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ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2010/2011
NHK Trophy

10/22/2010 ~ 10/24/2010 - Nagoya, Japan

SCHEDULE (JST)

DAY 1 | 22 OCT. (FRI)
OPENING CEREMONY 14:30~
ICE DANCE (SD) 15:00~
PAIRS (SP) 17:05~
LADIES (SP) 19:05~

DAY 2 | 23 OCT. (SAT)
MEN (SP) 12:20~
ICE DANCE (FD) 14:30~
PAIRS (FS) 16:35~
ICE DANCE/PAIRS MEDAL CEREMONY 18:00~
LADIES (FS) 18:50~
LADIES MEDAL CEREMONY 20:45~

DAY 3 | 24 OCT. (SUN)
MEN (FS) 12:00~
MEN MEDAL CEREMONY 14:00~
EXHIBITION GALA 16:00~

European Champion Carolina Kostner (ITA) takes Ladies title

Carolina Kostner of Italy skated to victory at NHK Trophy Saturday. Rachael Flatt (USA) came in second and Japan's World Junior Champion Kanako Murakami earned the bronze medal in her debut at the senior Grand Prix.

Overnight leader Kostner skated last and gave an elegant performance to “L'après midi d'un faun” by Claude Debussy. The three-time and reigning European Champion landed four triple jumps and a double Axel, but a triple loop-double toe was underrotated. Kostner scored 107.34 points for this performance and totaled 164.61. “I'm very happy and surprised”, the Italian skater revealed. “I had a lot of fun skating, but I did a lot of little mistakes and so I was not expecting to win tonight.”

Flatt opened her routine to “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” with a double Axel-triple toeloop combination followed by a triple Lutz-double toe and three more clean triples. The U.S. Champion edged out Kostner narrowly on 0.01 points to win the Free Skating portion and overall moved up to second at 161.04 points. “I'm very excited to have medalled at my first senior Grand Prix this season. I certainly look forward to improving”, said Flatt.

Murakami, who stood in second place after the short program, nailed a triple toe-triple toe combination right out of the gate in her program to “The Mask of Zorro”, but missed three jumps and slipped to third at 150.16 points. “I met my goal of making the podium, so I'm very happy about that, but regarding tonight's skating, I'm not very satisfied with it. Hopefully next time I'll have a more satisfying performance and will be on the podium”, offered Murakami.

World Champion Mao Asada (JPN) remained in 8th place after making errors on most jumps.

Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis/ Charlie White (USA) dance to gold

Meryl Davis/Charlie White (USA) danced to the gold medal at NHK Trophy Saturday. Canada's Kaitlyn Weaver/Andrew Poje earned the silver medal and Maia Shibutani/Alex Shibutani (USA) moved up from fifth to capture the bronze medal in what was their senior Grand Prix debut.

Davis/White put out a characteristic Tango program that was highlighted by difficult lifts and smooth footwork. The World and Olympic silver medalists picked up 98.24 points for the Free Dance and overall accumulated 165.21 points. “First competition of the year, and we are very pleased with how we skated the Short Dance and the Free Dance. We're a little tired now, because we've put it all out there”, said White. “Looking at our levels and scores, there is a lot we need to work on”, Davis added.

Weaver/Poje turned in a passionate routine to music from the “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack and impressed the crowd with spectacular lifts. The couple scored 82.88 points and had 141.57 points overall. It was their first silver medal at the Grand Prix after a bronze in 2009. “We went out there and delivered what we wanted to do and we started the season off in a way that we like it, with a medal”, Poje commented.

Shibutani/Shibutani came from behind after he had fallen in the Short Dance on Friday. But today the siblings danced flawlessly to “Smile” and “Let's Face the Music and Dance”, executing their demanding lifts and footwork effortlessly. The 2009 World Junior silver medalists earned 83.25 points and moved up two spots at 136.93 points. “We're really proud of how we skated this entire week. Medalling is just the beginning of our senior career, but I think it's a really good start”, Alex Shibutani told the press.

Reigning World Junior Champions Elena Ilinykh/Nikita Katsalapov (RUS) slipped to fourth with a somewhat cautious performance to “Don Quixote” (136.93 points). Anna Cappellini/Luca Lanotte (ITA) dropped to fifth after aborting a curve lift (127.43 points).