NHK Trophy 2022
January 12, 2023
By Atsuko Kuryu
Photos © Keiko Kasai
The 2022 NHK Trophy, the fifth round of the Grand Prix Series, was held at the Makomanai Sekisui House Ice Arena (Japan), November 18 - 20. After 2 days of fierce competition, 8 skaters / teams qualified for the Grand Prix Final. Let's look back day by day at the exciting competition to see how the battle unfolded and who won the tickets to the final in Turin, Italy.

Day 1
Pairs - Short Program
Pairs - Short Program
The competition was kicked off by the pairs, six of them competing, beginning with the
short program. Riku Miura / Ryuichi Kihara, Japan delivered an excellent performance,
earning big plus GOE ratings in all elements and a personal best of 78.25 points. Being
last out, they showed off all their qualities of power and grace. Their skating technique,
speed, expressiveness and musicality were all outstanding. In the post-performance
press conference, they were happy having achieved their goal of level 4 in all elements,
except the throw triple twist.
Second place went to Emily Chan / Spencer Akira Howe, USA, who scored 64.62 points.
Their performance was impressive, with smooth movements while expressing the power
of the music (Nyah) beautifully. To the press they reflected on their performance and said
they were satisfied with the energy they put into their skate and that the Japanese
audience seemed pleased with the outcome.
Canadians Brooke McIntosh / Benjamin Mimar placed third with a consistent technique
and a score of 62.31 points at their first senior event. Both Emily / Spencer and Brooke /
Benjamin said they had looked forward to coming to Japan, and felt honored to be in the
competition.
Irma Caldara / Riccardo Maglio, Italy, expressed their joy in the kiss and cry over their
personal best score of 58.96, points well deserved.


Women - Short Program
While the favorite lady, Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, lost some of her points due to a flawed combination, Korea's Yelim Kim took the top spot with a near perfect performance, scoring 72.22. She executed all three spins at level 4, and earned high GOEs on all elements. Her performance was graceful and kept good speed throughout, and her extended Ina Bauer in the second half was impressive. Kaori placed second but said she had felt anxious due to a series of failures during morning practice. She made some mistakes on two jumps in the short program, and received a negative GOE to finish with only 68.07 points. In the mixed zone interview, she recalled all the hard work for the Olympics and Worlds this year, which, in many ways, made her lose concentration.


In third place, Rion Sumiyoshi, who placed third in the MK John Wilson Trophy, used her
natural elegance and nailed her performance to set her hopes on a Grand Prix Final spot,
while Rinka Watanabe, who won the title in Skate Canada, made a series of jumping
mistakes and dropped to ninth place, hoping to catch up in the following day’s free skating.
Fourth place went to Audrey Shin of the USA, and a close fifth to Starr Andrews, also
USA. Both of them have been consistent this season so far, and thrilled the audience with
their calm and almost flawless performances receiving 65.87 and 64.13 points
respectively.
Ice Dance - Rhythm Dance
Since the theme of the Rhythm Dance for the 2022-23 season is Latin dance style, many
couples performed in a fierce and strong way. Laurence Fournier Beaudry / Nikolaj
Soerensen from Canada, however, showed a graceful performance with soft movements,
and won the short program with the personal best of 85.66 points. They emphasized the
beauty of Laurence's positions and her beautiful posture in the stationary lift, which was
particularly impressive. At the press conference, Nikolaj said it was the first time they
were in first place and it felt unusual, but they had set high goals and reviewed their
training this season, so it might not be such a surprise after all.
Madison Chock / Evan Bates, USA, came in second. Their dance was well synchronized
and graceful, but the lack of level in the midline step sequence unabled a higher technical
score. Madison said about their performance that she was happy the two of them were
able to involve the audience and share the energy. Their score was 85.00 points.
Caroline Green / Michael Parson, USA, who almost made the podium at Skate Canada,
became third with a personal best of 77.00. Michael was pleased that they’d been able to
improve their rhythm dance performance since Skate Canada. He added that although
they would like to be in third place after the free skate, they were mostly aiming to have
a good performance.
Two Japanese couples of almost equal records so far in the Rhythm Dance, are Kana
Muramoto / Daisuke Takahashi and Misato Komatsubara / Tim Koleto. Kana / Daisuke
showed their enthusiastic Latin dance, scoring 75.10 to take fifth place, while Misato / Tim
earned 66.65 points and finished eighth. Misato / Tim's movement was worth seeing, but
Kana / Daisuke had a Latin intensity. Although the GOE score and the second mark
actually came to decide their rankings, it seemed like the level of passion and energy
directly reflected in the difference in points.
Men - Short Program
World Champion Shoma Uno saw Sota Yamamoto, who came in second in France, rise to
first place with a season-best of 96.49 points. All of Sota's spins were level 4, and his jumps and step
sequences also received high plus GOE scores. His performance was in charming
harmony with the melody of the Beatles' Yesterday. In the press conference he
expressed his determination to forget about today and do his best tomorrow with a fresh
mindset.
After a gorgeous quad flip, Shoma fell on his quad toe, the first jump of the combination,
but still he stayed in second because of high points for the rest of the program. As for the
success of his flip, which has often failed in practice recently, he noted that it might be
the power of his experience of keeping jumping quad flips for so long. This time the quad
toe failed, but he was still positive and said it was not a worrisome mistake.


