Madison Chock, Evan Bates lead U.S. figure skaters in podium positions at NHK Trophy

Madison Chock and Evan Bates lead after the rhythm dance at NHK Trophy, where they bid for a record-extending 25th career Grand Prix figure skating podium.

Chock and Bates, the two-time reigning world champions in ice dance, totaled 86.32 points in Tokyo. They lead by 6.68 over fellow Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko going into the free dance, live on Peacock on Friday night.

Chock, 32, and Bates, 35, have made 19 consecutive Grand Prix regular season podiums (dating to 2013) with 17 consecutive top-two finishes.

Last month, their eight-event win streak dating to the start of 2023 was snapped by Brits Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson at Skate America, their first competition of the season and the Grand Prix Series opener. Chock and Bates counted a fall in the rhythm dance there.

NHK TROPHY: Broadcast Schedule

Their rhythm dance score Friday was the world’s third-best this season behind Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Canada, the two couples who joined them on the podium at the last two world championships.

None of Chock and Bates’ closest rivals are entered at NHK. With Carreira and Ponomarenko in second place after a personal best rhythm dance, the U.S. could record its first one-two in ice dance at a Grand Prix other than Skate America.

Carreira, 24, and Ponomarenko, 23, were runners-up to Chock and Bates at last January’s nationals, then placed seventh at the world championships. They were fourth at each of their last four Grand Prix starts. Their lone podium came in a fully international Grand Prix came in their senior debut season in 2018.

The world’s top skaters each compete twice over the six-event Grand Prix Series. The top six per discipline over the series qualify for December’s Grand Prix Final, where the world’s top-ranked skaters all gather for the first time this season.

Chock and Bates have qualified for an ice dance record eight Grand Prix Finals and will qualify for a ninth if they win NHK (and probably if they finish anywhere on the podium at NHK).

Also Friday, Japan topped the other three short programs with three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto for the women, Olympic and world silver medalist Yuma Kagiayama for the men and 2023 World champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara in pairs.

Sakamoto, who won her last four Grand Prix starts, landed a triple Lutz and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination in her first program this season with all positive grades of execution. With 78.93 points, it’s the world’s best short program score since the 2022 World Championships.

Japan also took the second and third spots with Mone Chiba and Yuna Aoki, putting the nation in position for a second Grand Prix women’s podium sweep in four events this season. Sakamoto led a sweep at Skate Canada two weeks ago.

Two-time U.S. champions Alysa Liu and Bradie Tennell were fourth and fifth, respectively, with errors on their opening jump combinations.

Liu, coming back from a two-year retirement, was sixth at Skate Canada two weeks ago. Tennell, coming back from a broken ankle last fall, was fifth at Skate America.

Kagiyama landed a quadruple Salchow and a quad toe loop-triple toe loop combination with the highest grades of execution of any technical elements of the men’s short program.

He tallied 105.70 points, a score bettered this season only by world champion Ilia Malinin, who has already qualified for the Grand Prix Final. Japanese men took the top three spots in the short and can sweep the podium at a fully international NHK as a Grand Prix for the second time after 2006.

In pairs, U.S. champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea sit third behind Miura and Kihara, three weeks after taking runner-up to them at Skate America.

Kam and O’Shea are trying to become the fourth U.S. pair to make the Grand Prix Final in the last 15 editions. A third-place finish will give them a decent shot, though a runner-up would almost certainly get them there.

2024 NHK Trophy Figure Skating Results

Women’s Short Program
1. Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) — 78.93
2. Mone Chiba (JPN) — 71.69
3. Yuna Aoki (JPN) — 69.78
4. Alysa Liu (USA) — 65.03
5. Bradie Tennell (USA) — 62.05
6. Lara Naki Gutmann (ITA) — 61.51
7. Wi Seo-Yeong (KOR) — 61.43
8. Olga Mikutina (AUT) — 60.94
9. Ekaterina Kukarova (POL) — 56.46
10. Lindsay Thorngren (USA) — 54.79
11. Niina Petrokina (EST) — 52.98
12. Kim Ye-Lim (KOR) — 51.32

Men’s Short Program
1. Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) — 105.70
2. Kao Miura (JPN) — 102.96
3. Tatsuya Tsuboi (JPN) — 85.02
4. Andrew Torgashev (USA) — 84.36
5. Daniel Grassl (ITA) — 83.01
6. Vladimir Litvintsev (AZE) — 81.85
7. Matteo Rizzo (ITA) — 81.79
8. Gabriele Frangipani (ITA) — 81.33
9. Mark Gorodnitsky (ISR) — 77.74
10. Jason Brown (USA) — 77.08
11. Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) — 74.59
12. Lim Ju-Heon (KOR) — 74.31

Pairs’ Short Program
1. Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) — 71.90
2. Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (GEO) — 70.28
3. Ellie Kam/Danny O’Shea (USA) — 69.15
4. Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel (GER) — 67.37
5. Yuna Nagaoka/Sumitada Moriguchi (JPN) — 60.32
6. Daria Danilova/Michel Tsiba (NED) — 58.90
7. Anastasia Vaipan-Law/Luke Digby (GBR) — 58.17
8. Isabelle Martins/Ryan Bedard (CAN) — 48.95

Rhythm Dance
1. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) — 86.32
2. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) — 79.64
3. Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) — 77.91
4. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (USA) — 74.38
5. Loicia Demougeot/Theo le Mercier (FRA) — 69.24
6. Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan (GER) — 68.82
7. Yuka Orihara/Juho Pirinen (FIN) — 67.34
8. Marie Dupayge/Thomas Nabais (FRA) — 64.52
9. Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita (JPN) — 64.30
10. Azusa Tanaka/Shingo Nishiyama (JPN) — 59.15

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