World champion Shoma Uno and compatriot Mai Mihara starred as Japan clinched a double figure skating triumph at the Grand Prix Final in Turin on Saturday.
Uno, 24, who had led after Thursday’s short programme of the men’s event, confirmed his superiority in the free programme to post a total of 304.46 points.
Compatriot Sota Yamamoto was second and American teenager Ilia Malinin jumped from fifth to third.
In the women’s event, Mihara, 23, saw off Isabeau Levito of the United States with Loena Hendrickx taking third.
However, Japanese world champion Kaori Sakamato could only finish a disappointing fifth.
Uno, who spent a long time in the shadow of Yuzuru Hanyu and Nathan Chen, was the standout performer in the season, winning his first world title in March and then collecting victories in Skate Canada and the NHK Trophy.
“I didn’t particularly feel pressure just because I won the world championship,” said Uno, who set a personal best in the free skate with 204.47 points.
“But at this competition, especially during the free programme, all the other skaters did so amazing that instead it motivated me to do my best.”
Yamamoto was a fair way behind with 274.35 points, after scoring 179.49 on Saturday.
“I was able to skate very calmly,” Yamamoto said. “I am very happy that I was finally able to do as I practised. I think that my happiness also affected my performance.”
Malinin, the 18-year-old American world junior champion, who has earned the nickname the ‘Quadgod’ because of his ability to land quadruple jumps, made errors on his triples in the short programme on Thursday.
Sad Sakamato
On Saturday, he landed five quadruple jumps, including a quadruple axel, in his free program to finish on a total of 271.94 points.
He said he had surprised himself and looked across at his father in disbelief as he scored 191.84 points for his routine.
“I didn’t understand what was going on, so I looked at him to see if this was real or not,” Malinin said.
Mihara, who had been second after the short programme, finished the competition with a total of 208.17 points after a performance Saturday which yielded 133.59.
Rinka Watanabe, also of Japan, was fourth after Sakamato scored just 116.70 in her short programme.
The wins for Uno and Mihara came hot on the heels of Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara claiming a first pairs gold for Japan on Friday ahead of world champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States.
Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada claimed the ice dance title, seeing off Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States with Italy’s Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri claiming silver.
Skate Canada champions Gilles and Poirier, skating to “Evita”, scored 129.71 points Saturday for a total of 215.64.
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