Kagiyama dazzles in free skate to lead 1-2 finish for Japan at Four Continents
SHANGHAI, China (AP) — Beijing Olympic silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama produced a near flawless free skate on Saturday to lead a 1-2 finish for Japan at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships.
First after the short program, Kagiyama landed two quadruple jumps and four triple jumps on his way to scoring 200.76 points in the free skate for a total of 307.58.
Shun Sato was a distant second with 274.59 points while South Korea’s Junhwan Cha was third with 272.95.
Kagiyama’s only mistake was when he fell on his second jump, a quad flip.
"I wanted to try the quad flip but unfortunately I stepped out of it,” Kagiyama said. “But I didn’t let it bother me and was glad that I performed well for the rest of my routine.”
Kagiyama is making a comeback after missing the past season due to injury. His next major competition will be the world championships in Montreal in March.
“This will help me figure out what I need to work on for worlds,” said Kagiyama, a two-time silver medalist at the world championships.
In pairs, Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps of Canada held on the to their lead from the short program to win the gold medal.
The 2023 Four Continents bronze medalists opened with a triple twist and went on to complete a throw triple salchow and loop.
Deschamps stumbled on the side-by-side triple salchow but the Canadians scored 129.32 points for a total of 198.80, comfortably ahead of world champions Rika Miura and Ryuichi Kihara of Japan who were second with 190.77.
“We’re very pleased with the result but we’re not thrilled with our skate,” Stellato-Dudek said. “We know we can do a lot better than that.”
Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea of the United States completed a routine that featured a triple twist and a side-by-side triple salchow en route to a personal-best 126.56 to grab the bronze with 187.28 points.
The 2023 Four Continents bronze medalist Mone Chiba of Japan won the women’s gold medal on Friday to capture her first ISU championship title.
Skating to “Legend of 1900,” the 18-year-old Chiba landed a triple flip-triple toe combination and added five more triple jumps for a personal-best free skate score of 143.88 points and a total of 214.98.
South Korea’s Chaeyeon Kim earned the silver medal with 204.68 points while Rinka Watanabe, also of Japan, took bronze with 202.17 points.
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