Sakamoto dominates short program at her last NHK Trophy

OSAKA, Japan (AP) – Three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto dominated the short program on Friday, putting herself in prime position to defend her title at 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.

Skating to “Time to Say Goodbye,” Sakamoto landed a triple lutz, a double axel and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination on her way to a season-best score of 77.05, almost 10 points ahead of Sofia Samodelkina of Kazakhstan who was second with 67.75.

South Korea’s You Young was third with 67.66.

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.

“I was a little nervous since arriving here but was able to put that behind me and skate a solid program,” Sakamoto said. “I completed all my jumps successfully and will look to continue that in the free skate tomorrow.”

Japan’s best hope for a medal at the Olympics, Sakamoto will have to contend with Russian figure skater Adeliia Petrosian in Italy. The 17-year-old Petrosian has won two straight national titles and is unbeaten over the past two seasons, winning eight straight domestic events.

She qualified for the Olympics by winning the gold medal at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating qualifier in Beijing in September.

The 2024 European Champion Loena Hendrickx returned to the Grand Prix series after sitting out the past season due to injury.

Hendrickx landed her first two jumps but fell on her third, a triple flip, and finished in fourth place with 62.45 points. Hendrickx qualified for the Olympics by finishing third at the ISU Skate to Milano Figure Skating qualifier.

Local favorite Yuma Kagiyama was first after the men’s short program.

The 2022 Olympic silver medalist landed a quad lutz at the start of his routine and added a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination before finishing with a triple axel for 98.58 points.

“I was pleased with all of my jumps, putting everything into them I was able to complete them successfully,” Kagiyama said. “But the mistakes on the spins and step are very regrettable.”

Kagiyama’s compatriot Shun Sato was second with 96.67 points followed by South Korea’s Cha Jun-hwan with 91.60.

In ice dance, world bronze medalists Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson of Great Britain received a season-best score of 81.57 points and were first after the rhythm dance followed by Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy.

Alex and Maia Shibutani of the United States, who are making a comeback after a seven-year absence, were sixth.

In pairs, 2022 Olympic champions Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China were first after the short program. Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy were second while Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko finished third.

Sui and Han delivered a strong short program to “Habanera” that featured a triple toe, triple twist and big throw triple flip. The two-time ISU World Champions set a new season’s best of 74.63 to take the lead.

“For me this is only the beginning,” Han said. “This is our second Grand Prix but we still feel it is new and fresh. We are just getting back to compete and we have a lot of work to do.”

The ISU Grand Prix Series consists of six international events in a cumulative point-scoring format.

Each athlete or team is eligible to score points in up to two of the six scheduled events. The top six point-earners in each discipline qualify for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final set for Dec. 4-7 in Nagoya, Japan.