Figure skating-Sakamoto shines at NHK Trophy, sets season's highest score

Three-times world figure skating champion Kaori Sakamoto of Japan delivered a masterclass to win women's singles gold at the NHK Trophy on Saturday with the world's best score this season. Sakamoto, who said in June that she would retire after the Milano-Cortina Olympics, landed seven triple jumps to score 150.13 points for her emotional free programme to music by Edith Piaf to send the home crowd into raptures.

The 25-year-old's 227.18 total points firmly established her as a top contender for the Olympics. "I wasn't aware that this was the highest score so far this season globally," Sakamoto said. "I'm very happy that I was able to validate myself here at NHK and I'm, of course, very happy with this high score."

Sofia Samodelkina won silver, with 200.00 points, while Belgian Loena Hendrickx was third (198.97). Reigning Olympic silver medallist Yuma Kagiyama edged Japanese compatriot Shun Sato to win the men's singles.

Britain's Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson won the ice dance, while American siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani were sixth in their much-anticipated competitive return. Italy's Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii won the pairs, while reigning Olympic champions Sui Wenjing and Han Cong of China, who also recently launched a comeback, were third.

Sakamoto, who has her sights set on claiming a first Olympic title in February, before she retires, delivered a performance that blended power, precision, and poignant emotion to bring the home fans to their feet. "I know that there are very few competitions left, so I really wanted to do my best and make sure that I give the best performance possible," Sakamoto said.

Kagiyama fell on his quadruple toe loop in his free skate to music from Puccini's 'Turandot', but his lead after the short programme was enough to secure the victory with 287.24 points. "To be honest, it's 80% bitterness at this moment because I always want to make sure I give the best to the audience," Kagiyama said. "This is my first Grand Prix (of the season) and I really want to go to the finals, and also I always want to make sure I beat Shun so I'm going to keep up my work."

Sato, who topped the free skate, took silver with 285.71, while Lukas Britschgi of Switzerland won bronze (246.94). Fear and Gibson skated to a Scottish medley to win dance gold with 205.88 points and book their spot in next month's Grand Prix Final, while Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri were second (198.67) and Caroline Green and Michael Parsons of the U.S. took bronze (187.90).

The Shibutanis, twice Olympic bronze medallists who are back after a seven-year hiatus, scored 180.50. "It feels really amazing to be back out there together on the ice," Maia Shibutani said. "Returning after seven years is certainly ambitious and something that you don't see too often in sport.

"It's certainly an all-encompassing big decision because you need the physical, mental and emotional preparation. Often in sports there's a pressure to try and rush a return. But for us we knew that we wanted to take our time to get our skating to the point that we wanted it to be at." Conti and Macci skated to pairs gold with 208.58, while Hungary's Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko scored 207.28 for silver and Sui and Han dropped from first after the short programme to third with 203.79.

"Maybe we need more time to prepare for the next competition," said Han. "We have time to fix the programmes and more time to practise."