Japanese figure skaters Yuma Kagiyama and Hana Yoshida swept to men’s and women’s gold in the Finland Grand Prix on Saturday to qualify for next month’s series finale.
Kagiyama, the 2022 Olympic silver medallist and winner of the recent NHK Trophy in Tokyo, survived a shaky free skate in Helsinki to win thanks to his overnight lead from the short programme.
In the women’s event, Yoshida, who finished third at Skate Canada in October, led a Japanese 1-2 ahead of Rino Matsuike.
“After having two big competitions, back to back, I want to rest at home in Japan,” said Kagiyama.
“I was not really tired physically, but I am not satisfied, it’s a disappointment.”
Kagiyama popped his opening quadruple jump in his Flamenco free skate to place fifth on the day but won with 263.09 points overall.
France’s Kevin Aymoz moved up a spot to second with 259.15 as Italy’s Daniel Grassl led the way on the day to snatch bronze with 258.55 having been sixth after Friday’s short programme.
Aymoz, the Skate America silver medallist, also qualifies for the the ISU Grand Prix Final, which is held in his home ice rink in Grenoble.
“When we jump back 10 months, I wanted to stop skating. Step by step I came back. I’m so proud to skate for myself and to show my story on the ice,” said the French skater.
“And the Final, it is a small victory to get there.”
Yoshida missed her opening triple axel jump but impressed with her spins and steps for 199.46 points overall to edge Matsuike by just 0.26 points for the gold.
“Of course I am happy that I won, but I really wanted to land my triple Axel,” Yoshida said.
“I have much more to improve, and I’m happy that I didn’t give up until the last second and saved the gold medal.”
Matsuike took her second Grand Prix silver medal after Skate Canada to put her in the running for the Grand Prix Final from December 5-8.
In the pairs competition, world champions Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada dominated the short programme ahead of Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy.
Skate Canada winners Stellato-Dudek and Deschamps scored 75.89 points for their performance to Beyonce’s “Crazy In Love”, with the Italians achieving 67.43, with the free skating final on Sunday.
Canada are also leading the ice dancing competition with world silver medallists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier leading the way after their rhythm dance to a “Ken and Barbie at the beach” theme, and Beach Boys songs.
The Skate Canada winners scored 84.65 to lead Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson, winners of the season-opening Skate America, going into Sunday’s free dance final.
The British pair achieved 82.03 to put them second despite an accident in practice on Friday, when Fear hurt her leg after colliding with Gibson.
“I couldn’t really bear weight until last night,” she said.
“I’m so happy to be in skates and skating today. I’m just so grateful to be here and really excited for tomorrow,” she added.
bur/ea/dj
