sport.wikisort.org - Athlete

Shun Sato (佐藤 駿, Satō Shun, born February 6, 2004) is a Japanese figure skater. He is the 2020 Bavarian Open champion, the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a two-time Japan Junior national silver medalist. He is the former junior world record holder for the men's free skating and combined total score.

Shun Sato
Sato at 2019 JGP United States
Personal information
Native name	佐藤 駿
Country represented	Japan
Born	(2004-02-06) February 6, 2004 (age 18) Sendai, Japan
Home town	Saitama, Japan
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Coach	Keiko Asano Tadao Kusaka Takahito Mura
Choreographer	Yuka Sato Kenji Miyamoto
Former choreographer	Masahiro Kawagoe Misao Sato Benoît Richaud
Skating club	Meiji University
Former skating club	Saitama Sakae High School Fuji Corporation
Training locations	Saitama, Japan
Former training locations	Sendai, Japan
Began skating	2009
World standing	25 (2021–22)[1] 37 (2020–21) 54 (2019–20)
Season's bests	13 (2019–20)[2]
ISU personal best scores
Combined total	264.99 2021 Internationaux de France
Short program	87.82 2021 Internationaux de France
Free skate	177.86 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final
Medal record Representing  Japan Junior Grand Prix Final 2019–20 Turin Men's singles

Personal life

Sato was born on February 6, 2004, in Sendai, Japan.[3]

His favorite animals are pandas.[4] Sato's figure skating idol is fellow Sendai native Yuzuru Hanyu, who gave him an amulet when Sato was five years old.[4]

Career

Early career

Sato began skating in 2009.[3] He is a four-time Japanese national novice champion and the 2018–19 Japanese national junior silver medalist. On the junior level, Sato is also the 2018 Bavarian Open silver medalist and the 2019 International Challenge Cup champion.

As the four-time Japanese national novice champion, Sato was invited to skate in the gala at the 2015 NHK Trophy, 2016 NHK Trophy and 2017 World Team Trophy. He was also invited to skate in the gala at the 2019 World Championships as the silver medalist in 2018 Japanese junior nationals.

2019–2020 season: Junior international debut and Junior Grand Prix Final title

Sato won the gold medal in his Junior Grand Prix debut at 2019 JGP United States, ahead of reigning JGP Final champion Stephen Gogolev of Canada.[5] He then won bronze at 2019 JGP Croatia. Sato's results qualified him to the 2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final. At the JGP Final, he set new junior world records for the free skating and the combined score en route to winning the gold medal, ahead of Russians Andrei Mozalev and Daniil Samsonov.[4] He remarked "I was surprised that I could win here."[6]

Sato won the silver medal at the 2019–20 Japan Junior Championships, behind Yuma Kagiyama and ahead of Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda.[7] As a result, he was invited to compete in the senior division at the 2019–20 Japan Championships, alongside the rest of the top six finishers in the junior division. Sato placed fifth in the senior event and was named to the team for the 2020 World Junior Championships with Kagiyama, and placed sixth there.[8]

2020–2021 season: Senior debut

Competing domestically, Sato won the silver medal at the Kanto Regional championship and then the gold medal at Eastern Sectional championship, thus qualifying a berth at the national championship.[9] Making his Grand Prix debut at the 2020 NHK Trophy, Sato placed fifth.[10] He was fifth as well at the 2020–21 Japan Championships.[11]

2021–2022 season

Sato started the season competing at 2021 Japan Open where he placed second in the men's free program after landing four quadruple jumps for the first time and won the gold medal with his teammates. He was then assigned to participate in the 2021 Asian Open Trophy which served as a test event for the 2022 Winter Olympics where he won a silver medal with unofficial personal bests in the short program and total score.[12]

At his first Grand Prix event, 2021 Skate America, Sato dislocated his left acromioclavicular joint on a fall during practice. He thought about withdrawing but despite severe pain, he decided to compete with the help of painkillers and without changing his planned programs' layout. He placed fifth in the short program with a new personal best (80.52) and fourth in the free skate and overall.[13][14][15] At this second event, the 2021 Internationaux de France, Sato was fourth in the short program and third in the free skate, taking the silver medal overall, his first on the Grand Prix.[16] Reflecting on his performance, he said that he was "really happy to be on the podium for the first time, but I need to catch up to Yuma so I will work hard."[17]

At the 2021–22 Japan Championships, Sato finished in seventh place. He was assigned to compete at the 2022 World Junior Championships.[18] He subsequently declined to compete in the World Junior Championships due to his left shoulder injury and was replaced by Lucas Tsuyoshi Honda.[19]

2022–2023 season

Sato was assigned to the MK John Wilson Trophy and the Grand Prix of Espoo.

World records and achievements

Junior world record scores

Sato is the former junior world record holder for the free skating and total score.

