com/Aka08104963/status/1480117736328302595

And last but not least, January 10 is Sota's birthday! He turns 22 today. May he have a great year ahead of him, with many pleasant surprises. And may he bring his long skating journey to new heights this year!
Twitter is full of warm messages for Sota right now, so let me just share this birthday video by one of his biggest fans: https://youtu.be/3LzEvaRYxpU

 

[KiraraChin]

Ooohhh I missed that, but happy belated Birthday, Sota!
Hope he managed to have a nice and relaxing day with his loved ones

 

[surimi]

Sota thanking people for their wishes, pictures and presents:

https://twitter.com/so_ta0110/status/1480489411146285056

I learned two new words from his post, 'irasuto' and 'honjitsu', hehe. I should know them by now, but I didn't
It made me happy to see foreigners congratulate Sota on Twitter in English, and draw him Sota is getting popular, so I hope he's started to enjoy his English classes (if he goes to uni, which I hope he'll resume in April).
Some of the Twitter stuff is really pretty - just look at this user's drawing which nailed his expression - https://twitter.com/judeltart/status/1480494883685154817/photo/1 - or at this gorgeous calligraphy https://twitter.com/kakigokoro/status/1480446223282810882/photo/1 !

 

[KiraraChin]

Beautiful watercolour artwork by Paoz celebrating Sota's birthday!

 

[surimi]

Sota got new skates from his usual brand, Jackson: https://www.instagram.com/p/CYlkC8lvILJ/?utm_source=ig_embed
He thanks the company so it could have been a present for his birthday?
It makes me happy every time I see Sota posting in English. :]
Finally, no more taped boots, hopefully ^ ^ I wonder if he can break these new ones in by Kokutai?

 

[KiraraChin]

I just saw this on my TL and simply had to share - full translation of Evgenia Medvedeva defending Sota from Yagudin and Grishin's nasty criticism after his Skate Canada free (clip includes Keegan and Jason too)

 

[surimi]

I just saw this on my TL and simply had to share - full translation of Evgenia Medvedeva defending Sota from Yagudin and Grishin's nasty criticism after his Skate Canada free (clip includes Keegan and Jason too)

So sweet of her! For some reason some middle-aged male commentators have issues with Sota, while female commentators don't... Either they're old-fashioned or jealous IMO.

I stumbled upon this jawdroppingly good painting of Sota today: https://twitter.com/mayukkkkkkk/status/1481961077940580361/photo/1 I first thought it was a photo!

Sota's upcoming activities: Kokutai starting January 23, and a week later, an online talkshow with his onsen friends Mitsuki, Kazuki and Taichiro

 

[surimi]

Here to wish Sota good luck tomorrow at Kokutai. He skates in the second group, and I guess I'll still be asleep when he performs. Wishing him the best. I am hoping Tokai club has figured out some remedy for Sota's nerves since Nationals.

 

[KiraraChin]

I saw on Twitter that Sota scored 89.34, congrats!

https://twitter.com/figure365/status/1485842132015353856

 

[surimi]

I was relieved that last year's SP didn't get to him. Well, he was coachless last year, and this year he has several coaches to support him.
Well done, Sota! I wasn't sure if he'd be able to skate a clean SP, now with Sena and Tatsuya hot on his heels, but he did it. Still, I will only be at peace if he holds it together in the free, which has been eluding him later in the season. Nagoya show was great of course, but it was just for fun.
Anyhow, I found this fan's collection of framed Sota pics cute: https://twitter.com/japaneseperson/status/1485789207234691074/photo/1 I thought I was a huge fan, but I admit to not having any photos in my room, so maybe I'm not as hardcore as I'd thought

Quadruple magazine apparently took the opportunity to promote the Onsen Club talkshow, now that Kazuki and Sota did very well: https://twitter.com/AxelQuadruple/status/1485809924923748353 I look forward to watching the other onsen boys in the Kokutai stream!

Sota unleashed his inner artist once again, and drew this cute pig for Yuhana on a T-shirt before she left for 4CC: https://twitter.com/nekodaifuku1/status/1484857494195544064/photo/1 The garment is full of supportive messages from her rinkmates (I guess both Chukyo and Howa?), no wonder it brought Yuhana luck in the FS. ^ ^

ETA - I found the SP posted on Youtube already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIYZW28QyZ0
And I have two questions...
- A. Why did Sota look so grave/a bit sad after the SP? (maybe because he really wanted to be at 4CC instead?),
- B. Why is he still wearing those taped boots? Does he tape any boots he has, and are these the new pair? Or does the new pair need longer to break in?

 

[surimi]

Here to wish Sota good luck today, and for him to have a clean-ish skate he's been hoping to have since Japan Open. He looked so dejected yesterday, being stuck at Kokutai, and with JSF being silent about spring events. I am hoping for Luxembourg for him (and Koshiro), if not Challenge Cup, no matter today's result, to get more WS points. A fan said that his Warsaw Cup was a harder field than the depleted 4CC, while he got fewer points for it. I very much agree, and feel the JSF could at least try and compensate so he gets an opportunity to get enough points to increase his chances for a GP next year.

