Madison Chock and Evan Bates won NHK Trophy, with Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko taking second for the first U.S. one-two in ice dance at a Grand Prix other than Skate America.
Chock, 32, and Bates, 35, extended their ice dance records with a 25th career Grand Prix podium and qualification for their ninth Grand Prix Final.
The two-time reigning world champions have made 20 consecutive Grand Prix regular season podiums (dating to 2013) with 18 consecutive top-two finishes.
Their total score at NHK in Tokyo — 215.95 — ranks first in the world this season. Chock and Bates rebounded from a runner-up finish at Skate America three weeks ago that included a fall in their rhythm dance, which snapped an eight-event win streak dating to the start of 2023.
FIGURE SKATING: Broadcast Schedule
NHK marked the fourth stop of figure skating’s annual six-event Grand Prix Series. In the series, each of the world’s top skaters competes twice, with the top six per discipline over the series qualifying for December’s Grand Prix Final. At the Final, the world’s top skaters all gather for the first time this season.
Chock and Bates’ competition at the Final will likely include the two couples with whom they shared the podium at the last two world championships: Italians Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri and Canadians Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, neither of whom they faced at Skate America or NHK.
Carreira and Ponomarenko have a chance to make their first Grand Prix Final after their runner-up at NHK, the best Grand Prix result of their career and their first Grand Prix podium since their debut season on the circuit in 2018. They likely need to finish in the top two at Cup of China in two weeks to qualify for the Final.
Carreira and Ponomarenko took silver at last season’s U.S. Championships and were seventh at the world championships last March.
Carreira, 24, was born in Montreal and as of last season’s worlds was still pursuing her U.S. citizenship to become eligible for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics. Ponomarenko, 23, has 1992 Olympic ice dance gold medalists Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko as parents.
Also at NHK, three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto led a Japanese women’s podium sweep for her fifth consecutive Grand Prix title to qualify for the Final. She tallied 231.88 points, the world’s best score since her first world title in 2022.
Two-time U.S. champions Alysa Liu and Bradie Tennell were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Olympic and world silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama of Japan won the men’s event in his Grand Prix season debut. In Saturday’s free skate, Kagiyama fell on his opening quadruple flip, then landed three clean quads.
His total score — 300.09 points — keeps him second in the world this season behind world champion Ilia Malinin, whom he will likely face at the Grand Prix Final.
In pairs, Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava of Georgia overtook 2023 World champions Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan in the free skate for their first Grand Prix title (and podium).
U.S. champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea held onto third place despite a fall on both throws in the free skate, three weeks after placing second at Skate America. They will likely qualify for their first Grand Prix Final, pending results of the next two Grand Prix events.
The Grand Prix Series continues next week in Finland, live on Peacock starting Friday.
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2024 NHK Trophy Figure Skating Results
Women
1. Kaori Sakamoto (JPN) — 231.88
2. Mone Chiba (JPN) — 212.54
3. Yuna Aoki (JPN) — 195.07
4. Alysa Liu (USA) — 190.75
5. Bradie Tennell (USA) — 190.25
6. Lara Naki Gutmann (ITA) — 180.28
7. Wi Seo-Yeong (KOR) — 173.77
8. Olga Mikutina (AUT) — 169.93
9. Lindsay Thorngren (USA) — 169.03
10. Ekaterina Kukarova (POL) — 165.84
11. Niina Petrokina (EST) — 157.14
12. Kim Ye-Lim (KOR) — 152.84
Men
1. Yuma Kagiyama (JPN) — 300.09
2. Daniel Grassl (ITA) — 264.85
3. Tatsuya Tsuboi (JPN) — 251.52
4. Andrew Torgashev (USA) — 246.58
5. Matteo Rizzo (ITA) — 246.56
6. Kao Miura (JPN) — 240.38
7. Jason Brown (USA) — 229.09
8. Tomoki Hiwatashi (USA) — 226.38
9. Vladimir Litvintsev (AZE) — 225.67
10. Gabriele Frangipani (ITA) — 223.82
11. Mark Gorodnitsky (ISR) — 215.76
12. Lim Ju-Heon (KOR) — 196.05
Pairs
1. Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (GEO) — 213.05
2. Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) — 209.45
3. Ellie Kam/Danny O’Shea (USA) — 197.44
4. Annika Hocke/Robert Kunkel (GER) — 188.54
5. Daria Danilova/Michel Tsiba (NED) — 178.37
6. Anastasia Vaipan-Law/Luke Digby (GBR) — 174.45
7. Yuna Nagaoka/Sumitada Moriguchi (JPN) — 172.47
8. Isabelle Martins/Ryan Bedard (USA) — 140.63
Ice Dance
1. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (USA) — 215.95
2. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (USA) — 198.97
3. Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) — 195.52
4. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (USA) — 188.76
5. Loicia Demougeot/Theo le Mercier (FRA) — 178.30
6. Yuka Orihara/Juho Pirinen (FIN) — 175.28
7. Jennifer Janse van Rensburg/Benjamin Steffan (GER) — 173.36
8. Marie Dupayge/Thomas Nabais (FRA) — 165.80
9. Utana Yoshida/Masaya Morita (JPN) — 161.36
10. Azusa Tanaka/Shingo Nishiyama (JPN) — 151.27
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U.S. champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea eye rare international success for a U.S. pairs’ team.
