Sochi, Russia

#FigureSkating      #GPFigure

Japan’s Kazuki Tomono grabbed a narrow lead over Morisi Kvitelashvili of Georgia in the Men’s Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Rostelecom Cup in Sochi (RUS) Friday. Canadian Roman Sadovsky sits in third place.

Kazuki Tomono (JPN) in the Men's Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating - Rostelecom Cup

Kazuki Tomono (JPN) competes in the Men's Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating - Rostelecom Cup © International Skating Union (ISU)

Skating to “Cinema Paradiso”, Tomono produced a quad toe-triple toe, quad Salchow and triple Axel as well as difficult spins and footwork to set a personal best score of 95.81 points.

“If I could do my best I knew I could get to 95 points. The jumps aside from the toe loop were not that great.  I had small mistakes and was not moving as well as I had liked so I was happy I got my best socre,” Kazuki shared.

“I know there’s room to improve to get to 100 points. I was nervous overall, steps and others were not my best but with the tension I was able to put on a good performance overall. A lot of practice paid off,” he continued.

Morisi Kvitelashvili (GEO) in the Men's Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating - Rostelecom Cup

Morisi Kvitelashvili (GEO) lies second after the Men's Short Program with a personal best of 95.37 © International Skating Union (ISU)

 Kvitelashvili’s performance to “Tout l’Universe” featured a quad Salchow-triple toe, quad toe and triple Axel. The 2020 European bronze medalist picked up a personal best as well with 95.37 points.

“I was able to put out a decent performance today and it is good that everything worked out,” the 2020 Rostelecom silver medalist said. “Tomorrow (for the Free Skating) I try to go out with the same kind of mindset and stick to my plan that we’ve worked out in practice.”

Roman Sadovsky (CAN) in the Men' Short Program at the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Rostelecom Cup in Sochi

Roman Sadovsky (CAN) landed a quad Salchow and triple Lutz-triple toe in his Short Program © International Skating Union (ISU)

Sadovsky landed a quad Salchow and triple Lutz-triple toe to “Breathe For Me“, but stepped off his triple Axel to score a season’s best of 84.59 points.

“Overall I am very pleased with how it went today. I had a little bit of a struggle this season internationally. It was nice to take whatever experiences I had at Skate Canada and improve on them in this competition,” the Canadian champion commented. 

2021 Gran Premio d’Italia silver medalist Mikhail Kolyada (RUS) fell on his quad toeloop to finish fourth at 84.48 points but remains in medal contention. Camden Pulkinen (USA) placed fifth on 83.47 points followed by Michal Brezina (CZE) on 82.31 points.

For full results, click here