Tokyo, 14 November, /AJMEDIA/
Japan’s Shoma Uno won the NHK Trophy men’s title with a personal-best total score on Saturday to book a spot in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and took a strong qualifying position for February’s Beijing Olympics, while compatriot Kaori Sakamato defended her women’s championship.
Uno, the 2018 Olympic silver medalist and a two-time runner-up at the worlds, racked up 187.57 points in the free skate to finish with a 290.15 total at Yoyogi National Gymnasium, bettering his previous career high from the 2019 Four Continents Championships.
The 23-year-old top-scored in both performances to win his first Grand Prix title since the 2018 NHK Trophy and book a spot in December’s Final in Osaka. America’s Vincent Zhou was runner-up with 260.69, edging South Korea’s Cha Jun Hwan by 1.09.
“For the first time in a while I was able to execute all my jumps in the first half of the program, although I still want my jumps in competition to look the way they do in practice,” Uno said. “I’m keen to get back to practice and work on some issues I discovered here.”
“I want to get better, and want to take my finish at this event and aim higher and higher still.”
Having earned 76.56 points for an outstanding short performance on Friday, Sakamoto scored 146.78 with a clean and composed free skate for a season-best 223.34 total.
Japanese compatriot Mana Kawabe, who started the day 2.68 points back in second, totaled 205.44 to take silver, with South Korea’s You Young rounding out the podium a further 1.84 points behind.
The 21-year-old Sakamoto’s program included seven triple jumps including a triple flip-triple toe loop combination for her highest-scoring element.
