OSAKA, Japan (AP) — Three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto performed a near-flawless free skate on Saturday to defend her title in what she says will be her final NHK Trophy.
Sakamoto said in June she will retire from competition after next year’s Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and was determined to put in a stirring performance at her home Grand Prix.
Skating to a selection of music from Edith Piaf, Sakamoto landed seven triple jumps to score a Grand Prix season-high score among all competitors of 227.18.
“It was a great experience for me to be able to perform in my home town,” said Sakamoto. “This was an international competition close to my local fans and I feel great I was able to put in such a strong performance.”
Combined with her second place finish at the Grand Prix de France, Sakamoto secured a slot in the Dec. 4-7 Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan.
Teenager Sofia Samodelkina of Kazakhstan, making her Grand Prix debut, was second with 200 points followed by Loena Hendrickx of Belgium.
Skating to “La Alegria,” 2024 European Champion Loena Hendrickx landed six triple jumps cleanly to earn a total of 198.97 points.
Hendrickx returned to the Grand Prix series after sitting out the past season due to surgery to repair her right ankle in February.
Hendrickx qualified for the Olympics by finishing third at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating qualifier in September.
After winning three consecutive world championships through 2024, Sakamoto finished second at this year’s worlds in Boston in March.
The 25-year-old won the women’s singles bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
Sakamoto finished second behind 17-year-old compatriot Ami Nakai at the season-opening Grand Prix de France last month and came to her home Grand Prix aiming to regain her dominance.
Japan’s best hope for a medal at the Olympics, Sakamoto will have to contend with Russian figure skater Adeliia Petrosian in Italy.
The International Skating Union has decided to allow Russians to compete in Milan-Cortina as neutrals but only in the men’s and women’s competitions.
The 18-year-old Petrosian has won two straight national titles and is unbeaten over the past two seasons, winning eight straight domestic events. Petrosian has landed triple axels and quads in competition while no other woman has done so consistently this year.
Kagiyama overcomes early mistake
In the men’s singles, 2022 Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama overcame an early mistake to win his third straight NHK Trophy.
First after the short program, Kagiyama fell on his quadruple toe loop but landed all his other jumps to finish with an overall score of 287.24
Kagiyama’s Japanese compatriot Shun Sato, who won the Cup of China last month, landed three flawless quad jumps on his way to a personal-best of 189.04 in the free skate for a total of 285.71.
With Saturday’s result, Sato confirmed a spot in next month’s GP Final in Nagoya, Japan.
Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland took the bronze medal with 246.94 points.
Kagiyama was skating in his first Grand Prix of the season and is hoping to carry the momentum to the Grand Prix final in December and the Winter Olympics next year.
“I had a mistake early on but was able to recover after that. This was far from perfect but I did the best I was able to do today,” said Kagiyama, who will take part in the Nov. 21-23 Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy.
British duo take ice dance gold
World bronze medalists Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain won the ice dance gold medal with an overall score of 205.88 to qualify for the Grand Prix Final.
Three-time European Champions Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbari of Italy earned the silver medal while 2022 Four Continents champions Caroline Green and Michael Parsons of the United States took the bronze.
Fear and Gibson impressed the judges and the Japanese fans with their Scottish dance routine in tartan costumes that featured spectacular lifts and intricate footwork.
“We’re just very proud of our performances because we put a lot of work in a short amount of time between France and here, and it really showed up in competition, which is one of the most gratifying feelings,” Fear said.
In pairs, the Italian duo of Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii upstaged 2022 Olympic champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China to take the gold medal.
Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko of Hungary earned the silver medal while Sui and Han, who were first after the short program, had to settle for bronze.
Shibutani siblings finish sixth in return
After a disappointing result in their comeback bid, US ice dancers Alex and Maia Shibutani said qualifying for next year’s Winter Olympics was not the main reason for their return to competitive skating.
In their return to the ice after a seven-year hiatus, the sibling duo finished in sixth place in ice dancing at the NHK Trophy.
“We’re disappointed with the scores, for sure,” Alex said. “We’ve been in this sport for a long time so we’ll have to look at the protocols but we know what we did and what we came here to do.”
Once the dominant US ice dancers, the Shibutanis last competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang where they won bronze medals in both ice dancing and the team event.
They are three-time World medalists and two-time US champions.
They announced in May they are making a comeback before a video of Alex berating his sister in practice was leaked on social media in the build up to their return to the ice last month, which the siblings played down on Friday.
While they would love nothing more than to represent their country at the Milan-Cortina Games, the Shibutanis said it wasn’t the main motivating factor for their return.
“Our timing in our return is separate from what the timeline of the sport is,” Maia Shibutani said. “It’s truly about where we thought we were at in our lives, our ability to show up as athletes and people, that’s what inspired our return.”
“We’ve competed at two Olympics before, we loved those experiences, we know what it takes to compete at the highest level and we are fortunate to have done so,” Alex said. “When we ventured out on this journey there were goals but the goals and the instincts to return were less about the results, placement or any particular competition.”
The 34-year-old Alex and the 31-year-old Maia have skated together most of their lives.
The Shibutanis stepped away from skating after Pyeongchang to focus on school and other interests. They extended their hiatus when Maia was diagnosed with a malignant tumor on her kidney in 2019. She underwent surgery to remove the mass, and additional treatment resulted in a successful but long and painful recovery.
The Shibutanis are next scheduled to compete at the Nov. 21-23 Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy.
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AP Winter Olympics at https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Jim Armstrong, The Associated Press
