Home hope Sakamoto Kaori soars to Japanese Grand Prix gold; world champions win in pairs, dance

Sakamoto Kaori saved the best for last.

As the women's singles event at NHK Trophy in Tokyo lost favourites Alexandra Trusova, Kihira Rika and Daria Usacheva due to injury, the PyeongChang 2018 Olympian held firm in the pole position, skating last in Saturday (13 November)'s free skate after having finished first in the short program - and delivered a memorable victory for the Japanese fans.

It's Sakamoto's second NHK Trophy in a row, but 2020's event was largely a domestic affair. It's arguably her biggest triumph since winning at Four Continents in 2018.

The 21-year-old scored a 223.34 total score at the fourth stop on figure skating's Grand Prix Series, comfortably winning over compatriot Kawabe Mana, 17, who impressed with the silver medal behind a 205.44.

The Republic of Korea's You Young (203.60) won her second consecutive Grand Prix bronze after taking third at Skate America, as well.

Both Sakamoto and You having a fighting chance to qualify for next month's Grand Prix Final, which welcomes the top six skaters and teams in each discipline.

The Internationaux de France is the next stop on the Grand Prix Series next weekend (19-20 Nov.) in Grenoble as the season unfolds ahead of the Winter Games Beijing 2022.

World champion teams claim statement wins in pairs, dance

Earlier, in the pairs event, it was a convincing win by reigning world champions Anastasia Mishina and Aleksandr Galliamov of Russia, who soared to a 14-point victory over compatriots Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov behind two strong performances.

Mishina/Galliamov earned a 148.88 for their free skate to total 227.28, the highest of any pairs team this season.

Meanwhile, Japan's Miura Riku and Kihara Ryuichi continued their strong case for the Grand Prix Final in Osaka next month with a bronze medal finish, their second Grand Prix podium having won silver behind Tarasova/Morozov at Skate America.

In ice dance, another team of reigning world champions from Russia claimed gold, with Victoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov competing for the first time this season and showing no signs of rust, registering a 215.44 for a comfortable triumph.

An unexpected fall to open the free dance for two-time world medallists Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the U.S. gave them little hope for the title as they settled for silver with a 210.78.

Great Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson claimed bronze with a 191.91.

MORE: Uno Shoma breaks 100-point mark to lead after men's short

Sakamoto: 'My goal was to skate clean'

While Trusova and Kihira withdrew before the event began, Usacheva was injured in Friday's short program warm-up, clearly positioning Sakamoto, who was sixth at the Games in 2018, as the favourite.

She delivered as such, winning the short program by three points and looking comfortable as the last to skate in the final group, a position packed with pressure. She hit seven triple jumps and also wooed the judges on the component mark (71.83), outscoring the field by 18 points in total.

"My goal for the weekend was to skate clean through both the short and the free," Sakamoto said. "I put in a lot of work since Skate America. To accomplish what I set out to do makes me happy. As always, I was super nervous. I’m glad I hung on until the end. The [Grand Prix] Final is part of Olympic qualifying [for Japan] and I want to go into it in the best form possible. I’m improving my personal bests little by little so I want to keep this up."

Kawabe was a late-stage replacement for Kihira, and though she fell on an opening triple Axel, she delivered an otherwise stellar free skate, holding on for silver.

"I had an unbelievable short programm but because of it I was really nervous today, wanting to do well," she admitted. "I’m happy to have finished second in a big competition like this. I need to work harder though if I want to stay competitve."

American Alysa Liu landed her triple Axel to start the free, which was the third-best among the women. She finished just behind the Lausanne 2020 Youth Olympics champion You, however, overall, 0.7 points off the podium with a 202.90.

Korea's Lim Eun-soo finished fifth.

Pairs: Mishina/ Galliamov stake early-season claim

With all the top pairs teams now having skated in at least one Grand Prix this season, the reigning world champions made it clear in Tokyo: They are not resting on their laurels.

Mishina/Galliamov followed their strong short program Friday (12 November) with a mature and measured performance of their Georgi Sviridov medley free skate, opening with a side-by-side triple Salchow-Euler-triple Salchow combination that helps set them apart and then soared from strength to strength thereafter.

