Yuma Kagiyama defends title at NHK Trophy and Kaori Sakamoto leads Japan sweep in women’s event

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama recovered from an early fall in his free skate Saturday to defend his NHK Trophy title.

The 2022 Olympic silver medalist fell during his first quadruple somersault, but quickly recovered with a clean quad-salchow and a quad-toeloop-triple-toeloop combination.

First after the short program, Kagiyama added another quad toeloop and three triple jumps to finish with 194.39 points for a total of 300.09.

Italian Daniel Grassl rose from fifth place with a strong free skate to finish second with 264.85 points, while Japan’s Tatsuya Tsuboi came third with 251.52 points.

“It was unfortunate to fall on the opening jump, but I was able to recover quickly and that is a testament to my growth,” said Kagiyama, who will compete in the Finlandia Trophy from November 15 to 17.

Andrew Torgashev of the United States came fourth with 246.58 points.

On the women’s side, three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto led a Japanese victory onto the podium with a thrilling performance in the free skate.

While skating to “All That Jazz,” Sakamoto completed seven triple jumps on his way to a season-record 152.95 points, for a total of 231.88.

Mone Chiba came second with 212.54, followed by compatriot Yuna Aoki with 195.07.

American teenager Alysa Liu, who is making a comeback, came fourth with 190.75 points.

Sakamoto also won Skate Canada two weeks ago, but came second in the free skate.

“It’s been two weeks since Skate Canada and I didn’t think I would be able to do so much (in the free skate),” Sakamoto said. “I was so nervous the last time in Canada and wanted to relax more this time.”

Two-time and reigning world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States performed a dominant free dance to win the ice dancing competition.

After Friday’s rhythm dance, the U.S. champions performed level-four spins and lifts on their way to 129.63 points for a total of 215.95.

Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, also of the United States, were second with 198.97 points, while Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius of Lithuania were third with 195.52.

With their first NHK Trophy title, Chock and Bates also secured a spot in the Grand Prix Final to be held in Grenoble, France from December 5 to 8.

After finishing second at Skate America, Chock and Bates decided to revamp their short program and the move paid off as they entered Saturday’s free dance with a commanding lead of 6.68 points.

Skating to “Round Midnight” and “Take Five,” the Americans opened with a level four rotating lift and closed with a curve lift and a difficult stationary lift.

“We were very pleased with today’s performance,” Bates said. “It felt very smooth, we really tried to get into the mood of the very sultry jazz-forward program.”

Caroline Green and Michael Parsons of the US finished fourth with 188.76. points.

In pairs, Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia finished first in the free skate, overtaking Japanese skaters Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara with 213.05 points.

Miura and Kihara, first after the short program, settled for second place with 209.45 points, while Ellie Kim and Danny O’Shea of ​​the US came third with 197.44.

The NHK Trophy is the fourth event in the ISU’s Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series.