Left: Yuma Kagiyama of Japan reacts after competing in the men’s short program during the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series in Tokyo, Japan, November 8, 2024. Right: Kaori Sakamoto of Japan competes in the women’s short program during the Grand Prix of Figure Skating series in Tokyo, Japan, November 8, 2024.
12:24 JST, Nov 9, 2024
TOKYO (AP) — Defending champion Yuma Kagiyama performed a near-flawless routine Friday to lead a Japanese sweep in the men’s short figure skating program at the NHK Trophy.
Skating to “The Sound of Silence,” Kagiyama scored an effortless quadruple salchow on his opening jump, followed by a quad-toeloop-triple-toeloop combination.
The 2022 Olympic silver medalist added a triple axel to finish with a season-best of 105.70 points.
“I tried to match the score I achieved at the Olympics but fell three points short,” the three-time silver medalist said. “Today’s performance went exactly as planned from start to finish.”
Kagiyama’s compatriot Kao Miura came second with a personal best of 102.96 points, while Tatsuya Tsuboi completed the host country’s top three with 85.02.
All three skaters did what they were supposed to do today, Kagiyama said. “Tatsuya had a great flow and we got great motivation. Kao really created momentum and I had to do well.
Andrew Torgashev of the United States came fourth with 84.36.
In the women’s short program, three-time and reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan finished first with a season-best of 78.93 points.
Sakamoto, who won gold at Skate Canada two weeks ago, opened with a double axel and also neatly landed a triple lutz and triple flip-triple toeloop combination.
I was very pleased with the lutz and it was highly rated, Sakamoto said. “I was able to concentrate well throughout the routine.”
Like the men’s short program, the women’s top three were also scrutinized by the host country.
Mone Chiba came second with 71.69, followed by Yuna Aoki with 69.78.
Alysa Liu of the United States, who is making a comeback, finished fourth with 65.03.
Liu started with a triple flip-triple toeloop combination and landed a double axel and a triple lutz later in her routine.
Two-time world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates from the United States were the first after the short ice dance program.
The US champions, who finished second at Skate America, collected levels four and three for their elements, resulting in a season’s best score of 86.32 points.
“We’ve made some really good strides since Skate America, especially with this program,” Bates said. “We put a lot of effort into improving it and changed some of the music and some of the choreography, which can be a challenge in the middle of the Grand Prix.”
Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko, also from the United States, came second with 79.64, followed by Allison Reed and Saulius Ambrulevicius from Lithuania with 77.91.
Skating in pairs to “Paint it Black,” world silver medalists Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan were first after the short program with 71.90 points.
Miura and Kihara completed a triple twist, throw triple lutz, but Miura landed forward on a triple toe that was demoted.
There was a mistake that we were able to recover from… that was very good for us, Miura said. “Our choreographer has changed and we felt we had to create something new.”
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia came second with 70.28, followed by Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea of the US with 69.15.
The NHK Trophy is the fourth event in the ISU’s Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series.
A total of 60 skaters and pairs represent 16 countries in men’s-women’s, pairs’ and ice dancing competitions.
The next round of the GP Series is from November 15 to 17 during the Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland.