• FS – Free skating

World records in the junior men's singles free skating, and combined total score

No.	Date	Score	Seg.	Event	Place	Note
1	December 7, 2019	177.86	FS	2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final	Turin	Surpassed by Ilia Malinin at the 2022 World Junior Championships
2		255.11	Total

Programs

Season	Short program	Free skating	Exhibition
2022-2023 [20]	Carol of the Bells performed by Lindsey Stirling choreo. by Yuka Sato	The Red Violin by John Corigliano choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto	Flower Dance by DJ Okawari
2021–2022 [21]	The Four Seasons: Summer by Antonio Vivaldi choreo. by Yuka Sato	The Point of No Return Masquerade (from The Phantom of the Opera) by Andrew Lloyd Webber Phantasia by Julian Lloyd Webber, Geoffrey Alexander choreo. by Kenji Miyamoto
2020–2021 [22]	Pirates of the Caribbean: Davy Jones & Imperial March performed by Samuel Kim Pirates of the Caribbean performed by Peter Bence To the Pirate's Cave/Skull and Crossbones performed by City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra choreo. by Benoît Richaud	Battle of the Kings House of Cards Danuvius Guardians at the Gate by audiomachine choreo. by Benoît Richaud	Headlight by MONKEY MAJIK choreo. by Keiko Asano
2019–2020 [23]	Arrivée des Camionneurs (from The Young Girls of Rochefort) by Michel Legrand choreo. by Misao Sato	Romeo and Juliet by Nino Rota choreo. by Masahiro Kawagoe	Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence) by Ryuichi Sakamoto choreo. by Masahiro Kawagoe
2018–2019 [24]	Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence) by Ryuichi Sakamoto choreo. by Masahiro Kawagoe	Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona choreo. by Misao Sato	Flower Dance by DJ Okawari
2017–2018 [25]	New York, New York by John Kander	Piano Concerto by Edvard Grieg

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series, JGP: Junior Grand Prix

International[12]
Event	13–14	14–15	15–16	16–17	17–18	18–19	19–20	20–21	21–22	22–23
GP Finland										TBD
GP France									2nd
GP NHK Trophy								5th
GP Skate America									4th
GP Wilson Trophy										3rd
CS Asian Open									2nd
Universiade										TBD
Bavarian Open							1st
International: Junior[12]
Junior Worlds							6th		WD
JGP Final							1st
JGP Croatia							3rd
JGP USA							1st
Challenge Cup						1st
Bavarian Open					2nd
International: Advanced novice[26]
Asian Trophy				1st
Bavarian Open				3rd
Gardena Trophy		2nd
National[12]
Japan Champ.					16th	12th	5th	5th	7th
Japan Junior			15th	15th	6th	2nd	2nd
Japan Novice	1st B	1st B	1st A	1st A
Team events
Japan Open									1st T 2nd P
TBD = Assigned; WD = Withdrew T = Team result; P = Personal result. Medals awarded for team results only.

Detailed results

Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

Senior level

2022–23 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
January 12–22, 2023	2023 Winter World University Games			TBD
November 25–27, 2022	2022 Grand Prix of Espoo			TBD
November 11–13, 2022	2022 MK John Wilson Trophy	4 82.68	3 166.35	3 249.03
2021–22 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
December 22–26, 2021	2021–22 Japan Championships	8 87.27	6 164.86	7 252.13
November 19–21, 2021	2021 Internationaux de France	4 87.82	3 177.17	2 264.99
October 22–24, 2021	2021 Skate America	5 80.52	4 166.53	4 247.05
October 13–17, 2021	2021 CS Asian Open Trophy	2 90.77	2 165.39	2 256.16
October 3, 2021	2021 Japan Open	–	2 179.32	1T
2020–21 season
Date	Event	SP	FS	Total
December 24–27, 2020	2020–21 Japan Championships	5 83.31	6 153.21	5 236.52
November 27–29, 2020	2020 NHK Trophy	7 72.04	4 142.71	5 214.75

Junior level

2019–20 season
Date	Event	Level	SP	FS	Total
March 2–8, 2020	2020 World Junior Championships	Junior	5 79.30	6 142.32	6 221.62
February 3–9, 2020	2020 Bavarian Open	Senior	1 82.18	1 160.13	1 242.31
December 18–22, 2019	2019–20 Japan Championships	Senior	3 82.68	6 163.82	5 246.50
December 5–8, 2019	2019–20 Junior Grand Prix Final	Junior	3 77.25	1 177.86	1 255.11
November 15–17, 2019	2019–20 Japan Junior Championships	Junior	3 74.19	2 139.01	2 213.20
September 25–28, 2019	2019 JGP Croatia	Junior	4 78.41	4 141.28	3 219.69
August 28–31, 2019	2019 JGP United States	Junior	1 79.19	1 137.93	1 217.12
2018–19 season
Date	Event	Level	SP	FS	Total
February 21–24, 2019	International Challenge Cup	Junior	1 71.17	1 128.67	1 199.84
December 20–24, 2018	2018–19 Japan Championships	Senior	16 64.89	9 140.06	12 204.95
November 23–25, 2018	2018–19 Japan Junior Championships	Junior	6 66.01	1 156.29	2 222.30
2017–18 season
January 26–31, 2018	2018 Bavarian Open	Junior	1 63.71	3 119.63	2 183.34
December 20–24, 2017	2017–18 Japan Championships	Senior	20 57.77	16 127.75	6 185.52
November 24–26, 2017	2017–18 Japan Junior Championships	Junior	11 59.64	6 120.56	6 180.20

References

External links

• Shun Sato at the International Skating Union
• Shun Sato | IMG (Japanese)

World Junior Record Holders
Preceded by Daniil Samsonov	Men's Junior Free Skating December 7, 2019 – April 16, 2022	Succeeded by Ilia Malinin
Preceded by Daniil Samsonov	Men's Junior Total Score December 7, 2019 – April 16, 2022	Succeeded by Ilia Malinin

---