Tomono Kazuki leads Rostelecom Cup after career-best short program

The Beijing 2022 Winter Games selection picture for Japanese men's figure skating just got a bit more complicated.

That after Tomono Kazuki added his name to a growing list of potential candidates with a stunning personal best skate to lead the men's short program at the Rostelecom Cup in Sochi, Russia on Friday (26 November).

Tomono was faultless on his jumping passes, including two quadruples, to land a total score of 95.81 points, beating his previous best from the 2020 Four Continents Championships by some seven points.

He joins compatriots Uno Shoma, Kagiyama Yuma, and Sato Shun in having shone so far this year – and there's also the unknown of Hanyu Yuzuru's health to add into the mix. Japan will select its Olympic skaters based on results at its national championships in December.

The Rostelecom Cup, being held at the Iceberg Skating Palace – a Sochi 2014 venue –, is the sixth and final regular-season stop on this year's ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Following this weekend, the top six skaters in each discipline will qualify for the Grand Prix Final in Osaka, Japan, in two weeks.

Trailing Tomono by barely half a point was Georgia's Morisi Kvitelashvili, who himself produced a career-best, while Canada's Roman Sadovsky completed a surprising top three as favourites Mikhail Kolyada, Evgeni Semenenko, and Matteo Rizzo struggled.

In ice dance, the world champions Victoria Sinisina and Nikita Katsalapov are more than seven points clear

Tomono and Kvitelashvili dazzle

You would be hard-pressed to believe Tomono had anything to complain about after his skate, but in the press conference, he revealed his high expectations of himself.

"My jumps were not that great. The toe loop was great, but the rest weren't," he said.

That after landing a quad toe-triple toe combination, a quad Salchow, and a triple Axel.

"I got very good score, so I am very happy about that. I was always aiming at 90 points or more. I have great hopes and I made great improvement from Italy [where he scored 83.91 and was sixth in the short program]. I feel very confident," Tomono added.

Georgia's Kvitelashvili, who trains in Moscow with the Sambo-70 Crystal school of Eteri Tutberidze, Sergei Dudakov, and Daniil Gleikhengauz, was less than a half-point behind in second place.

The 95.37 he received, too, was a personal best, beating his previous high score set in this competition in 2018.

The Georgian landed a quad Sal-triple toe, triple Axel, and quad toe, just about hanging on to the combination and the Axel that might have cost him the tenths he would've needed to lead.

Nevertheless, he projected calmness in the press conference.

"I had a decent skate. Good that everything worked out," he said. "In Canada, my short program didn't work out – probably I wanted it so much, and I couldn't relax. Here I managed to capture the right mood, emotions and it resulted in a good skate."

Sadovsky sits third on 84.59, just 0.11 ahead of pre-event favourite Kolyada, who fell during his routine.

Sinitsina / Katsalapov clear in dance

World champions Sinitsina and Katsalapov overcame ongoing injury issues to comfortably lead the ice dance event after Friday's rhythm dance.

Katsalapov hurt his back in training last month during a Russian Cup domestic event, leading to the team's withdrawal from that stage in Yoshkar-Ola.

However, the Russians did not look hindered by that in Sochi as they danced their way into the lead to set themselves up for a second Grand Prix win of the season, having also triumphed at the NHK Trophy.

Indeed, their score of 86.81 today was marginally higher than what they received in Tokyo two weeks ago.

"We are pleased with our performance, [but] still there is a lot of work to be done," Sinitsina said. "We are happy with [a] season's best, but it's not our best skate I think. We loved the atmosphere and mood in Sochi, everyone was so positive and very friendly."

When asked about his back issue, Katsalapov added: "Today the back was fine, yesterday too, and also in Japan it was okay.

"With the disc problem it can only be solved through surgery but also it's not guaranteed that the surgery will help. However, together with the doctors we found a solution to cure it without surgery. It means I have to put twice more work and have more practices, but it's okay."

Italy's Charlene Guignard / Marco Fabbri are in second on 79.56, trailing the home favourites by more than seven points.

They, too, are on the hunt for their second Grand Prix medal of the season to add to silver from the Skate Canada International.

Canadians Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj Sørensen are in third on 76.39.

The pair, who train at the Ice Academy of Montreal, are featured in the new Olympic Channel On Edge Series, following six of the world's top ice dance teams this Olympic season.

Speaking about working with Olympic champion Scott Moir, Sørensen said: "It's been a great pleasure.

"I think he straight away understands that working with mature athletes is more than just the coach's opinion, he really listens to us, and we are grateful to be working with him."