Adam Siao Him Fa of France, the winner of the GP in France, made a series of small
mistakes in his jumps and finished third with 87.44 points. Talking about his short
program with music by Ezio Bosso and its unique choreography, he explained that he
knew great skaters who had skated to this music, but that he wanted to establish his
own style and express something new. He added that he wanted to tell a story, and even
while he was skating it, he felt like he was living that story. He also said that he wanted
to add something modern to his programs.
Kazuki Tomono, who drew the audience in with a highly entertaining program, was fifth
with 85.07 points. Nika Egadze from Geogia landed 2 quads and became fifth scoring
84.47.
Junhwan Cha of Korea stayed in sixth with 80.35 points after making some jump
mistakes. Matteo Rizzo of Italy, who also showed a high-quality performance, got 78.57
points to be in seventh place.
Day 2
Pairs - Free Skating
Although only 6 pairs participated, it was a very rich competition with a lot of great
performances. Riku / Ryuichi, who won the title, looked exalted in the kiss and cry after
seeing their high score, an overall of 216.16 points, which was their personal best. They
always keep great speed, but Ryuichi's speed during lifts was particularly remarkable.
The beauty of Riku’s positions was also fascinating to watch. Their free program last
season was elegant and gave us warm feelings, however, this season it was a breath of
fresh air. They laid out their new charm successfully. Looking back on today's
performance, Ryuichi said he was happy to have achieved a personal best, in spite of
making many small mistakes. He expressed the joy from his heart at the press
conference for finally being able to participate in the Grand Prix Final. (They secured a
spot last year, but the competition was cancelled because of the Corona virus.)
Emily / Spencer came in second with 187.49 points total. Their performance was
excellent despite some failed jumps. They started out mellow, but developed
energetically, and as the music grew stronger in the second half, their power increased
along with the audience’s enthusiasm.
The young pair, Brooke / Benjamin, finished third. They did their best in their own way
and managed a solid free skate with few mistakes. They displayed a dynamic but also
emotional program to Les Miserables. They received 113.34 for their effort and 175.65
overall. As a result, Riku / Ryuichi and Emily / Spencer qualified for the Grand Prix Final.

Women - Free Skating
The women’s category was a showdown between two contrasting skaters: Yelim’s
feminine and graceful performance, and Kaori, a skater of energy and dynamics. Both of
them made a few mistakes, but Yelim finally won by just over 2 points. She had a hand-down on a loop and fell on a following flip, and finishing second in the free skate with
132.27. The margin from the short program paid off though, and she won with an overall
score of 204.49. Her smooth moves, consistent jumps, and beautiful spins made her a
queen in her own right. In interviews, she repeatedly expressed her joy, saying she could
not believe she had won. Kaori skated with determination to make up for her mistake in
the short program, and almost succeeded, had it not been for the final jump, a triple
loop. Kaori's performances are characterized by speed and power plus her own elegance,
and she showed it well in this free skate too. She won the free skate with a score of
133.80, but got behind Yelim by about 2.5 point and scored 201.87.
Rion Sumiyoshi took fourth place with 125.11 in the free skate to become third overall.
She has class in her elegant but powerful performance, which looks like being powered
by the magnificent music (Enchantress). She is like a fusion of Kaori and Yelim.
Audrey Shin, USA, placed fourth with an overall score of 189.00 points with no major
flaws in her performance, which was smooth and seamless, like a flowing river.
Rinka moved up to fifth from yesterday's ninth place. She beautifully performed a
Japanese-style program, scoring 188.07 overall. Even those who placed in the lower
ranks had their own attractive characteristics, but Amber Glenn of the United States left a
particularly strong impression with her lively portrayal of a modern woman in the short
program, and her beautiful triple Axel in the free skate. In this game, Kaori and Yelim
qualified for the Grand Prix Final, while Rinka had to wait for the result in Espoo, the
sixth and final round of Grand Prix competitions. (Update: Rinka did get to go to Turin and
placed fourth.)

