ISU GP Cup of China 2024: Sato Shun rides season's best score to lead men after short program
The Japanese skater missed out on a personal best score only by virtue of a time violation penalty after an otherwise-clean skate. Mikhail Shaidorov sits second with Adam Siao Him Fa third.
Figure Skating
Sato Shun came within seconds, literally, of setting a new personal best short program score on Friday (22 November) to lead the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China 2024 in Chongqing – but the Japanese missed out thanks to a time violation penalty.
The 20-year-old produced a magnificent routine set to Ladies in Lavender by Joshua Bell, landing all three of his jumping elements – a quadruple Lutz, quad toeloop-triple toeloop combination, and triple Axel – with ease and achieving level fours on all of his spins to go with a level two step sequence.
However, when his 98.75 score flashed up on screen, both he and his coach immediately pointed to the one-point deduction showing on his score for going over time. If not for the penalty, Sato would have broken his previous personal best of 99.20, set at last season's Four Continents Championships earlier in February 2024.
That said, it was still a season's best score for the Japanese skater, whose opening Lutz was breathtaking.
He sits more than five points clear of Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov, who appears on track for back-to-back podium finishes at the Cup of China after winning bronze last season.
Shaidorov, like Sato, opened with a strong quad Lutz, except his was in combination with a triple toeloop. Performing to the Dune soundtrack – a popular choice among skaters this year – the Kazakh nailed all his technical elements, but a weaker choreoghraphy and artistry score means he sits more than five-and-a-half points off the pace on 93.21.
That said, the 20-year-old looked pleased with his score in the kiss and cry afterwards, and is marking himself out as a real potential challenger in the years to come if he can add program components points.
France's Adam Siao Him Fa (91.22) sits third after falling on his quadruple toeloop, the same jump on which he also fell at his other Grand Prix event of the season in France. The two-time European champion thrilled the crowds with his mid-routine backflip, an element newly unbanned by the ISU for use in competitive routines, but could not make up the points from his fall – a difference which might have seen him overtake Sato at the top.
Jin Boyang was the best-placed of the home Chinese skaters in sixth on 83.66 points, with an under-rotation call on the end of his triple Lutz-triple toe combination preventing the now-veteran 27-year-old from placing higher.
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In pairs, Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolò Macii took a big step towards clinching their first Grand Prix victory, opening up a four-point lead on Germany's Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nikita Volodin after the short program.
Conti and Macii, skating to the ever-popular Carmen suite by Georges Bizet, have finished on the podium seven times at Grand Prix and Grand Prix Final events without a win, but on Friday completed a relatively clean skate to soar out ahead of three-time Grand Prix and reigning Grand Prix Final winners Hase / Volodin, who were hampered by an unexpected fall for Volodin on their step sequence.
The Italians scored 72.43, with Hase and Volodin back on 68.44. Canada's Lia Pereira / Trennt Michaud are third on 66.90 points.
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Cup of China 2024 results
Men's short program
- Sato Shun (JPN) 98.75
- Mikhail Shaidorov (KAZ) 93.21
- Adam Siao Him Fa (FRA) 91.22
- Nika Egadze (GEO) 87.73
- Matteo Rizzo (ITA) 84.92
- Jin Boyang (CHN) 83.66
- Dai Daiwei (CHN) 82.96
- Chen Yudong (CHN) 77.73
- Deniss Vasiljevs (LAT) 75.75
- Nikolaj Memola (ITA) 68.87
- Kim Hyungyeom (KOR) 67.76
Wesley Chiu (CAN) WD
Pairs short program
- Sara Conti / Niccolò Macii (ITA) 72.43
- Minerva Fabienne Hase / Nikita Volodin (GER) 68.44
- Lia Pereira / Trennt Michaud (CAN) 66.90
- Ioulia Chtchetinina / Michal Wozniak (POL) 61.11
- Wang Yuchen / Zhu Lei (CHN) 55.14
- Camille Kovalev / Pavel Kovalev (FRA) 54.01
- Isabella Gamez / Aleksandr Korovin (PHI) 50.65
- Katie McBeath / Daniil Parkman (USA) 42.67