2021 ISU World Champions Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Galliamov of Russia skated to a confident victory with 14 points to spare in the Pair Skating event at the ISU Grand Prix NHK Trophy in Tokyo (JPN) on Saturday. The silver went to teammates Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, while Japan’s Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara collected the bronze medal.
Mishina/Galliamov delivered a confident performance of their program to “Snow Storm” and “Time Forward”, completing a triple Salchow-Euler-triple Salchow sequence, triple twist, throw triple flip and difficult lifts. The only glitch came when Mishina put down her hands on the throw triple loop. The ISU World Champions scored 148.88 points for their Free Skating and totaled 227.28 points to claim the second Grand Prix gold medal of their career.
Anastasia Mishina/Alexander Galliamov (RUS) © International Skating Union (ISU)
“We are satisfied with our performance today, but it is not the maximum yet, there is still room to grow,” Galliamov said. “We really enjoyed the atmosphere in Japan, we felt the support and these are incredible emotions."
Skating to “Lighthouse” by Patrick Watson, Tarasova/Morozov produced a triple Salchow, high triple twist and level-four lifts. However, he doubled the toeloop while she stepped out of the throw triple flip and loop. The two-time ISU World silver medalists scored 137.49 points which added up to 213.27 points overall to take the silver.
Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov (RUS) © International Skating Union (ISU)
With their gold from Skate America and their second place from NHK Trophy, the Russians secured their spot in the ISU Grand Prix Final.
“We made quite a few errors today, so we were not able to give a good performance. We will continue to work,” Morozov commented.
Miura/Kihara’s program to “Woman” by Shawn Philipps was highlighted by a triple toe-double toe-double toe combination, throw triple Lutz and four level-four elements. The 2021 Skate America silver medalists netted 135.44 points and tallied 209.42 overall for their second consecutive Grand Prix medal – and a chance to qualify for the Final.
Riku Miura/Ryuichi Kihara (JPN) © International Skating Union (ISU)
“Compared to Skate America we had a higher score,” Kihara said. “The score we were able to get was close to Skate America, and I really feel that we've grown."
“It has been two weeks since Skate America and I struggled in practice with the triple Salchow, so I was really worried,” Miura admitted. “I tried to feel comfortable about it, but I didn’t go for it. This is what I am disappointed about.”
Skate Canada bronze medalists Ashley Cain-Gribble/Timothy LeDuc (USA) remained in fourth place on 202.79 points, followed by Audrey Lu/Misha Mitrofanov (USA) in fifth (190.03 points).