A hand down for Mishina's throw triple loop landing towards the end of the skate was their lone error in a program that was awarded with the highest technical as well as program component scores.

"We think [our Olympic season] is going well, we are taking it step by step," said Mishina, 20, after the win. "We were not at our best in the free but overall. ... We are not robots so we cannot be perfect every time we compete. All we can do is try to reduce the margin of error which is something we work hard to do each and every day.

Added Galliamov, 22: "We are very grateful to have performed on this stage. We definitely feel like we can do better than this but we’ll take this result. We are happy."

The Grand Prix win comes after a gold medal performance at the ISU Challenger Finlandia Trophy last month, as well.

For Tarasova/Morozov, small errors slowed the flow of their free skate, Morozov doubling a planned triple toe-loop, then Tarasova needing to fight for landings on two consecutive throw jumps, a flip and loop. Their 213.27 was nine points lower than their winning 222.50 at Skate America last month.

Miura/ Kihara go two-from-two on Grand Prix this season

The joy was pure for Miura/Kihara, who backed up their silver medal from Skate America with a bronze here, potentially booking a spot at next month's Grand Prix Final - and doing so in front of a boisterous home crowd. Their "Woman" free skate was strong out of the gates, and only a double Salchow by Kihara and a hand down on the throw triple loop for Miura were noticeable errors.

"We were far from perfect in both the short and free so I never expected us to surpass [our personal best of] 208," said Miura, the steam scoring a career-high 209.42. She added: "A medal is nice but we think we can do better."

Team USA's Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc had a strong showing in Tokyo, a lone fall on a throw triple Salchow their only error in a career-best free skate as they finished fourth with a 202.79. American teammates Audrey Lu and Misha Mitrofanov rounded out the top five (190.03).

Dance: Sinitsina/ Katsalapov strong in season debut

Sinitsina and Katsalapov are at their first major competition since claiming the world title in early April in Stockholm, a back injury for Katsalapov preventing them from competing at a Challenger event prior to their Grand Prix assignment.

But they showed experienced skating in both programs, their Sergei Rachmaninov free dance drawing the audience in as they achieved Level 4s on their twizzle sequence and positive Grades of Execution (GOEs) throughout.

"Me and Vic today, we were trying to focus on ourselves," Katsalapov said in English. "This music, program and feelings are just between us but somewhere in the middle of all this we felt this freedom. We heard the support coming from the audience."

The reigning world champ said of the Olympic season: "[We will try to make it] the best season of our lives. We are trying to remember everything that has happened so far because it’s special - it’s the Olympic season."

Bates expressed frustration with his fluke fall, though the American team did well to recover in an otherwise seamless program.

"We've never really experienced something like that before and I think we responded well," Bates told reporters. "We were still able to put together a pretty good performance considering that early mishap. We’ll learn something from that type of performance, but, ultimately, there were still a lot of good things in the program despite the stumble in the beginning."

Fear/Gibson's bronze is a bounce back from Skate Canada two weeks ago, when the duo struggled and finished seventh. It's their second Grand Prix podium.

Spain's Sara Hurtado and Kirill Khaliavan finished in fourth place with a 188.09, while Canada's Marjorie Lajoie and Zach Lagha were fifth with a 187.38.

Muramoto/ Takahashi edge ahead in Japanese dance race

The battle for Japan's lone Olympic spot in ice dance added an intriguing chapter at NHK Trophy, as well. Muramoto Kana and Takahashi Daisuke, the Vancouver 2010 men's bronze medallist and a former world champion singles skater, finished well clear of Japanese compatriots Komatsubara Misato and Koleto Tim, the three-time and reigning national champions.

Muramoto and Takahashi, clearly better than they were a year ago, outscored their teammates 179.50 to 172.20, as the duos finished sixth and seventh respectively. The 179.50 is the highest-ever score by a Japanese ice dance team.

"We managed to get through without any huge mistakes," Takahashi, 35, said. "There was a fair amount of pressure on us. We still need to work on the finer points of our elements to pick up the points but I think we were able to show how far we’ve come since last year."

He added: "We can still be better on our lifts and the edge work. We just need to take care of things one at a time."

MORE: 'Chapter 2' for Olympic medallist Takahashi in ice dance