Daily Times

SAPPORO: South Korea’s Yelim Kim demonstrated style and focus Saturday to claim her first senior Grand Prix Series victory at the NHK Trophy, outperforming reigning world champion and home favourite Kaori Sakamoto.

In the men’s field, world champion Shoma Uno of Japan comfortably defended the title with 279.76 points, fending off challenges from compatriot Sota Yamamoto with 257.85 and Junhwan Cha of South Korea with 254.76.

Kim earned an overall score of 204.49 points, followed by Sakamoto — Beijing bronze medallist and last year’s NHK winner — with 201.87 and Rion Sumiyoshi of Japan with 193.12.

A silver medallist at the Grand Prix de France, Kim more than proved her quality with a soaring and smooth triple lutz-triple toeloop combination and a double axel that opened her free programme to the tunes of “Summer Of 42” and “Arabesques.”

Her hand touched the ice after executing an under-rotated triple flip. She then fell on a jump sequence.

But the mistakes did not get hold of her, as the 19-year-old steadily racked up points with solid jumps, steps and level-four spins.

“I cannot believe I got first place at the Grand Prix Series. I am so happy. I am going to cry,” an elated Kim told the crowd after the victory that also secured her first ticket to the Grand Prix Final.

Sakamoto submitted dramatic free skating to show off her artistry and power, but not enough to catch overnight leader Kim. She wobbled to finish an under-rotated triple flip-triple toeloop combination. Her triple loop near the end of the programme became a single.

After the music stopped, Sakamoto grimaced and held her head. “I was fighting until the final jump. It was disappointing that I blew it at the end,” she said. “But I did everything I could today. So that’s OK.” In the men’s field, Uno comfortably defended the title with clean free skating to “Air on the G String” and “Sanctus Petrus et Sancta Maria Magdalena”.

His routine opened with a superb quadruple loop and a quadruple Salchow. But a planned quadruple flip became a double flip and combination jumps didn’t materialise.

He said he was happy with the win, but confessed he had struggled to find his form during practice. “This time, I managed to go through this particular competition. I will practice so that something like this will not happen again,” he said.

“This win allows me to advance to the Grand Prix Final. So this fact itself is very good.”