Japan’s Kagiyama and Sakamoto easily win the NHK Trophy

Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama defended his men’s NHK Trophy ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating title on Saturday, while his compatriot Kaori Sakamoto, a three-time world champion, won the women’s competition.

Kagiyama finished the competition with a total score of 300.09 points, well ahead of the Italian Daniel Grassl (264.85 points) in second place.

Things are also going well for Japan in figure skating in the free skate

The Beijing Winter Olympics silver medalist, who was in the lead after Friday’s short program, won the free skate at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium with 194.39 points despite falling on his first quadruple jump.

“I’m really frustrated,” Kagiyama said of his early mistake. “But I did other quadruple jumps as well as a (triple) flip-toe loop combination, so I’m happy with that.”

“The fact that I managed to regroup after the mistake is a testament to my mental development… I had scored 300 points for myself, but I didn’t achieve them as I had planned.” Next time I want to do it without mistakes.”

Grassl improved from fifth place in the short program to second place overall, while Japan’s Tatsuya Tsuboi finished third in both sections and secured his first podium finish of the event with 251.52 points.

Andrew Torgashev of the United States was fourth and Italy’s Matteo Rizzo was fifth, while Japan’s Kao Miura, second in the short program, opened with sixth place. His free skate, in which he came 11th in a field of 12 runners, caused him to fall far behind.

Sakamoto very calm before the final

Sakamoto, who won last season’s Grand Prix Final and her final Grand Prix meeting this season, finished the event with a total of 231.88 points, topping the Japanese women’s podium ahead of runner-up Mone Chiba and Yuna Aoki.

“I was unusually quiet tonight,” Sakamoto said. “But while I was doing my makeup, I was watching the men on my TV and screaming every time Tatsuya (Tsuboi) landed a foursome.”

“Mr. Aoki was in the dressing room next door, and afterwards she said I was very loud.”

In the pairs event, Japan’s Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara placed second in both the free skate and overall with a total score of 209.45. This meant they secured a place at the Grand Prix Final in France in December for the first time in two years.

Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia won with 213.05. Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea of ​​the United States were third with 197.44.