Ice Dance - Free Dance
The overnight leaders, Laurence / Nikolaj, secured their top spot with a clean and brilliant
performance which gave them 124.75 points and a 210.41 total. They took the ice
dressed in black and white, and their performance was as clear and striking as their
costumes. Their speedy movement was fabulous, and the elements all excellent and
enthusiastic. This team seems to have suddenly burst into the top group, and is a strong
candidate for new ice dancing stars.
Madison / Evan satisfied the audience with a quality
performance of elements that flowed from one to the next - absolutely beautiful. To use
an analogy between the two couples, Lawrence / Nikolaj were like a sharp stainless steel
kitchen knife and Madison / Evan were like the finest silver utensils. The margin between
first and second was only 1.29. Nikolaj said they had a good experience with the support
from the crowd which gave the skaters power. He added that they had gotten this far
through many experiences; that though the road was long, he would like to tell those
who are lost now “Even in the midst of chaos, if you get started you can achieve what
you set out to do.” Madison was proud of their achievement in the two weeks since Skate
America, and said their goals are high: they have not been swayed by the expectations of
others and have tried to do something different, something no one has ever seen before.
In third place were Caroline / Michael. The couple was 0.65 points behind Allison Reed /
Saulius Ambrulevicius, Lithuania, in the free dance, but the margin in the rhythm dance
helped them defend their third place. The two young dancers performed a rather
traditional ice dance, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, to the best of their ability. The
audience praised them with the almost same standing ovation as the top 2 teams.
Caroline talked about this program and their future direction; that they wanted to try
different kinds of music and that even if this program suits them; it didn’t mean that they
would continue in that direction. They thought they needed to have an experimental
program and would like to try it someday. While Caroline / Michael had a great
fashionable flavor, Allison / Saulius’s unique and entertaining work was also very
impressive. With a season's best of 189.98, they missed the podium by a mere 1.22
points.


The showdown between Japan's Kana / Daisuke and Misato / Tim was won this time by Kana / Daisuke. Their free dance was so dramatic and enthusiastic; it quickly became the last element of the program as soon as it started. Time was not of the essence as the compelling story unfolded on the ice. 103.68 points were earned in the free dance, and they placed seventh overall with 178.78. Misato / Tim's free dance was beautiful and emotional, but lacked a bit of power in comparison. I hope that these two couples will continue to compete with each other and raise Japanese ice dance to the next level. At the end of this match, 2 teams, Laurence / Nikolaj and Madison / Evan, got tickets to Turin.

Men - Free Skating
Shoma Uno showed his real strength and won the title. Overnight leader Sota Yamamoto
succeeded in the first three quadruple jumps, but after two falls on the triple Axel, the
gold slipped through his fingers. Third place went to Junhwan Cha, who stepped up from
his sixth place position, and Adam, who was in second, took fifth. With orange towel
banners with his name filling the stands, Shoma moved on the ice, sometimes gently,
sometimes passionately, to the beautiful and somber Air on the G string. Despite a few
mistakes in the jumps, he won the title with a total score of 279.76, far ahead of the
rest, thanks to his rich expression and brilliant skating skills. At the press conference
Shoma explained the importance of practice: the driving force to successful skating is to
practice fully every day.
Sota scored high in his short program, as he had so far this
season, only to drop down the rankings in the free skating. Tonight, he became sixth in
free program with 161.36 points. He definitely accumulated positive GOEs in the non-
jump elements, despite the 2 falls on triple Axels, to stay second overall with a score of
257.85. He regretted that he had thought about unnecessary things, such as rankings,
which led to his mistakes. And added that he thought about recovery too much after he
failed his triple Axel combo in the first half so he would need to make sure of his jumps
to score points, and practice in case of mistakes.
Junhwan placed third with a speedy
performance of sharp, beautiful, and attractive moves. His skating skills, and beauty of
his transition were remarkable, especially the Ina Bauer at the end. His free program
score of 174.41 brought his total to 254.76, good enough to finish on the podium. He
admitted that he was disappointed with the short program, but very happy about the free
skating, and he was struggling with himself in between. He made some mistakes, but
now he had a good feeling that he would get better.
Although he dropped in the rankings
from the short program, Kazuki Tomono's fun performance to The Fledermaus won the
hearts of the audience and delighted them even more than his score of 166.76.
Adam's
free program, which led him down to a disappointing fifth place, is really a true
masterpiece. This time, his planned jump configuration fell apart considerably, and his
score was only 163.01. Other parts of his program seemed to be affected by these
errors, but we will see more of his typical high-quality performances in the second half of
the season. As a result, Shoma Uno and Sota
Yamamoto got the two spots for the Grand Prix Final.

The first day of this event the venue was unusually empty, which has been the case the past few years. I am not sure why. It’s such a different experience to watch figure skating live and feel the sense of speed, power, and skating skills, not to mention the atmosphere at the venue. I hope many more people will cease the opportunity to attend a competition and experience the charm of live figure skating. The many Japanese fans are very enthusiastic so I hope they will keep coming and bring their friends to witness the exciting battles between the current top skaters, national and from overseas.