Miki Ando produced a near-flawless free skate to come out of second as she topped overnight leader Mao Asada to win the women's figure skating national title for the first time in six years on Sunday.
Ando denied Mao a fifth consecutive title, nailing all of her jumps to perfection while dazzling the crowd with her straight line step sequence and foot spin combination for a total of 202.34 points at Nagano Big Hat.
"I was so happy to win," said Ando. "This was the biggest meet in Japan and the most nerve-racking this season but I didn't make any big mistakes in either the short or free program so I want to give my performance a passing grade," she said.