Tokyo / JPN

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2018 Four Continents Champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan stormed to the gold medal at the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) on Saturday. Little heralded teammate Mana Kawabe made it one-two for the Japanese women and Korea’s Young You secured the bronze medal.

Kaori Sakamoto NHK Trophy Day Two

Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) © International Skating Union (ISU) 

Sakamoto’s program might be called “No More Fight Left In Me”, but she actually put up a great fight, reeling off a double Axel, triple Lutz, triple flip-double toe, triple Salchow, triple flip-triple toe and a triple loop as well as level-four spins. The 21-year-old from Kobe posted a season's best with 146.78 points and totaled 223.34 points to claim a second successive NHK Trophy title. 

“On my first and last jump today, I was a little bit at an angle in the air and that got me worried, but my goal of putting out a good free and short program was achieved,” Sakamoto shared. “To be honest, one month ago it would have been hard to imagine today’s result. This season every competition is very important. I don’t have a big element (such as triple Axel or quad), so I have to make sure to skate clean,” she explained.

Kawabe landed seven triple jumps in her routine to “Miracle” and the miracle happened – she won her first ISU Grand Prix medal. The 17-year-old made only one mistake when she crashed on a double Axel. Kawabe scored 131.56 points and had 205.44 overall.

Mana Kawabe NHK Trophy Day Two

Mana Kawabe (JPN) © International Skating Union (ISU) 

"After I missed my Axel, I was able to change my mindset and focus on something else. I achieved my personal best, so I’m very happy about that,“ Kawabe noted. “At Skate Canada, my free skating gave me confidence, especially the fact that I could focus on the free. I was able to do that in the short program in this competition. Little by little my (triple) Axel success rate is getting better.”

You missed her opening triple Axel in her program to “Les Miserables”, but went on to land five clean triples. Two more triple jumps were slightly underrotated (q). The 2020 ISU Four Continents silver medalist earned 135.52 points which added up to 203.60 points to take her second ISU Grand Prix medal this season after her bronze at Skate America.

Young You NHK Trophy Day Two

Young You (KOR) © International Skating Union (ISU) 

“Like yesterday, I am disappointed in myself. Next time I want to concentrate on my triple Axel and I don’t want to make these mistakes,” You said. “Until now I had a lot of competitions and until Nationals I don’t want to get an injury, take care of my body so I can do well at Nationals and get to the Olympic Games.”

Alysa Liu (USA) was edged out the podium in fourth place by less than a point. She landed a triple Axel, but it was “q-ed” (slightly underrotated). She earned 202.90 points. Eunsoo Lim (KOR) ranked fifth on 186.68 points and Rino Matsuike (JPN) moved up one spot to finish sixth (186.17 points).

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