Japan skaters struggle at Skate America
The senior Grand Prix season began in disappointing fashion last weekend with Japan being shut out of the medals. The Hinomaru's best showing was Kaori Sakamoto's fourth-place finish in the women's singles at Skate America. Russia's Anna Shcherbakova won in impressive fashion with a total of ...
Skate America kicks off GP season
The senior Grand Prix season gets underway on Friday with Skate America in the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas, which is hosting its first-ever GP event. Japan will be looking for multiple medals in the women's competition, with a strong team of Kaori Sakamoto, ...
Daisuke Takahashi a good fit for ice dance
Just 15 months after shocking the skating world with his return after a four-year retirement, Daisuke Takahashi has done it again. Last week the 2010 world champion and Vancouver Olympic bronze medalist announced that he would end his singles career at the Japan nationals in ...
Art of the deal: How Kinoshita Group came to sponsor Vincent Zhou
History was made last week when a Japanese company chose to sponsor a foreign skater and their training expenses for the first time as the Kinoshita Group agreed to back American Vincent Zhou. The conglomerate, best known for housing development and real estate ventures, announced ...
Yuzuru Hanyu draws Skate Canada, NHK Trophy for Grand Prix season
Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu will start his Grand Prix campaign at Skate Canada, the ISU announced recently when the GP assignments for the 2019-20 season were released. Hanyu, who trains in Toronto, will travel across Canada for the event in Kelowna, British Columbia (Oct. ...
Mai Mihara mesmerizing in victory at Winter Universiade
It was a mixed bag of results for Japanese skating over the weekend. The good news arrived from Krasnoyarsk, Russia, where Mai Mihara won the Winter Universiade in decisive fashion. The bad news emanated from Zagreb, where Japanese skaters struggled at the world junior championships and ...
Tomoki Hiwatashi, an American teen born to Japanese parents in the United States, won the world junior championships in Croatia on Friday night. Hiwatashi, who hails from Hoffman Estates, Illinois, moved up from second place after the short program to claim the gold medal with ...
Rising choreographer Benoit Richaud says Kaori Sakamoto in good form ahead of worlds
Following a disappointing fourth-place finish at last month's Four Continents Championships in California, Japan champion Kaori Sakamoto didn't dwell on her result, but rather went right back to work to prepare for this month's world championships in Saitama. Benoit Richaud, Sakamoto's choreographer, whose stock is ...
Rika Kihira, Shoma Uno lead gold haul for Japan
It was a banner weekend for Japan on the ice, with Rika Kihira and Shoma Uno taking the gold medals at the Four Continents Championships and Satoko Miyahara and Koshiro Shimada doing the same at the Bavarian Open. Kihira bounced back from her second-place finish ...
Shoma Uno builds sizable lead at nationals; Daisuke Takahashi second in short program
Shoma Uno took a commanding lead at the Japan championships on Saturday night with an effective short program. The Olympic and world silver medalist skated to "Stairway to Heaven" and earned a total score of 102.06 points. Uno opened with a nice quad flip, before ...
Rika Kihira now the favorite for world title
Rika Kihira's super season continued over the weekend with a decisive victory at the Grand Prix Final in Vancouver, British Columbia. The young star dethroned Olympic champion Alina Zagitova of Russia to take the crown. The 16-year-old Kihira has won all four of her events ...
Nathan Chen made some mistakes at the Grand Prix Final, yet was good enough to win the gold medal. Chen, the first American men's world champion since 2009, overcame a fall on his quad lutz in Friday's free skate, but still took the top spot ...
