ISU Grand Prix Final 2024: Japanese women look to clean up in Grenoble
Only USA's Amber Glenn stands in the way of Japan's podium sweep in women's singles at the 5-8 December Final in France. Can the formidable Japanese line-up be stopped?
Figure Skating
The Grand Prix Final? It’s looking more like a preview of the Japanese nationals.
With the Cup of China in the rearview mirror, the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating is headed for its climax at the 5-8 December Final in Grenoble, France.
Hardly a spoiler alert but odds are at least two Japanese skaters will win medals in the women’s singles competition. The sport’s powerhouse is fielding five of the six finalists, the most ever from one country at a single Grand Prix Final.
“It’s really frightening,” defending champion Sakamoto Kaori said with one of her hearty laughs about the Japanese women’s strength in numbers this season after leading an NHK Trophy podium sweep. Compatriots Chiba Mone and Aoki Yuna were also among the top three.
After a post-Beijing 2022 funk, Higuchi Wakaba is letting it roar again.
Medals, medals, medals for Japan
Japan won a mind-boggling 13 out of 18 medals on offer at the six stops on the Grand Prix circuit this season. This included two sweeps, at Skate Canada International and the NHK Trophy.
Beijing 2022 silver and bronze medallist Sakamoto – who finally won her first GP Final last season in Beijing, People's Republic of China – will represent Japan in Grenoble together with Chiba, Wakaba Higuchi, Yoshida Hana and Matsuike Rino. The only non-Japanese in the field is Amber Glenn from the United States, who won the Grand Prix de France and the Cup of China.
For the first time in history, no European female will skate in the singles competition of the GP Final. Italy’s Lara Naki Gutmann, who grabbed bronze at the Finlandia Trophy, was the highest-placed from the continent, sitting at 10th in the overall standings.
Gutmann, Glenn and her USA compatriot Isabeau Levito, as well as Kim Chaeyeon of the Republic of Korea formed the small group of non-Japanese medallists this season.
Even two of the three substitutes for the GP Final are Japanese (Watanabe Rinka, Sumiyoshi Rion). To say the country is stacked would be an understatement.
While Glenn joins Sakamoto as the only skaters to win twice in the 2024-25 season, another one-two-three by Japan is very much a possibility in Grenoble.
Sakamoto Kaori: "Japan's amazing"
Sakamoto will be looking to become the first back-to-back GP Final winner since Evgenia Medvedeva achieved this feat in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and only the second female from Japan to pull it off after Asada Mao in 2012-13 and 2013-14.
The two-time Olympic medallist will be the favourite in Grenoble, but any one of the remaining four Japanese could accompany her on the podium.
Beijing 2022 Olympian Higuchi appears to have successfully come back from her post-Games funk that involved a stress fracture to her right shin. She qualified for her first GP Final since 2017 thanks to winning Skate America – her maiden career Grand Prix victory – and a second-place finish at the Grand Prix de France.
Higuchi finished fourth behind Sakamoto in Beijing where the two of them helped Japan to silver in the team event. With her experience and ability to thrill the crowd, Higuchi looks to be the second best medal bet after her good friend and three-time world champion.
That is not to say the other three won’t turn some heads. Yoshida – bronze at last year’s GP Final – Chiba and Matsuike are emerging as strong contenders for Milano Cortina 2026 quotas. The Olympics are still more than 400 days away but the battle at the nationals for one of Japan’s three places at the Games will undoubtedly be fierce.
Sakamoto, though, is anything but nervous as a battle royale unfolds among her countrywomen. She believes the increasing competition can only be a good thing for the future of Japanese figure skating.
“I couldn’t be happier about it. It’s incredible,” she said. “I thought to myself, wow, Japan’s amazing.
“Each and every skater, even the ones in the juniors, is pouring her heart into it. All the training off the ice and what not, there are so many who are devoted to skating.
“There’s a lot I can learn from them, too. We’re all feeding off each other and I can only hope this continues.”