CHONGQING, Nov. 22 (Xinhua) -- Japanese figure skaters prevailed on day one of the ISU Grand Prix Cup of China, as Shun Sato topped the men's short program to edge to a GP Final spot and his compatriot Mone Chiba clinched narrow lead on women's part here on Friday.
In his smooth performance to Ladies in Lavender, on-form Sato hit a quad Lutz, quad toe-triple toe, triple Axel and level-four spins to set a season-best 98.75 points and beat Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan and Adam Siao Him Fa of France to the second and third places.
With the Cup of China being the sixth and last event of the 2024-2025 figure skating GP series, Sato, the Skate Canada silver medalist, seems on track for his first GP gold and his very last chance to qualify for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final.
"I am satisfied with my performance in the short program," Sato said. "I skated with caution to the end and overcame problems. In the free skating, I will try to do my best. I try not to think about the Grand Prix Final. I am focused on my performance."
Shaidorov, the Denis Ten memorial Challenge champion, earned 93.21 points, and reigning ISU World Championships' bronze medalist Siao was trailing nearly two points further back after crashing on the triple Axel.
Local favorite and two-time world bronze medalist Jin Boyang placed sixth with a short program score of 83.66 points and his fellow Chinese Dai Dawei and Chen Yudong were on the seventh and eighth places among 12 competitors respectively.
In the women's short program, NHK Trophy silver medalist Chiba scored 70.86 points for an overnight leader's position, edging Amber Glenn of the United States and Rion Sumiyoshi of Japan by just 0.02 and 0.38 points.
Reigning world bronze medalist Kim Chae-yeon is just a little over a point behind at 69.27 points and will fight for the podium on Saturday. China's An Xiangyi, Zhu Yi and Chen Hongyi sat 9th, 10th and 12th after a lackluster short program.
The hosts' best rank on day one came in the pairs where Zhu Lei and Wang Yuchen placed fifth temporarily after a 55.14-point short program, while Italy's Niccolo Macii and Sara Conti led field into Saturday's free skate with a score of 72.43.
Two-time world medalists and European champions Marco Fabbri and Charlene Grignard, also from Italy, found the right rhythm in ice dance, scoring 84.84 for a solid lead over Canadians Zachary Lagha and Marjorie Lajoie and Americans Anthony Ponomarenko and Christina Carreira.
The Cup of China continues in Chongqing on Saturday with men's, women's and pairs free skate, as well as the ice dancing free dance. ■
