Stars Yuma Kagiyama and Kaori Sakamoto Lead After the NHK Trophy Short Programs

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Yuma Kagiyama led a 1-2-3 finish by the Japanese men in the short program at the NHK Trophy in Tokyo on Friday, November 8. The Beijing Olympic silver medalist put on a sublime show, displaying all of his skills on the way to taking the lead with a score of 105.70 points.

Kao Miura racked up a personal best of 102.96 and is in second place, while Tatsuya Tsuboi tallied 85.02 in third at Yoyogi National Stadium

American Andrew Torgashev stands in fourth place on 84.36.

Three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto put on a scintillating display on the way to grabbing a commanding lead in the women's short program. The 24-year-old registered 78.93 points, giving her a more than seven-point advantage over Mone Chiba going into the free skate.

Chiba totaled 71.69 in second, while Yuna Aoki scored 69.78 in third to give Japan a 1-2-3 sweep of both short programs.

Alysa Liu of the United States is in fourth place with 65.03.

Kagiyama Exhibits Fantastic Form in Short Program

The 21-year-old Kagiyama skated to "The Sound of Silence" and ran through his elements with near flawless precision. He opened with a big quadruple salchow, followed by a superb quad toe loop/triple toe loop combination jump, and went on to land a smooth triple axel.

The three-time world silver medalist earned level fours on all of his spins and step sequence before a home crowd that was enraptured. Kagiyama even threw in a clockwise spin near the end of his routine, rotating in the opposite direction of which he normally does.

"I think the skating was very good," Kagiyama stated. "From beginning to end I did it as I practiced, and I think I was really able to get into the performance while looking around."

Added Kagiyama, "I exceeded the goal of 100 points in the short program that I set yesterday. My personal best (108.12) was at the Olympics, so I wanted to get 108 points, but it was quite difficult."

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Author: Jack Gallagher

The author is a veteran sports journalist and one of the world's foremost figure skating experts. Find articles and podcasts by Jack on his author page, and find him on X (formerly Twitter) @sportsjapan.