Madison Chock and Evan Bates lead American figure skaters to podium at NHK Trophy

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

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

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

Last month, their eight-game winning streak dating back to early 2023 was snapped by Britain’s Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson at Skate America, their first competition of the season and opener of the Grand Prix Series. Chock and Bates counted a fall in the rhythm dance.

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Their rhythm dance score Friday was the third best in the world 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 registered with NHK. With Carreira and Ponomarenko in second place after a personal best in rhythm dance, the United States could record its first ice dance double at a Grand Prix other than Skate America.

Carreira, 24, and Ponomarenko, 23, finished second to Chock and Bates at the national championships last January, then placed seventh at the world championships. They have finished fourth in each of their last four Grand Prix starts. Their only podium came at an all-international Grand Prix in their first senior season in 2018.

The best skaters in the world each compete twice during the six events of the Grand Prix series. The top six per discipline in the series qualify for December’s Grand Prix Final, where the world’s top-ranked skaters come together for the first time this season.

Chock and Bates have qualified for a record eight Ice Dance Grand Prix finals and will qualify for a ninth if they win NHK (and likely if they finish on the podium at NHK).

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

Sakamoto, who has won his last four Grand Prix starts, landed a triple Lutz and a triple flip-triple toe loop combination in his first program this season with all positive execution scores. With 78.93 points, this is the best world score for a short program since the 2022 World Championships.

Japan also took second and third with Mone Chiba and Yuna Aoki, putting the country in position for a second women’s Grand Prix podium 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 finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with errors on their opening jump combinations.

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

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

He totaled 105.70 points, a score bettered this season only by world champion Ilia Malinin, who has already qualified for the Grand Prix final. The Japanese men took the top three places in the short and can take the podium at an all-international NHK Grand Prix for the second time after 2006.

As a duo, U.S. champions Ellie Kam and Danny O’Shea sit third behind Miura and Kihara, three weeks after taking their second place at Skate America.

Kam and O’Shea are trying to become the fourth American duo to reach the Grand Prix final in the last 15 editions. A third place finish will give them a good chance, although a second place finish would almost certainly get them there.

Results of the NHK Figure Skating Trophy 2024

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 (United States) – 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 Frangipanier (ITA) – 81.33
9. Mark Gorodnitsky (ISR) — 77.74
10. Jason Brown (USA) – 77.08
11. Tomoki Hiwatashi (United States) – 74.59
12. Lim Ju-Heon (KOR) – 74.31

Short program for couples
1. Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) – 71.90
2. Anastasiia Metelkina/Luka Berulava (GEO) — 70.28
3. Ellie Kam/Danny O’Shea (United States) – 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 Bédard (CAN) — 48.95

Rhythmic dance
1. Madison Chock/Evan Bates (United States) – 86.32
2. Christina Carreira/Anthony Ponomarenko (United States) – 79.64
3. Allison Reed/Saulius Ambrulevicius (LTU) – 77.91
4. Caroline Green/Michael Parsons (United States) – 74.38
5. Loicia Demougeot/Théo 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) — 64h30
10. Azusa Tanaka/Shingo Nishiyama (JPN) — 59.15