Yuma Kagiyama of Japan took won his third NHK Trophy title on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan. Teammate Tatsuya Tsuboi took the bronze—his first Grand Prix medal, while Italy’s Daniel Grassl rose from fifth to capture the silver.
The 2022 Olympic silver medalist was rock solid in his exceptional short program to “The Sound of Silence.” He landed a quad Salchow, quad toe-triple toe and triple Axel, all of which earned many positive grades of execution (GOE). All spins and footwork were graded a level four, and he scored a season’s best of 105.70 points for first place.
“For today’s performance, in a good context, there’s no bad context, but in a good context, from beginning to the end, it went just as practice,” said the 21-year-old. “And when I came to the venue, I’ve been in top form, so I’ve been able to train well.”
“The ice is quite different from what I’m used to in training,” added the defending champion. “But I was able to train as usual, so as a result, I was able to perform well on the ice today.”
When asked if he felt there could be a Japanese sweep like the women had at Skate Canada, Kagiyama said: “I think all three skaters did everything they needed to do today. From Tatsuya, he created a great flow, and we were given great encouragement from his skating. Kao was telling me, ‘create momentum for us,’ so I thought I needed to really do well. So, for tomorrow as well, it’s the same as today, from the beginning to the end. If we put 100% on the ice.”
The 2024 Four Continents champion took a fall on an underrotated quad flip in his free skate to a Spanish medley. The only other error came when he put a foot down on a quad toe in the second half of his program. Otherwise, he landed a solid quad Salchow, quad toe-triple toe and five more triple jumps. His fly camel spin and footwork were graded a level four, and he placed first in the free skate and overall (194.39/300.09).
“I know I had to go in believing in myself,” said Kagiyama. “Of course, at the beginning with the quad flip the timing of opening my body was a little bit off. That’s why I fell, but after that, I was able to regroup and have a very strong sense of confidence to skate through the whole thing. That‘s what I was looking to do from the beginning to the end with the confidence in myself.”
“I think it’s a testament to the growth I’ve been going through,” he continued. “The short program was wonderful, but the free, I think I have a lot of takeaways. I want to learn from them so that I can do better at Finlandia and know what challenges I must address from now on.”
He will compete next week at Finlandia Trophy.
The 2022 European silver medalist placed fifth in the short for his routine to “Nocturne in C-sharp minor.” He took a fluke fall in the beginning before underrotating a quad loop but recovered to land a triple Lutz-triple toe and triple Axel. All spins earned a level four, and he placed fifth with 83.01 points.
Skating to an Elton John medley, the four-time national champion landed a quad Lutz, quad loop, and quad Salchow out the gate. He had some tight landings on two triple Axel combinations and also underrotated the back end of a triple loop-triple toe but was otherwise solid. He picked up a level four on his footwork and change combination spin and scored a new season’s best of 181.84 for second place. With a total score of 264.85, he easily rose to the second spot of the podium.
The Italian, who was a substitute coming into this event, admitted to being surprised and wasn’t expecting to do so well despite the work he put in.
“I was very, very nervous before, but when I entered on the ice, I tried to think just do that what you work for,” said the 22-year-old. “I have started to get used to competing again and so it means a lot also because I just started training in July. It was very hard months of practice, but I am very happy that the practice helped me to earn this medal.”
Grassl will compete next week in Finland alongside Kagiyama again.
“It’s always nice to compete against Yuma, because we were competing in juniors a lot,” he said. “We did junior worlds together and few junior grand prix Finals and everything. He‘s one of my favorite skaters this season. Like his free program, I love it! I’m really looking forward to Finland and I always hope that I’m going to skate before Yuma so I can watch his programs after. He’s like an idol for me.”
Skating to “En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor” by Joaquin Rodrigo Vidre, the 2022 World Junior bronze medalist opened with a solid quad Salchow and triple Axel. The only error was an edge call on the front end of a triple Lutz-triple toe. All three spins garnered a level four, and he placed third in the short program with a personal best of 85.02 points.
“I only had one quad, but I think I did everything I could do at the present moment,” said the 21-year-old, who was both happy and surprised with his third placement. “The short program was a very good performance for me, but tomorrow is another different competition. So, I know I have to start from scratch and do what I can and do my best.”
The only major error Tsuboi made in his free skate was an underrotated triple Axel. The skater from Hyogo produced a quad Salchow-triple toe, quad Salchow and five more triple jumps. Two spins were graded a level four, and he earned a new personal best of 166.50 for his performance to I Pagliacci, placing third in the free skate and overall (251.52) in his solo event.
“I didn’t even think that I would end up third, but with this short program and free skating, I knew I had to do everything I could to put my best and my all into it,” said the 2023 World University Games silver medalist. “I think the day in and day out efforts I’ve been making have reached this fruition and result. Now, of course, this is my first podium in the Senior Grand Prix Series, so it’s been a great confidence booster. I know I have to continue to accumulate more through my training so that I can aim higher both in terms of points as well as placements.”
USA’s Andrew Torgashev landed a quad toe and triple Axel in his short to “L’Enfer” by Stromae. He turned out the front end of a triple flip-triple toe, but all spins were graded a level four, and the 23-year-old scored a new season’s best of 84.36 points.
The 2024 Grand Prix de France bronze medalist placed fifth in the free skate with 162.22 points and fourth overall (246.58). His routine to Scheherazade featured seven clean triple jumps. The only mistakes came when he underrotated his opening quad toe as well as a triple Axel in the first half. The skater also earned a level four on his footwork and change combination spin.
He has accumulated 20 points on the Grand Prix after his third-place finish in France.
Matteo Rizzo of Italy fell on his opening quad loop in the short program but landed a triple Lutz-triple toe and triple Axel. All spins and footwork were graded a level four, and the 26-year-old placed seventh with 81.79 points.
In his free skate to “Fix You” by Coldplay, the three-time European medalist underrotated and two-footed his first jump, the quad loop. He later did the same on a triple Lutz-triple toe, but still managed six clean triple jumps, including two triple Axels. Two spins and the footwork garnered a level four, and he finished fourth in the free skate with a season’s best of 164.77 points. With a total score of 246.56, he moved up to fifth place overall.
He will compete again in two weeks at Cup of China.
Japan’s Kao Miura scored a new personal best 102.96 points for second place in the short program after his brilliant routine to “Conquest of Spaces” by Woodkid. He landed a quad Salchow-triple toe, triple Axel and quad toe, all of which were awarded positive GOES. All spins and footwork were also graded a level four.
“I was able to put everything out there, but the practice was not good, so I was quite anxious,” said Miura. “But I just, you know, changed my mindset. I went relaxed and went in and did well, so I’m happy.”
“Once you get 100 points, it means you ‘did it.’ All the good GOEs plus added value,” added the 19-year-old. “It wasn’t something I was unable to attain. All the top skaters like Illia (Malinin) and Yuma would be always accumulating all the GOEs to go over 100. So, for spins and step, I had a hard time but today. I guess I did pretty well and was able to overcome that 100-point barrier.”
Unfortunately, the 2023 Four Continents Champion faltered in his free skate to music from the Umbrellas of Cherbourg. He put a foot down on his opening triple Axel and then fell on two quad toes. He also struggled with the landing of a triple Axel-double Axel-double Axel sequence, and later stepped out of the back end of a triple flip-triple loop. He finished 11th (137.42) in this segment, and with a total score of 240.38, slipped to sixth place overall.
USA’s Jason Brown placed seventh (229.09) followed by teammate Tomoki Hiwatashi (226.38) and Vladimir Litvintsev of Azerbaijan (225.67).
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