Saitama –

Reigning men’s world champion Shoma Uno showed Saitama Super Arena that he’s ready to defend his title — even as one of figure skating’s brightest young stars gives chase.

The Beijing Olympic bronze medalist earned what was perhaps the fastest standing ovation of the night with his short program set to John Mayer’s “Gravity,” receiving a season-best 104.63 to take the lead in the men’s singles competition at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Were it not for a planned quad toeloop-triple toeloop that turned into a quad-double on the ice, it’s possible the 25-year-old could even have approached his personal-best 109.63, but he will have to settle for the driver’s seat heading into Saturday’s free skate.

“I didn’t have room to think about being the defending champion, but before I left the hotel today I saw them mention it on TV and realized, ‘that’s right, I am,’” Uno said. “But even after realizing that, I didn’t feel nervous at all.”

Uno’s performance represented a remarkable turnaround from his pre-competition media appearance, when he expressed frustration over his form in recent weeks. A fall in the practice rink on Wednesday raised further concerns among his fans, but the Nagoya native reduced those fears in practice on Thursday and erased them entirely when he opened his program with a vivid quad flip.

“I had many people worry about me but they really gave me a lot of support,” Uno said. “I felt sorry that I wasn’t in my best shape, but I told myself to focus on doing my very best.

“I was able to jump better compared to today’s practice, and even if I’m not in my best condition I want to focus on details other than my jumps as well.”

Catching up to Uno will be a tough proposition in front of a partisan home crowd, but reigning U.S. champion Ilia Malinin declared that to be his intent after ending Thursday in second place.

Skating at the world championships for a second time following his 2022 debut in Montpellier, France, the 18-year-old wowed the crowd with his short program to “I’ll Put a Spell on You,” earning what he described as a “surprising” career-best 100.38 to place himself firmly in contention for a podium finish.

“It feels so good to me — I really love to travel to Japan, the fans are all into figure skating, so that’s another thing that helped me, gave me the motivation and the energy to really want to deliver and give them a performance they’d enjoy,” he said. “I have no words to describe what I’m feeling right now, I’m just shocked.”

Malinin promised he would live up to his “QuadGod” nickname and bring his quad axel, which no other skater has landed in competition, to Saitama for Saturday’s free skate.

“I’m very looking forward to (the quad axel), I’ve been practicing it over the last couple weeks and it’s been really solid,” he said. “I’m hoping to feel some good energy and (I’m) ready to deliver it in the long program.”

South Korea’s Cha Jun-hwan (99.64), Canada’s Keegan Messing (98.75), France’s Kevin Aymoz (95.56) and American Jason Brown (94.17), all world championship veterans, will join Uno and Malinin in the final group on Saturday night.

Japan’s Kazuki Tomono placed just outside the top six after scoring 92.68 with his “Happy Jazz” program, landing his quad toeloop-triple toeloop but falling on the ensuing quad salchow.

Despite struggling with his jumps, world championships debutant Sota Yamamoto also qualified for Saturday’s long program, earning 75.48 with his skate to “Yesterday” and ending the night in 17th.

Earlier Thursday afternoon, Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara captured Japan’s first-ever gold in the pairs competition to complete an international Grand Slam.

A strong long program by current women’s singles champion Kaori Sakamoto on Friday — followed by a successful free skate by Uno on Saturday — could see Japan hold three world titles for the first time in history.