 

[KiraraChin]

Sota unleashed his inner artist once again, and drew this cute pig for Yuhana on a T-shirt before she left for 4CC: https://twitter.com/nekodaifuku1/status/1484857494195544064/photo/1 The garment is full of supportive messages from her rinkmates (I guess both Chukyo and Howa?), no wonder it brought Yuhana luck in the FS. ^ ^

ETA - I found the SP posted on Youtube already. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIYZW28QyZ0
And I have two questions...
- A. Why did Sota look so grave/a bit sad after the SP? (maybe because he really wanted to be at 4CC instead?),
- B. Why is he still wearing those taped boots? Does he tape any boots he has, and are these the new pair? Or does the new pair need longer to break in?

OMG the pic drawing is so cute! Such a nice gesture, and Sota really has a knack for drawing!

Thanks for the video! Lovely skate, and I also enjoyed the camerawork, allowing us to see Sota's skate up close!
Wishing the best to Sota in the free!

I'm also curious about spring events

 

[surimi]

Sota won the free skate with a score of 241.59, won the men's event overall, and he and Kimichika won gold for Team Aichi. Congrats!
The protocols - https://www.jsfresults.com/National/2021-2022/fs_j/nationalfestival/data0105.pdf
And his FS - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eJ0Z_CbK3k
Like yesterday, he looks tense during the program (ouch, losing to Sumitada on StSq level), and disappointed afterwards. It can't have been easy for him to be the only elite Japanese boy stuck with a lower-level event, plus memories of last year's Kokutai must still be haunting him.
I think he was hoping to finally skate the FS clean, but he made some costly mistakes like twofooting his second quad, and popping his second axel. His PCS were higher than his tech, as they should be, but I'm sure he knows well that this is not a solid reliable base to try adding quad combos to. His clean Challenge Cup FS got a score higher by 20 points than the one he got here, which is closer to his Nationals program. He must be frustrated.
I love this program for him, but I wonder if his failure to skate it clean has become a bit of a mental block by now, and he doesn't feel comfortable in the program?
So, yeah, this is a meaningful victory, but, it is not yet a score to prove decisively that he's way better than Sena or Tatsuya (which he is, if he'd just trust himself on his jumps).
Tl;dr: I think Sota was so dejected because he knows deep down that he doesn't belong here, and I don't mean any disrespect to the other skaters. He is an elite skater and should be up there with the best, skating at GP and 4CC. But his insecurity/doubt/Nationals mental block prevent him from being where he really belongs. He longs to prove he is the same level as his friend Kazuki rather than the happy medium B team who are very good, but not competitive with the top level yet.

I still hope he'll get a spring competition, and one more chance to nail the FS. It worked for him in 2019, and it is quite possible it would work again. He just needs to trust himself, trust his team, get to work and train to win again, like he said he did in early 2019.

I wonder why he ditched the Ina Bauer in the choreo sequence. He also looked a bit out of breath here, so I hope his back is healthy.

 

[rRainbow]

Sota SP on at Kokutai:
Nikkan Sports report after Sota's SP:

Sota Yamamoto (22, Chukyo Univ., Aichi), who won the Japanese Intercollegiate Ice Championships for the first time on March 6, got off to a good start, leading the SP with 89.34 points, 16 points ahead of the second place, which gave him momentum for the final (free skate) on March 26.

Wearing a gray costume, he came out in 7th place. Just before the start, he watched Kimichika Wada, 21, his junior from the same university, perform.
He successfully executed the quadruple salchow at the beginning, and the triple axel, flip and lutz (?) in the middle part of his performance. After his performance, he was greeted by the applause of the Aichi Prefectural team members who were cheering him on at the rink side, and showed a relieved smile.

Last year, he experienced the disappointment in his hometown, where he made a series of mistakes in SP, and started 18th with 43.38 points. In the free skate, he came back in 2nd place, but finished in 8th place. He talked about it, saying, "This is the first time I've felt like quitting in the middle of a competition...".

He will show his growth in the free skate on the 26th.

Nikkan Sports on Sota's FS:

Sota Yamamoto (22, Chukyo University, Aichi, Japan), who won the Japan Intercollegiate Athletic Championships (Inkare) on March 6, won the championships with a complete victory.

After the short program (SP), he scored 152.25 points in the free skate, and his total score was 241.59 points, 27 points ahead of the second place. In the beginning, he landed a quadruple salchow without any problem, but the following quadruple toeloop was under-rotated. In the second half of the competition, he kept his composure and delivered a series of combination jumps. "It was good that I did three combinations, and I was able to do them calmly," he said modestly.

In last year's competition, which was held in her hometown, he was not able to show his true potential and finished 8th. "Last year's Kokutai was when I was going through a difficult time mentally," he said. "but I was able to show how much I have grown over the past year. I was able to redeem myself," he said firmly.

Yamamoto also won the Aichi prefectural championships with his college junior, Kiichika Wada, 21. "I'm happy to have won with Kimichika," he said with a smile.

Sumitada Moriguchi (20=Doshisha Univ., Kyoto) was 2nd with 214.30 points, Mitsuki Sumoto (20=Kansai Univ., Osaka) was 3rd with 205.49 points, Kosho Oshima (18=Meiji Univ., Saitama) was 4th with 204.86 points, Taichiro Yamakuma (21=Meiji Univ., Hyogo) was 5th with 200.75 points, and Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda (19=Doshisha Univ., Shiga) was 6th with 197.56 points.